Book review: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

My summary:

Meghan Chase feels like she's almost invisible, even the day she turns sixteen she isn't priority. Life hasn't felt normal since that day in the park when she was six years old and her father disappeared. There are only two people in Meghan's life that she knows truly care about her; her four year old little brother, Ethan, and her best friend from childhood, Robbie.

Robbie is quite the prankster and always in a good mood, that suddenly changes on a bus ride home from school one day. Meghan notices a stunningly  handsome boy outside the window and Robbie is suddenly acting like he's her mother, telling her to stay away from this guy.

Meghan's life is just getting weirder by the second and suddenly she finds herself in the Nevernever on a dangerous mission to retrieve her little brother who has been abducted by the fey. 

My thoughts:

I've had this book on my shelf for many, many months now(I purchased it back in August 2010) although I've been wanting to read it ever since I haven't prioritized it. Well that changed after I read  Life After Jane's brilliant review a few days ago, I knew I had to read this book now.

After finishing the book I just wasn't sure what I felt. I mean Julie Kagawa has written a respectable debut novel, it was entertaining from the beginning to the final page, but at the same time I was a little bit disappointed. I felt like parts of the story was overly familiar, it reminded me of stories we've been told before. That being said there were also parts of the story that was very original, I'll give the author lots of kudos for coming up with a new kind of fey; iron.


There were lots of supernatural, mythical beings in the story and at times it felt like there was too many for me to keep track of. I couldn't remember my gremlins from the pack rats or the redcaps, it was a bit too much with detailed descriptions of every kind of creature. I guess you could say that I was a bit overwhelmed. 


I did enjoy the main character, Meghan, she had some admirable character traits, but she was also a bit to rash and jumping to conclusions. My favorite character was Ethan, the cute little brother, I just wanted to give him a big hug and tell him that everything would be ok. There's also a talking cat, Grimalkin, he's a wonderful character as well. And I bet you've all been waiting to hear my verdict on the love interests in this story? Well I liked them both, but then again I felt like I had no choice but to love Ash but in my head I'm team Puck.

Book trailer:

The cover:
Stunning! Enough said.

My rating of this book:

3.5 stars out of 5

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:
Life After Jane
I <3 reading
Gone with the words
The Norwegian Book Girl

Want to know more?
Add The Iron King to your Goodreads wish list.
Visit Julie Kagawa's homepage 
Read Julies' blog 
Follow Julie on Twitter

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Published: 2010
Pages(paperback): 363
Publisher: HarperTeen
ISBN: 0373210086 (ISBN13: 9780373210084)
Full disclosure: Purchased 

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.