4/5 stars
363 pages
Published on February 1st 2010
Source: Goodreads
The story:
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.
The review:
My thoughts?
I really liked this book for several reasons:
1. Its universe. Even if the shakespearian characters, and fairies is general, have been used again and again over the centuries, they never cease to surprise me. Every author's take on them is different and that's what I love about this book. Julie Kawaga plays on their character. They appear distant, malignant and-at times-cruel and yet, once you're emerged in their world, their uninviting demeanour starts to make more sense. In the Iron King the fey world is either at war or always on the brink of it therefore shaping the personalities of the fairies that live in it.
2. Its story. I've read countless of fairy book and most of them have the same story: one of the courts gets tired of being at peace, they cause some kind of commotion, bring in human or two and then all hell breaks loose. So creating a whole new type of fey really got me hooked. Iron fey, inspired by man's dreams of technology I love it. Best. Idea. Ever. This stands to show how much we've forgotten the old ways and how comfortable we've become with technology in such little time. What this book states is true: everything is related t technology these days and-honestly speaking-while it makes our lives easier it also serves to radically change who we were. What I mean to say it that the magic is pretty much gone from the world ever since man started explaining things by science and that's kind of sad. We've lost the mystery that used to be a life's dedication for the people of old.
3. The characters. This book is one of the few books I've noticed a real change in characters. Usually in such a series you get to the 3rd or 4rth book until you realise there's been some semblance of change in the main characters but in this one it's immediate. Take Meghan for example. In the beginning of the book she annoyed me. She was shallow, gullible, ungrateful, really scared of everything out of the ordinary, tends to scream and flee quite a lot, and, even when she found herself in the NeverNever, refused to believe her life had radically changed. But as she's confronted with problem after problem her whole point of view changes. She becomes strong, brave, grateful, understanding and a really decent person. Same goes for Ash who, in the beginning couldn't care less about Meghan but comes to realise his feelings for her (I'll get to that in a second) and decides he doesn't want to kill both her and Puck. Puck (or Robbie, Robin, Prankster, whatever floats your boat) on the other hand, is one of the characters that remains the same during the whole course of the story. And he's freaking awesome (and really hot). Same goes for Grimalkin who really reminds me of a cross between the Cheshire Cat and my own fluffball, if the latter could talk (and thank the universe he can't). He just struts in, at random yet very important moments and pretty much makes everyone his bitches. That is just really cool.
As for things I didn't like, they were few and far between but still worth mentioning:
1. The passionate, romantic, heartbreaking love that grows between love summer princess Meghan and winter prince Ash IS TOO FAST. First he wants to kill her and in the course of one book he suddenly loves her? Come ON!
2. Titania is a vindictive ice bag and Oberon is a wimp, when it comes to dealing with her at least. She just decides that, since he ran off and had a child said child should be treated as a slave AND HE DOESN'T DO ANYTHING. Poor Meghan is work her ass off in the kitchen and he dear old daddy, Oberon, doesn't even seem to care...
ATTENTION ENDING SPOILERS:
3. The last scene with Machina is just downright creepy. I can believe his sweet talk actually works. OR THAT HE GOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO "BRUSH HIS LIPS TO HERS". I mean, big BAD evil dude kidnapped your brother and soulmate but do you fight him the second you see him? NOOOOOO, instead you let him almost sway you with his honey-like words and go all kissy kissy on you BEFORE you realise 'hey! maybe I shouldn't be smooching the EVIL GUY WHO KIDNAPPED MY BROTHER"
I'll be reading the rest of the series, of course, and I hope it turns out just as good as this first book!
0 comments:
Post a Comment