YA Book Review Friday: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Information:

Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Pages: 363 (Paperback)
Series: The Iron Fey Series (#1)
My Format: e-book (Overdrive)
Time: 14 Hours
Rating: Library/Borrow/e-book/Paperback/Hardcover

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 first thing an well read person can tell about an author is who this author was inspired by.

Well, I can tell who Julie Kagawa was inspired by, and I'm not that well read.

Kagawa was inspired by the likes of Cassandra Clare, and Stephanie Meyer and Maggie Steifvater, and Holly Black (who I guess inspired Clare) etc. etc. etc. You know how this list goes. HECK, even look at her page on Goodreads.

That's not bad. I LOVE these authors. I LOVE Julie Kagawa. She tweets awesomely, AND she likes Assassin's Creed. Can an author get more awesome? Oh, right, she can write a good book. Which I will discuss here. 

So, was it good or not? 

I say Kagawa is influenced by above authors because you can tell the story line and certain plot points are similar. 

Girl is totally unpopular at school.

BUT, girl has one awesome guy friend.

Guy friend is witty. (Sorta.)

Girl is learns she has awesome powers.

[I have no gif for this.... but I should because it happens in EVERY FREAKING PNR BOOK)

Also, girl is related to really powerful dude and reluctant mother.

[No gif either... here's a gif of Sonic Rainboom]

Oh yeah, and girl tries to be kick-ass, but everyone else does the dirty work for her. (i.e. guy friend who sacrifices life for her, yet girl goes after love interest WHO DOESN'T FREAKING CARE. Edit: Upon reading the other books in the series, I have to redact this statement. There's good reason Ash doesn't care, and it hurts my heart. I feel bad for writing this now.)

Also, Love plotline doesn't even EXIST until almost halfway into the book, and when it does, it feels like girl and boy have been dating for almost 3 years, bro.

So why did I rant like this and still give it four stars? Because this old plotline is a good plotline. Let's face it, it's a pretty good story no matter how cliched it might be, because we're all desperate for something extraordinary to happen to us, no matter may it be "falling in LOVE with a totally hot guy who somehow likes us plain girls" or "finding out we're totally superhuman faery/ Shadowhunters."


There's a reason people say "don't fix it if it ain't broke." Because it's true. Kagawa is smart.

Plus, I give props to Kagawa because she lets the reader guess, and doesn't think for us. AND she justifies all these cliches above. It's pretty lovely.

Julie Kagawa, no matter what I say...

You're awesome. I hope I can meet you one day. :)