The Iron King by Julie Kagawa Series: The Iron Fey #1
Published by Harlequin Teen on February 1st 2010
Genres: Fantasy, Legends, Myths, Fables, YA, Young Adult
Goodreads
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 friend begged me to read this series so here I am. I’ll be blunt here: I enjoyed most of the book but a key element of the book just pissed me the heck off. What is this key element I speak of? It is the freakin’ romance. I dislike when books are heavily based around the romance so I’m glad this book wasn’t. HOWEVER, that doesn’t change the fact that the romance annoyed me so much in this book, that I am debating whether I should even read the sequel. And on that cheery note, the review begins.
Meghan Chase is basically half-faery. It says so in the synopsis. The readers find this out 100 pages into the book. WHY DOES THE SYNOPSIS HAVE A SPOILER?! The beginnning of the book is basically Meghan acting blissfully ignorant to everything happening around her. She sees a floating black thing and thinks she made it up. A GUY ON A HORSE SITS WATCHING HER AND SHE FEELS OK WITH IT. Her best friend is acting creepy as heck and she knows it and CHOOSES TO IGNORE IT. This is what we call wilful blindness ok. Despite my annoynace with Meghan in the beginning of the book, I grow to love her fiesty and determined nature. She actually feels genuine compared to most female protagonists that we read about. I loved that Meghan wanted to save her brother and would do anything for him. The power of family is great.
I loved the whole faery world. It was interesting, unique and complicated. I have nothing to really say about it except that the world-building was fantastic and that I really enjoyed it. I am mostly going to rant about the romance here so please be warned.
—commence rant—–
Basically, we have a classic situation. Meghan sees a super hot guy who she KNOWS is dangerous but she starts pining for him anyway. He threatens to kill her. They are forced to dance together and almost end up kissing. I become confused because WHAT THE HECK. Meghan, WHAT THE HECK DO YOU SEE IN THIS GUY?! HE IS DISTANT, COLD AND FRICKIN’ INSENSITIVE. For that matter, ASH WHAT THE FRIGG DO YOU SEE IN MEGHAN?! Like THERE WAS NO CHEMISTRY BETWEEN YOU. YOU LITERALLY LOOKED AT EACHOTHER AND DECIDED SOMETHING WAS THERE WHEN THERE WASN’T.
MEGHAN, WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU LIKE ASH WHEN PUCK/ROB IS YOUR BEST FRIEND AND HAS BEEN PROTECTING YOU FOR THE MAJORITY OF YOUR LIFE. WHY?!?! WWWHHHHYYY?!?!
—–end rant—–
So yes, the romance annoyed me so much. It probably will prevent me from enjoying the rest of the series. Overall, I liked The Iron King but the romance was too damn annoying. I enjoyed the fantasy elements but I’m not sure if it’s enough to continue the series.
