The Iron King

Read this on One day...yes it is a reread but i enjoyed it the first time, i had to read it again.and there is the added bonus of it being used for the Fantasy and Vampire Book Club BOM and the group challenge.But enough about that more about the book.The Grimm brothers would be proud of this book i think. it is almost a fairy tale but Grimm style.I really enjoyed this take on Fae's.

Let me start off by saying that I did not originally intend to read "The Iron King". The book was a gift from my tio (which means uncle in my culture) on christmas. It was something he saw at the Bookmans near us, and figured if anyone would give the book a chance, it would be me. So here goes my review......I LOVED THIS BOOK. It was a bit rough around the edges but, overall I give it a solid 4 stars.SUMMARYMeghan, a teenage girl from Louisiana, is not the most popular girl at school. Her best friend is a boy named Robbie, who is about mysterious as they come. Meghan has never met his family, and has never even been to his house...some best friend *insert eye roll here*. One day, Meghan starts to notice that her little brother is acting a bit odd, and discovers that Ethan has been replaced by a changeling, and she has to travel into, along with Robbie, into a world where faeries are real. No not "tinker bell" faeries, more along the lines of "a midsummer nights dream" faeries. And on her heroic journey she discovers that she is half fae, and that she is in more danger than she initially was lead to believe, because the winter court wants her, and theyll do anything to obtain her. On her journey through the Never Never, she goes up against endless dangers, meets a cat, and maybe even falls in love??CHARACTERSMEGAN CHASEI love her, she's a bit hard headed at times, but who can blame her, after all she is only human ( hardy har har, I make myself laugh). She is also Strong, independent, stubborn, and of course selfless, the perfect traits for a lovely heroine. She is very clever at times, and Kagawa wrote her character so that she is grappling with her power and with who she is in relation to the fae world, so we go on a journey with rather than just sit on the side lines and hear the story happening.I will say that towards the end of the story Megan started to become annoying because Ash really made her seem less independent that she was initially presented in the beginning of the story.PUCK / ROBIN GOODFELLOWHe is the most amazing best friend you could dream of. He was sweet, and protected Meghan in every way that he could. He was always the hilarious, and brutally honest voice of reason. He also doesn't lie to Meghan in order to make her feel safer, instead he tells her exactly what she's up against. Puck's sense of humor was definitely my favorite thing about this book, Kagawa does a brilliant job of making him playfully sassy and even sarcastic when he is in the most serious/ dangerous situations. Although Puck is ever so amazing, he does have character flaws as well. He is super impulsive, and he doesn't really think about the consequences of his actions. But for some reason that only makes him wayyyy cooler in my eyes.PRINCE ASH OF THE WINTER COURTLets get this out of the way already, WOW WAS HE SO GOOD LOOKING AND HOT AND ATTRACTIVE IN ALL THE WAYS. Can you tell I have a thing for him??I'm not saying that he is "only a pretty face" but, thats kind of how story described him, I hope that Julie will explain more about this handsome prince in the books to come, but as of now, he stands as a beautiful prince with serious communication issues. I just wish that he had a bit more intellect written into his character, because I love boys who are smart and beautiful.In addition to his beauty, Prince Ash of the Winter Court is extremely loyal and cold. It is mentioned in this book that he lost the love of his life, and he is after all, A prince of the winter court, so he isn't all smiles, instead he hides his feelings which is the norm in his kingdom.Although I am Team Puck all of the way, Ash appealed to my fangirl side, because I have a thing for broken hearted boys with dark messy hair, and silver glittering eyes.GRIMALKINI am convinced that the sole reason I am now a cat person is because of Grimalkin, I mean who doesn't love this feline character that seems to have stepped straight out of Alice in Wonderland to help Meghan Chase travel through the NeverNever? (Don't answer that, its a rhetorical question)Although Grimalkin acts like Meghan and her humanness is annoying to him, I suspect that he actually grows quite fond of her, because several times through the story he offers help to her, gives her advice, and even teaches her about her power. He is my second favorite character in the book because he doesn't shy away from the truth, and he tells Meghan blatantly when she is acting stupid, especially at times when Ash and Puck are too busy fawning over her and getting into brawls with each other.MY OPINIONIf you don't know what the "Fae" are, then this book will really get you into a spot where you can be enthralled by the Faerie World. I hadn't read a book about the fae in....well, ever. So the whole "Summer and Winter Court" concept was fairly new to me, but Julie Kagawa did an excellent job of explaining the world to Meghan in a way that we, the reader, would absolutely understand.The writing was brilliant and descriptive. Julie really depicted the world in this beautiful way, I could picture ever scene vividly which really made the NeverNever an important place for me. Everything was so well written that I even had girl crushed on the fae women because of how deliciously they were described. Lastly I would like to say that Kagawa has done an excellent job of rolling action, romance, humour and intrigue all into one book.THANK YOU JULIE FOR SUCH A BEAUTIFUL BOOK! ONTO THE NEXT ONE