Customer Reviews

Winter's Passage (The Iron Fey)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read The Iron King (Harlequin Teen) and loved it. Then I got an advanced digital copy of the The Iron Daughter (Harlequin Teen) and loved that as well. So when I saw Kagawa had released a short story that takes place in the time that passes between those two books I was excited! This was a great little story. I got my copy of this story through [...]

This story tells about what happens to Ash and Meghan after they leave her house but before they get to the Winter Court. Ash and Meghan are being hunted by something dark, determined, and evil. Can they make to the safety of Winter's Realm before it catches them?

If you liked The Iron King you will like this story. Kagawa writes it in the same action-packed, edgy, and engaging style that she her previous book. This book also fills out a little more about what happens between Ash and Meghan to makes things super tense when they are in the Winter Court, in The Iron Daughter.

I really enjoyed the story. I read it on my Kindle and it was a great read. It is just a novella though and, at 60 some pages long, only takes an hour or two to read. Still it is a nice interlude to hold you through until you can read The Iron Daughter. Which by the way is an excellent book too. I am very impressed with Kagawa's writing, I love how she leaves all the bad, gritty things in fairy with all the good.

Winter's Passage by Julie Kagawa
Harlequin, 2010
59 pages
YA; Paranormal romance; Faeries
1.5 in series
3/5 stars

Summary: A brief novella between the first book of the series and the second. Meghan and Ash are going to the Winter Court to fulfill the contract they made in the first book. As they travel, they are chased by the Hunter.

Thoughts: There wasn't much to this. It was divided in to four chapters but much of the first two is repeating what happened in the first book. And since I read this immediately after finishing the first book, I didn't need the recap. Then it continues with a visit to Puck and brief appearances of my two favorite characters cat Grim and the Elder Dryad. After that it is Meghan and Ash traveling, fighting for survival, and continuing their remarkably undeveloped relationship-seriously, I have no idea what she sees in him! It seems a bit like a Romeo and Juliet kind of thing and Meghan also still seems very naive. The climax is when the Hunter (or wolf as you can tell by the cover) catches them has some good suspenseful parts but then collapses as Meghan uses her words to settle the conflict.

Overall: Maybe good if you are absolutely in love with Kagawa's Faerie world but otherwise skippable.

Cover: I like the colors but I don't like the wolf especially when the covers for the actual books are so gorgeous.

Winter's Passage is the story of Ash and Meghan's journey to the Winter Court. In The Iron King Meghan made a deal with Ash that if he helped save her brother she would go willingly to Queen Mab. During the journey something seems to be following them and no matter how much they try they end up facing the big bad.

Before heading to the Winter Court Meghan request to see Puck, and finds him where she last left him. While she may not be able to speak to Puck she does connect with him. While visiting Puck she runs into Grimalkin, the faery cat who helped her in The Iron King.

While in The Winter's Passage Ash slowly demonstrates his affections for Meghan. He calls her by her name and drops the cold icy stare. Ash points out her weaknesses in hopes to give her some survival skills for the time she will spend in the Winter Court. He constantly reminds Meghan that he is third son of the Winter Court and his loyalties lie with Mab. While Meghan is part fey she is driven by her human emotions and stubbornness. She is hoping that Ash's feelings will save her in the end.

I was afraid that with such a short novella we would not get a full story when in fact Julie Kagawa gives us more than expected. I feel like she is leaving little bits of hints that in the end will put the whole story together. For example Meghan ask about her father and the question is not answered in a direct way leaving me to think that there is more to the story than we have heard. I am counting down the days until August 1st 2010 when The Iron Daughter will be released.

Ok, this may be just a sampler. It may be that you have to read the rest of the series. I know there are those out there who would love this. That said, I really didn't like it. I thought it was because since I got it free on the Kobo-PC and their backgrounds are white that the eye strain was keeping me out. So I went ahead and bought the Kindle edition. Nope. It just wasn't pulling me in. Sorry that I can't articulate this any better. Just didn't grab me. Nor do I feel like reaching in and finding others in the series.

This is a short book that takes place between The Iron King and The Iron Daughter. I tend to read series out of order for some strange reason, never on purpose, but read this one after I had already finished The Iron Daughter. Didn't really matter, as this was a fast read and there was no confusion with the plot or timeframe.

