Book Review: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

I'm very sorry for my long absence, combining school with life is harder than I expected.
While sorting through my goodreads account yesterday I came across an old review. Seeing I absolutely loved this book I though it would be nice to share it with you guys.

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.
Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.
But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

The Iron King tells the story of Meghan, a 16-year-old girl. She never understood why she always felt like she didn't fit in, until she finds out about fairies. And that her life is tied together with their world more than she could ever have imagined.

"Me? Die? Didn't they tell you, princess? I'm Robin Goodfellow."

At first I was a bit wary of reading this book, because it is so similar to A Midsummer Night's Dream. However, Kagawa manages to create a complete new world, with only the same old names. And I like it.
The writing was amazing, the Nevernever so beautifully described I felt like I could almost touch it.
The story was even better. This was a true fairytale, not the usual bittersweet love story, but a spark of beautiful hope in a void world.
The Nevernever, filled with dangerous creatures wanting to eat you and manipulating Fey hoping for you to say two words, signing a binding contract. Thank you.
Julie Kagawa is a genius.

"Bravo," said Grimalkin, peering down from Cold Tom's chest. "The Winter prince and Oberon's jester agreeing on something. The world must be ending."

The characters are amazing.
Meghan. Brave, stubborn, selfless. She's a likeable character, a character you can't help but empathize with. Even though she is a tad naive and has the bad habit to freeze when things are coming to eat her.
Ash and Puck, two Fey with a shared troubled past.
Grimalkin though, he steals the show. A big, sarcastic talking cat. I mean, how can people not like that? HOW?! Days after finishing the book I still wondered whether Grimalkin is a good guy or a bad guy. Only one way to find out.

The only reason why I felt a bit uncomfortable while reading was the relationship between Ash, Puck and Meghan. Still, a love triangle. While it wasn't necessary for the story.

I'm definitely reading the other books in the series, I can't wait to find out more about the Nevernever, Meghan, Puck, Grimalkin and Ash in particular...

You must get your hands on this one. Promise me.

My rating of this book

Source

Ordered it. Glad I was smart enough to buy the entire series at once.

Other links

Find this book on Goodreads

Visit Julie Kagawa's website here

~ Sylke

[NEWS]Movie rights opted for Julie Kagawa's Immortal Rules(The Blood of Eden series).

Some hours ago Julie Kagawa shared some big, BIG news on her blog. The movie rights to her highly anticipated upcoming novel The Immortal Rules(published by HarlequinTeen), the first book in The Blood of Eden series, and the rights to the series as a whole has been opted for by Palomar Pictures. This is so exiting and quite seriously if I were Julie I wouldn't know which leg to stand on right now. I would probably be in my own little fantasy world, floating about on a big, pink, fluffy cloud!

That the rights have been opted for doesn't necessarily mean that there will be made any films but the odds are a helluva lot better then if the rights hadn't sold ;)

Haven't heard of The Immortal Rules yet? I'm sure you're not the only one. The book isn't due for release until April 24th. Check out the synopsis below and take a look at the links to some early reviews that I've included further down in this post. Enjoy!

In a future world, Vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die… or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

Reviews:
Nina Reads
Allthingsurbanfantasy
Badass Book Reviews
365 days of Reading
Between the Pages


Have you read Immortal Rules, what did you think of it?

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.