The Iron King (Harlequin Teen) [Kindle Edition]

Julie Kagawa (Author)

Book Description

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.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up—On her 16th birthday, Meghan Chase's four-year-old half brother is exchanged for a changeling and she discovers that her best friend, Robbie, is actually Robin Greenfellow, aka Puck, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is her guardian and will lead her into the faery world to rescue her brother. Once there, Meghan learns that she is a princess, daughter of Oberon, king of the Seelie Court. With a mortal mother and a faery king for a father, she is very powerful, and Oberon and Queen Mab, queen of the Unseelie Court, are both fighting to keep her. With help from Puck and a talking cat, Meghan sneaks into the Unseelie Court to rescue Ethan, only to discover that he is held captive by more powerful forces that could destroy the entire fey world. Meghan is a likable heroine and her quest is fraught with danger and adventure. The action never stops, and Meghan's romance with Ash, the handsome prince of the Unseelie Court, provides some romance that is sure to continue in the sequel. Faery books are in high demand now, and this is one of the better ones. Expect it to be popular with teens who liked Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely (HarperTeen, 2007).—Ginny Collier, Dekalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About the Author

Julie Kagawa worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, until she sold her first book and stopped training to write full-time.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 511 KB
• Print Length: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin Teen; Original edition (January 26, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002WEPDLS
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,570 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 52 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A dark, satisfying twist on faery lore that's giving me a sudden nostalgic desire to watch Labyrinth. February 16, 2010

By Abigail VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

William Shakespeare's faeries from A Midsummer's Night Dream have been popular characters for YA fiction of late. Following Lesley Livingston's Wondrous Strange and Darklight, The Iron King marks the third book to borrow Puck, Summer King Oberon and Queen Titiana and Winter Queen Mab. Both series also imagine a daughter for King Oberon who discovers her faery heritage and is drawn from the human world into the world of the fey. But that is where the similarities end. The Iron King is a much darker tale.

On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, Meghan Chase is confronted with a scene straight out of Pet Cemetery when she and her mother are attacked by her four year old brother. Her best friend Robbie (aka the famous Puck) saves her and reveals that her brother has been switched with a faery changeling and the only way to get him back is to find the kidnapper in the Nevernever (aka faeryland).

The world of the faery is as terrifying as it is beautiful. In her quest, Meghan is nearly eaten several times, ripped apart by trolls, drowned by nixies, impaled by a prince, raped by a herd of satyrs, and boiled by Goblins. And that's not even half of it. There is nothing sweet and gentle about the fey in this book.

There are a number of amusing characters who aid/impede Meghan along the way, most notably the cait sith Grimilkin (who is straight out of Alice in Wonderland), and the inevitable love interest Ash, youngest son of the Winter Queen and sworn enemy of Puck. The animosity between Puck and Ash along with each one's motivation for helping Meghan was a constant thread of entertainment.

Meghan does a fairly good job of acclimating to the revelations Puck presents her with.... She struggles initially with the idea that faeries are real, but she doesn't blindly cling to her former reality either. She adapts and learns, and rarely makes the same mistake twice. Nor does she allow herself to become distracted from saving her brother. I did find some of her dialogue to be somewhat juvenile and her interest in Ash seemed to have little motivation beyond how 'inhumanly beautiful' he was.

I think what I enjoyed the most about The Iron King was the twist on the traditional fey mythology involving iron. I don't want to give anything away so I won't elaborate, but be ready to start counting down the months until August when The Iron Daughter is released as there is a bit of a cliffhanger ending. In the meantime I have a sudden nostalgic desire to watch Labyrinth.

Sexual Content: Kissing Read more ›

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, but with potential March 20, 2011

By MistyBookRat

Format:Paperback

I liked it, I didn't like it, I liked it I didn't like it IlikeditIdidn'tlikeit...
I'm torn.
On the one hand, The Iron King can be a really fun read, and I think a lot of people are going to fall in love with it because it's going to give them what they wanted going in: a little faery lore, a little magic, a little otherworldliness and a little lovelust. If you can just read it on that level, it's not bad, a bit of fun fluff.

But at the same time, there are some real drawbacks for me. So here's what I'm going to do: the following is a bulleted list of my pros and cons in the book, and you can decide for yourself whether it's a good or bad review. As I said, I can't decide how much I like this one.

PROS

Kagawa is pretty successful visually. There was enough description to help me see the Nevernever, but it was never really overkill.
I really liked the idea of the iron fey. I don't want to give away too much, but it makes sense, it makes faeries current, and it adds another layer of BigBad to the already scary and dangerous fey world.
I think Kagawa gave herself room to grow in the series, and even though there are things you can see coming a mile away, she was able to wrap this book up fairly nicely while planting a hook for the next. I have friends who hate a hook, so let me be clear that it is not a cliffhanger type of hook; if you want to stop after The Iron King, you can and I don't think you'll feel like you didn't get a complete story, but if you want to continue on, there is something there to pull you back in.
The Pack Rats. I thoroughly enjoyed the Pack Rats, and elements like this made me see this as a potential movie, because I think they'd be pretty neat and visual....

