The Iron Daughter

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
2.5/5 stars
359 pages
Published 1st August 2012
source: sequel to The Iron King

The story:

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

The review:

My thoughts?

I don't know what to think actually. This book was both great and ridiculous at the same time. Following the events in the Iron King, Meghan follows Ash to the Unseelie court which is where things get ugly. the book is split into three parts mainly when Meghan sees Ash, when she leaves him and when they reunite. Part one is depressing. Very, very depressing. I caught myself reflecting upon the meaning of life when in Meghan's situation more than once while reading and let me tell you, philosophy and I get better the farther apart we are. What I mean is one one hand you have Ash being all goey eyed and 'I love you Meghan even if we can't be together' and on the other hand you've got his royal smoky iciness being all 'don't talk to me half-blood' and 'I'll kill you half-blood'. DECIDE YOURSELF MAN! 

And then you've got Meghan... Oh Meghan you make Bella Swan look decent...
All she does is pour over how heartbroken she is. Even when he insults her and threatens her life, she just sits there and sobs, And sobs, AND SOBS. While in the first book she underwent a true change of character and came out strong and confident now she's just pathetic. The shadow of her former self. A disgrace to any self-respecting woman out there.

Speaking of that, how can this love even exist? If I were the author I'd have dragged it out.What I mean is that in the first book I'd plant the feelings, then-in book 2-I'd make them deny their feelings until the very end where-in book three-they'd finally give in. Not this! They haven't even gotten the time to know each other much less develop romantic feelings for each other. I feel the romance, while forgivably awkward in the Iron King, was pushed in this book. 

Which brings me to Puck. Oh Puck, I loved you so much in the Iron King. Why? Oh WHY did you have to love her? WHY the damn love triangle when it's so glaringly obvious from the beginning that all she wants is Ash? Also, while in the first book he was so utterly awesome I think the book lost most of its colour when he was shot, in this one he's lost his edge. His jokes are flat and he seems to have taken a stroll down evil lane during his little time off since the author makes endless remarks on how his chuckles are "dark" (how do you even chuckle darkly....? or his smile is "evil".

And finally, to finish off with my complaining, the ending. SPOILER AHEAD!
Worst. Ending. Ever. It was glaringly obvious that the last few pages were so much better than the rest of the novel. The action moves faster, the scene is much more vivid. MEGHAN ACTUALLY SHOWS SOME BACKBONE (*GASP*) and it all amounts to THAT. What the freakin hell? There's a war raging, the NeverNever is going DOWN and those two just sit there and go all googly-eyed with promises of never leaving each other. NEWSFLASH! Someone needs to fix this and getting banished from the world you're suppose to fix IS A COMPLETE FAILURE!

And now to the good parts that made this book bearable.

• IRONHORSE! Even in book 1, I couln't find the heart to hate him so when he turned into an ally my heart soared. Once you get over the whole CAPS LOCK THING THAT MAKS IT SEEMS LIKE HE'S SCREAMING IN YOUR HEAD, you grow to like him. He's always concise, to the point, determined and extremely stubborn. His character really has depth and he's a welcomed distraction from Meghan's self-pity and Puck's apparent evil side. Oh and, did I mention? He's a complete BADASS. I can easily imagine him in a showdown with Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris.
• Grimalkin. That cat has me hooked. I don't think I can describe it but he's awesome. One of the best characters in the book, if not the series. 
• Leanansidhe. The Dark Muse. The embodiment of inspiration itself. I knew I loved her the second she came into play. First off, she's so aloof you can only fall head over heels or hate her. She doesn't seem to care and yet wants to help. She's confusing at every turn and that's what intrigues me. Well, that and the fact that she hates Titania's guts (which I do too). Most of the time I couldn't decide whether she was there as a trap or if she was actually helping them and that was a welcomed thing. It emphasized the story, bringing it to the next level.
• The story itself. It's brilliant, truly brilliant. If you take away the dead romance and the shallow characters the story in itself is amazing. Already in The Iron King, you can sense that it's not over and having it grow like this is exceptional. I love how the Iron Fey seem to take over technology and make humans slaves to it (something that was only a vague idea in the first book). It really serves to show you that, if you think about it, we are, in fact, slaves to it. 
• The slow build-up. Once you get over the romance, that seems to be dominant here, you realise that the story is slowly building-up, like the sea before a tsunami, to end in a climax. The last pages really make the whole book worth reading. The descriptions, the action, the emotions and surprising change in Meghan give meaning to everything most of the things that came before it It really serves to shape the story into what it should have looked like from the beginning.

Well that's it for now. This book really has me torn between dumping the series or continuing it. But honestly I think I'll go one with it, at least until the next book to see what becomes of these damned Iron Fey.