Review: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Meghan Chase's sixteenth birthday is coming up but it seems like her mom and step-dad will forget. Her father disappeared when she was 6 years old and her little half-brother is terrified of the monsters living in his closet. What Meghan doesn't know is that everything is about to change forever.

When she comes home on her birthday and discovers that her half-brother has been replaced by a changeling, and faery are, in fact, real, by way of her best friend who is one, she sets off to faeryland to get him back. She has absolutely no knowledge about it and only her best friend, Robbie, to help her on her journey. Since they are going from a nice mortal world to faeryland things don't go as planned and Meghan quickly finds herself in trouble. This is when she befriends Grimalkin, possibly my favorite character in the book, in exchange for a favor.

With some quick thinking Meghan will survive and learn more about herself than she ever anticipated. She will even soon find herself on a mission to save the Nevernever...

I've been hearing really good things about this trilogy so I was pleased to be offered the chance to review it. I fell in love with stories of the fey in Melissa Marr's brilliant Wicked Lovely series but quite honestly I haven't ventured much past it to discover other books. The Iron King came highly recommended, though, so it seemed like a good place to start.

I really enjoyed this story, though it did feel like a bit more fantasy than I'm usually comfortable with in my fantasy. :) Meghan's voice is very fun and I had a few laugh out loud moments. The plot is very engaging, and I especially enjoyed the introduced themes of beliefs and how progress in science has altered them and the preservation of the environment in conflict with progress. I must say I was glad to see this and the way it manifests, though I'm certainly curious about how the things that play out in faeryland affect the mortal world and vice versa.

There's a bit of a love triangle here though not heavily emphasized (perhaps it develops more in later books). So there is a bit of romance, but it's really not the central focus by any means at all.This is a quest--Meghan must find her brother and bring him to safety. And yes, some things will happen on the way.

This is a very fun and engaging story and I look forward to seeing what will happen next.

Rating: 4.25/5
Things You Might Want to Know: Profanity
Source of Book: Review copy provided from publisher
Publisher: Harlequin Teen



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