CONS
The beginning was very slow for me, and thoroughly predictable (truthfully, predictability is a problem throughout, though at some point, I guess I just accepted it). The writing and plot seemed a little write-by-numbers, and other works (Shakespeare, Alice in Wonderland, The Labyrinth, Peter Pan, Spiderman, etc) were alluded to or mirrored throughout, and it left me with an impression of unoriginality for a good portion of the book.
I felt Kagawa was rash with the love aspect; in the beginning Ash is aloof and, as we learn, wounded and closed off, and had there been a slow build up over the entire 3-book series, beginning with a grudging trust and some crushing, then some lovelust, I would have bought it more, but as is, it felt again like write-by-numbers: "I need a love interest, so this is going to happen, then she'll do this and he'll say that, and presto, aren't they just devoted?" It didn't work. Also, there's a whole lot of Puck v. Ash love triangle going around the blogosphere, and I just don't get it. I feel it's hinted at but not developed or even necessary in the book, and it's become so gimmicky anyway...
Weird continuity errors. This got on my nerves a bit. It was just stupid things, like Ash saying Meghan's name, then a couple of pages of stuff happening, and then Ash saying her name again and Meghan getting all fluttery that it's the first time Ash has ever called her Meghan -- when it's not. The first time was about five minutes ago, when he said "Meghan, blahblahblah"... Or, when Meghan is leaning propped against Ash's chest, so there's no way she can see his eyes, and he's telling his sob story (which someone noticed was like a scene from The King's General) and Meghan narrates "Ash fell silent, his eyes dark and haunted." Except you can't see them, so you don't know that. Grr.
Oy, with the deals already! Anyone who is familar with faery lore at all, or has read any fey book knows no saying "thank you" and NO making deals. Even if Meghan was lacking in faery lore before entering the Nevernever, she is told not to say thanks or make deals, and still, it's like practically every single badguy faery she meets, she walks up and plays Lets Make a Deal. She's smart about it once, but the rest of the time, she basically offers herself up on a platter. She'll be thinking, "I hope they don't want my firstborn child," or something along those lines, but she'll say "I'll do anything." What? Think, Meghan. Stop getting yourself into situations where you become the dumb damsel in distress and just THINK.
And speaking of the damsel thing, we're told that Meghan has loads and loads of untapped power, which I am always leery of (but more on that in a minute), but she gets herself into these situations and then stands there waiting to be saved. If you're so powerful, or will be so powerful, show some damn spunk.
[A sidenote on all-powerful protagonists: Just don't. If you're writing a book, just don't. Have the gumption to have an MC who isn't some deep font of powerpowerpower. It's too tempting a crutch to write your characters into an impossible situation and then have them finally "discover" the confidence and ability they've been shying away from using, and BAM, sticky situation solved. Just don't. Think how much more interesting it is, how much more tension there is, and edge-of-your-seatness, when the MC has some ability, some brains, and some pluck, and have to really work to get themselves through. It is so much more rootforable, so much more believable, and so much more relatable. I know it makes your job as a writer a little harder if you can't go all Deus Ex... but really, just don't.]

So. That's the list. As I said, if you can go into it willing to set some things aside and just enjoy it, it flows well and is a nice bit of funfluff. But I'm still torn, and am hoping for growth in book 2, which I have a review copy of, so that the Pro list will begin to outweigh the Con. But I guess only time will tell. Read more ›

27 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious January 23, 2010

By Saundra Mitchell

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Take Labyrinth, crash it full-speed into The Neverending Story, and mix well with The Matrix, and that's just a taste of the wildly imaginative ride you'll go on when you read THE IRON KING. It's such a pleasure to read a contemporary fantasy that's fresh and full of action, and doubly a pleasure to read the first of a series that stands completely on its own. This book is a fantastic voyage and a satisfying read, and now I'm heartbroken that I have to wait until next fall to get another bite. Highly recommended!

42 of 58 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars TOTAL RIP-OFF OF LABYRINTH!!! February 27, 2010

By The Bibliophile Bear

Format:Paperback

Am I the only one who noticed that this book is an absolute, total rip-off of the 1986 Jim Henson film, Labyrinth???
Seriously.
Julie Kagawa should be sued by the Jim Henson Company for plagiarism.
The similarities are just too many to ignore:
16 year old girl's baby brother is stolen by a faerie king who rules goblins/gremlins? Check.
Step parent? Check.
Big, tied up creature who should be eating said girl & companions but instead helps them escape after she unties him & sets him free? Check.
Said creature growling "Friend" in reference to girl who set him free? Check!
Romantic dance in a ballroom wearing a pretty gown with a dark, dangerous but alluring faerie prince/king? Check.
Lost in a garbage dump surrounded by little creatures that collect junk & tie them to their backs so they look like walking mounds of junk? Check.
Eating of faerie fruit offered by loyal side-kick with bad results? Check.
Huge metal robot-type thing hell-bent on killing/thwarting heroine and & loyal posse on their way to the king's castle? Check.
When girl finally comes face to face with faerie king who stole her brother, he offers her everything; his entire kingdom and all he has to offer in return for her love? Yup. Check.
The real question here is: what DIDN'T Julie Kagawa steal from Labyrinth???
Errr.. the answer to that question is the Cheshire Cat thinggie which she stole from Alice in Wonderland - and don't get me started on the similarities between those two!
Its a shame, really. I SO wanted to love this book but as I kept reading, the only thing that ran through my mind was "You have GOT to be kidding me. Did she just pop the DVD in and write down what she saw?..."
All I can say is this - If you've seen Labyrinth, then you've read this book; don't waste your time & money! Read more ›

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#99 in Books > Teens

#99 in Books > Teens