Joint Review: The Iron King and The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

 

                                                  Join Review: The Iron King (Book 1 Of The Iron Fey Series) & The Iron Daughter (Book 2 Of The Iron Fey Series) by Julie Kagawa 

Synopsis for The Iron King: 
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.

Synopsis For The Iron Daughter: 
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.

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Okay, okay, how to start? The first book of this series, The Iron King, is about a girl called Meghan Chase and one day her little brother Ethan starts acting very strangely, and as it turns out he has been replaced by a changeling, basically a faerie, so she and her long-time best friend Robbie (who actually turns out to be Puck/Robin Goodfellow from A Midsummer's Night Dream if you've heard of it) have to venture into the faerie land, the Nevernever, to get back her brother. Along the way, she finds out she is the princess of the summer court, daughter of King Oberon (Midsummer's Night Dream!), is half-fae, half-human and a whole bunch of other things. During the journey she also encounters alot of dangers, falls in love with the mysterious prince of the winter court, Ash (forbidden love alert!) and meets a cat the reminds me suspiciously of the Cheshire Cat.

What I liked: the characters and the romance (being the romance-sap I am)

Meghan was this wonderfully stubborn but determined girl with a fierce sense of loyalty and her love for her family, as seen from the way she ventures into an unknown land to get him back. She's strong, tough yet vulnerable and makes impulsive decisions sometimes, but all for the good of her friends and family.

Robbie, or more referred to as Puck in the book, is the court's prankster, but he has a lot of unexpected depth that the reader doesn't realise in the beginning. When the book starts out, you think he's just this boy who likes playing tricks on people, who is sarcastic but actually as the book goes on you realise he's much more than that. He's fiercely loyal to Meghan due to his feelings to her, as well protective of her. He adds that little bit of humour and lightness to the book that is needed especially during the more grim parts of Meghan's journey to rescue her younger brother.

Prince Ash, the youngest son of Mab, the Queen of the Winter Courts. He's the type of guy that every girl will fan over - hot, dark and deadly with a mysterious past and an icy wall built around him, only to be broken down by Meghan. His relationship with Meghan starts out kind of rough, but towards the end it smooths out and well... I won't spoil it for you but I'll tell you this : it gets very sweet and you will come very close to squealing your heart out. They fall for each other slowly (despite the fact that Ash tried to kill her in the beginning) and it's just perfect. Not too fast, yet not too slow.

And then there’s Grim the cat, whose standard answer to everything is “I am a cat”. Observe the following: 

"Wait, you already know where you are?" Puck demanded as we edged toward the mouth of the alley, stepping over trash and piles of debris. 
"How does that work, cat?" 
"Most cities are very much the same, Goodfellow." Grimalkin reached the edge of the sidewalk and peered back, waving his tail. "Trods are everywhere, if you know where to look. Also, I am a cat." 

This happens not once, not twice but many many times. Kind of reminds me of Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy, if you’ve seen the movie, who can only say 3 words. “I. AM. GROOT!” Grim's this mysterious, ever-knowing cat that I've come to love as the book goes on. In the begining, I'll admit, he irritated me a lot and I was very suspicious but then throughout the book he pops up at the oddest times to help Meghan and his sarcastic, wry and "I-know-everything-just-don't-question-it" manner makes me laugh. 

The plot itself in the first novel was fast-paced and a lot of things happened. Normally I don't like stories where a lot of things happen in them and just confuse me but it was okay for me in this novel because the writing smoothed it out, but by the time I finished the book I had a headache from staring so fiercely at the pages! 

Now, onto the second novel of the series: The Iron Daughter. In this second book, it continues where it left off in The Iron King: Meghan made a deal with Ash that if he helped her get her brother back, she would come back with him to the Winter Court where she was to be kept prisoner (or watched over) by the Queen Mab. But of course, as most stories happen, she manages to escape and a whole course of events take place and she finds out more about herself and her power. 

I thought this book was good, though it could have been better and I liked the first book much more. The plot, storyline and characters made up for it, though In the beginning of the book Ash really irritated me and I came close to wanting to lob his head off with a baseball bat, no kidding! It started of with the classic boy-ignores-girl situation due to icky circumstances and rules and I felt that Meghan obssesed a bit too much over Ash but the plot more than made up for it! The second book was also fast-paced, action-packed and thrilling, though like I said before, could have been better! 

Overall, I give the first book a 3.5/5 stars and the second book a 3/5 stars.