Thursday, April 12, 2012

The Iron King (Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa

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.


I think the worst thing this book has going for it is the hype behind the series. From reading other comments and reviews, I expected to find a story that grabbed you and didn’t let go, so it was a bit disappointing to see that this was not the case. Not even close.

The story takes much too long to begin. I understand that the author has to set the scene and that she has to spend some time world-building, as this is a book that takes place mainly in a fairy world, but it could have been done better. The problem was that although she tries to make it seems original, most of the things the author paints for us have been done before. There is no real sense of wonder in these pages.

And then we come to the main character, Meghan. I don’t know how many times that girl tripped or stumbled throughout these three hundred or so pages. And all so Ash could conveniently catch her. It gets pretty annoying. Ash is one of those brooding characters that are usually fun except he switches way too quickly from hating Meghan’s guts to drooling over her eyes. I actually had to backtrack to see if I’d missed something, but no, he is just another sufferer of falling in love at the precise moment the author needs him to

All in all, I can’t really recommend this. I know many people love this book and this series, but it’s too uninspired for my taste.




4 comments:

Nicola said...

I'm sorry to hear this one didn't really work for you! It definitely is insanely hyped. I haven't read it yet but I will be getting to it soon. :)

juliababyjen said...

I liked the first book, but I also thought there was way too much hype. Fortunately, I kept reading the the series got really good after the first book!

hbjgvhuogyihpo said...

I'm sorry this book didn't work for you! I think that all of the hype surrounding this book might build up anticipation too much, so when you actually get around to reading it you're disappointed!
The series does get better after the first book, so I guess that's always good!
Great review!

T said...

I've been known to avoid hype books because I hate it so much when this happens!

I admit, I really do love this series, and as someone before me said, it really does get much better after the first book!