THE IRON KING by Julie Kagawa

The Iron King
Julie Kagawa

My Rating: B
Synopsis from goodreads.com:
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.


My thoughts on the book:

I know most people have already read this series, but sometimes I'm a late bloomer (or whatever), what can I say? Anyway, I've heard such amazing things about the series that I decided to give it a try, and I'm glad I did. The Iron King was an entertaining read that kept me turning the pages. The pacing was a bit slow for my tastes, and the romance wasn't the best, but overall, I really enjoyed this book.

The characters were well-developed and flawed, but likable. My favorite character is Grimalkin. I am partial to cats, so that's one reason that he's my favorite, but the feline type personality details that Kagawa put into this character are amazing. This isn't a humanized talking cat. He iss still very much a feline, and he just happens to talk. I also enjoyed Puck's lightheartedness and Ash's cold, yet somehow endearing, personality. Meghan is all right. The narration is first person POV, so I got to know her very well. Her growth as a character over the course of the novel is obvious, and I liked that. However, she just doesn't blow me away. She's a bit boring. I hope she becomes more exciting in the following books. Boring or not, I still liked her, though. 

The pacing of the book is what really got on my nerves. Everything dragged along. There was one fight scene that I thought was going to last forever. I totally zoned out in the middle of it and when I started paying attention again, the fight scene was still going on. I was like, "seriously? Isn't it over yet? This is boring." When I think a fight scene is boring, that is not good. Normally, I love action, but the action in this book was somehow extremely boring. I think there was more telling than showing and that's why. Either way, I don't feel that writing action scenes is Kagawa's strong suit. 

The romance also really irritated me. I would have liked to have seen more interaction between Meghan and Ash in order to believe they loved each other. I mean I'm not faerie expert. Maybe they do insta-love in faerie land, who knows. All I know is that Meghan should have at least thought about Ash some before she kissed him and decided she couldn't live without him. That was a bit ridiculous to me. However, I'm willing to go with it and see what happens. She's only 16. Maybe it's infatuation that will lead to love. Who knows. I'm trying to be open minded here. 

The plot itself was intriguing, and that and the character development are the two things that kept me turning the pages. I read this book in one day, and I wasn't bored most of the time. I haven't read a ton of faerie books, so this concept was unique and interesting to me. I know that Kagawa pulled things from Alice in Wonderland, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Peter Pan, but she pretty much admits that by referencing those works. When an author borrows from something but references it, I don't get that irritated about it. No idea is original, and if you're wiling to admit where the idea came from, then you're all right in my book. Anyway, I enjoyed the mixture of previous ideas and Kagawa's original material. She blended them together nicely.

Overall, I liked this book, and I will be continuing the series. I would recommend The Iron King to fans of The Wicked Lovely series, for sure, as well as fans of Alice in Wonderland. I'm looking forward to reading The Iron Daughter next. 

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