Welcome to the Nevernever

"I glanced at him sharply, but he was smirking. 

For a moment, I was speechless. 

Good God, the Ice Prince was making jokes now; 

the world must be ending.” 

--Julie Kagawa, The Iron King

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Harlequin Teen, 363 pages
Release Date: February 1st, 2010
Find On Goodreads--The Iron King by Julie Kagawa



I have this horrible habit, as most all of you do, of discovering a book that sounds really good so I read it, love it, maybe slightly obsess over it...and then I realize it is only the first in a series...oh, and it just came out...hello pure agony of having the realization that I have to wait at least another YEAR until the next one comes out. So imagine my surprise when I discover a book that everyone raves about and tells me to read...and the entire series is already done and published...SCORE!! I have heard countless fantastic things about how good the Iron Fey series is so after much (well not a whole lot) persuasion I looked into it. Oh...wait...they're about faeries?? Um...these are good?? I've read about faeries in The Mortal Instruments series and random other books...aren't faeries manipulative and slightly evil?? So a little bit more of a push from some awesome book people (you know who you are :) ) I finally got all 4 books from the library...

...And I am so glad I did. I just finished The Iron King (obviously or I wouldn't have a review to write, how dumb did I just sound?) and I LOVED it!! All my book friends were right on. It was awesome! I love this faery world. It is steeped in manipulation and double talk and high stakes but that is what makes it SO interesting! If you haven't read this, The Iron King is about Meghan Chase who believes herself to be an ordinary teenager until she starts seeing strange things. Then her brother Ethan has completed gone insane only to find out he's been replaced by a Changeling, a faery child switched to live in the human world. All of this is told to her by her best friend who she has known for...forever...? She can't remember...oh wait, that's because he also is a faery sent to protect her. More than that, you gotta read this! Which you all probably have because I seem to be the only human in the YA world NOT to have read this yet...but I'm getting there!

Meghan is a fantastic protagonist. She is fierce and stubborn and loyal and hell-bent set on rescuing her brother and she never wavers even for a second. Her courage is commendable and I could see myself doing the same thing for either of my sisters should I ever be dragged into the faery world...will Ash be there?? SPEAKING of Ash, swoon.worthy.moment. He is the dark Prince of Winter and oh so sexy. I love the initial tension and banter between him and Meghan. Characters that can hold a conversation and have quick wit responses back and forth elate me. It isn't instantaneous affection and all they talk about is how they love each other. They joke, they tease, the protect each other. They realize more is at stake than just their lives.

As fun as that was to read my hands down favorite moments of the entire book were between Puck and Ash. Holy. Effing. Hilarious. I could not get enough of their banter and acidic remarks towards one another. It lightened the mood of the whole book and when they started fighting, verbally or otherwise, the storyline was immediately more interesting. 

While the characterization was excellent in this book, I absolutely loved the technology themed plot. The building of the Nevernever and the Seelie and Unseelie Courts were beautiful. How they survived based on stories, songs and poems written about them was so clever! The basis of belief in the fantasy was beautiful and brilliant. It felt like a slight homage to the original fairie known as Tinkerbell and how she only survives because people believe in her. LOVE! The antithesis to this were the Iron Fey. They survived and were born of technology and advances; and while their kind may be killing off the old faeries, the idea of technology not always being a positive was so brilliant to me. I always think that children aren't reading enough and being exposed to enough fairy tales and books and Kagawa echoes this in her novel. While advances in technology make life easier, we are losing the ability to imagine a world of fantasy and magic. It makes me kind of sad. I know that I will read to my children and completely encourage imagination that does not include an iPad. Kagawa spoke directly to our generation with this idea. I could not get enough of this. Simply amazing.

I cannot WAIT to see what happens next, I really just wanted to get this review written and my thoughts out clearly so I can start the next one...now...The Iron Daughter here I come!!!

4.5/5 Stars