The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Originally posted here on March 6, 2011.

As part of a "Book of the Month" read, I read The Iron King by Julie Kagawa.

My Review: ★★★★

This is a very entertaining read. I enjoyed the introduction of the Iron Fey. It was a new and unique concept (although I admit I haven't read many fey books). The earlier parts, before the iron fey come in, are similar to other books involving the fey realm. The adventure's different but with similar themes. It doesn't truly grow into its own book until the iron fey show up. They were wonderfully unique.

The characterization was weak. It didn't really take much away from the book, but the chacters (other than Meghan) needed more fleshing out. The rulers of the courts (the Iron King included) had no depth to them. Not a huge loss, except with the Iron King. He was a disappointing antagonist, his goals linear and predictable. He needed more depth. Ash and Robbie had hints of personality, but stayed within their archtypes: one a sexy warrior, the other a prankster. The relationship between Ash and Meghan irked me. I have an old pet peeve about characters falling in love because one is hot. There was no personal chemistry there (just physical). Meghan had a much deeper and stronger history with Robbie. Meghan was believeable, although I never really connected with her I still liked her. By far, Grimalkin was my favorite. Best line ever, "I am a cat." How very cat-like. I laughed at that.

Even with the just-okay characters, this is still worth reading. I'll pick up the next one.