The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publisher: MIRA Books

Blurb (from Goodreads): 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, Megan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guesses 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.

What I thought: I didn't really know what to expect from this book, as the last time I read a book about faeries, I was nine years old. However, I fell in love with this book.

The Iron King reminds me of one of my favourite books, City of Bones by the brilliant Cassandra Clare. In both books, a teenage girl discovers that the world is not like she thought it was and goes on a quest to save a kidnapped relative from a sinister villain. I had the same feeling reading this book as I did when I read City of Bones. That feeling of excitement and magic and just being so caught up in the world that it's all you want to talk about and all that you want to read about.

The main character in this book, Meghan Chase, is very well written. She's very believable. Her "voice" sounds exactly like that of a sixteen year old girl. She's the kind of girl that I'd be friends with. She's brave, kind, smart and honest. Although some of her decisions annoyed me at times, I couldn't help but care about her.

Then we have her best friend, Robbie or "Puck", her loyal sidekick who looks out for her, and by my best guess, want to be more than just friends.

Then we have the lovely Prince Ash. Oh, Ash, how I adore thee, even though you did make some questionable decisions. He's charming and sweet, yet he wouldn't hesitate to kill you. He's very mysterious and I really want to learn more about him as the series goes on.

Then we have Grimalkin, the Caith Sith who helps you out if you give him a favour in return. I loved him. I thought he was funny and added a lot of lightness and humour to the book.

And last but not least in my character introduction, we have Meghan's little half brother Ethan, who is adorable and so cute. Awww. He's the one that Meghan has to rescue after he's kidnapped and taken to faeryland.

The plotline of this book is very enjoyable, although there isn't that many twists and turns. It's still great.

I loved the world that Julie Kagawa created in this book. I knew a few things about the faery court from Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments, but I really enjoyed reading about it in greater detail and it was really interesting to me.

As you can see, I absolutely loved this book and I can't wait to get the next book, The Iron Daughter.

Rating:  9/10