Meghan and Ash are on their way to the Winter Court, to fulfill the promise Meghan had made that she would voluntarily go with Ash in return for his help in the first book. They have a few adventures along the way, as nothing runs smoothly in the land of the fey.

Think that it was a great idea to release this book to help tide fans over until the release of The Iron Daughter! The story was interesting, and we learned a little more about Ash and Meghan, so Team Ash fans should be happy! Julie is a great writer, and I've loved everything she's written so far!

Single sentence summary: Now that Megan's little brother has been returned home, Megan must keep her promise to the Winter Prince and return to the Winter Kingdom.

I don't like the couple in this book. Megan, like the previous book, continues to annoy me a little and her friendship with the Winter Prince, Ash, is just odd and doesn't work for me. I would have loved to see more development but that wasn't there. Instead everything felt a little hollow for me.

I do like how Kagawa manages to engage me with her writing even when I'm not sure about how much I'm enjoying the main characters. The additional characters are varied enough that they are interesting but they too lack development and detail.

I didn't like how so much of this novella was spent going over what happened in the previous book. I read the previous book, I didn't need a recap in a 60 or so page novella.

This was a short and quick read that I enjoyed but I'm not sure why so many people have raved about this series. The action was engaging and the writing snags me and keeps me reading but still found events predictable. I'll give the next full length book a try and see what I think but as it stands, this gets 2.75 Stars.

Thanks to Harlequin Teen and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Never make a contract with a Faery. Meghan Chase knows this but it could not be helped. You do what you have to do to survive or in this case to save her brother Ethan, kidnapped by the Iron fey. Since Meghan has discovered her identity she has also learned to never swim in quiet ponds and to never trust talking cats.These are some hard truths and Meghan knows that the contract can not be broken and the fey always collect.

Its payback time and Meghan finds her heart beating faster, not sure if it is because Prince Ash has come to take her to his mother, Queen Mab, or because of her feeling for this tall and dark fey, so beautiful and so dangerous. She knows they have a bond but that he will follow through with his duty and deliver her to the Unseelie Winter Court. Having found, during her rescue of her brother, that she is half fey the problem is she is the daughter of King Oberon of the Seelie Court, so she is a sworn enemy of the Winter or Unseelie Court.

Knowing that Prince Ash has no option but to deliver her, she has but one request. She wants to see her best friend Puck. He saved her from the iron fey putting himself in deadly peril. She had not seen him since he had been injured.

Meghan had known Puck her entire life, they were great friends, it was not until just recently that she found out that Puck, who she knew as Rob Goodfell, actually worked for her father and had been assigned to protect her since birth.

Prince Ash has agreed to this request , wanting to do something for Meghan, knowing in the end he would be her betrayer. Moving from the real world to the fey world is not so difficult if you know where to go and where the trods are. These trods are the portals into the Nevernever, and can be just about anything, an old barn door, cemetery gates, and even old bathroom stalls. They are usually guarded by vicious creatures left by the fey to keep their borders safe. Once they find Puck, and she is assured that he is healing, Ash will then deliver her to Tir Na Nog the home of Queen Mab and the center of the Winter Court.

It is during this journey that she again runs into Grimalkin the talking faery cat. He agrees to journey with them but also warns them of danger. There are other creatures in the wood and in this part of the winter area, they do not like the summer folk. While they know she is being delivered to the queen the hatred for her kind runs deep. As the three companions enter the forrest they find themselves pursued by the unimaginable. There is danger and peril at every turn. Will Ash be able to save her, just to deliver her to her justice in the end, or will either of them survive in this savage but cold and beautiful place.

Julie Kagawa has portrayed a beautiful and dangerous place with all kind of creatures that go bump in the night. She has also developed some wonderful characters, with great depth. The story is ingenious and makes for a great series. Will being sworn enemies stand between the feelings of Meghan and Prince Ash. I can't wait for the next book to come out to see what happens.

I love stories of the fae, fantasy, and teen romance. I had read Iron King, and although I found some flaws in the book, I wanted to find out what happens in the sequel. This short story was an attempt to bridge the first book with the sequel, having it take place right after the ending of the first book. Iron King's cliffhanger ending made me wanted more, and I thought Winter's Passage would provide that, but it drenched my desire to find out what happens in the second book because of the tone this short story took on. Ash was no longer romantic toward Meghan, and the fighting scene against the Disney wolf, made me care more for the wolf than Meghan or Ash. I liked Ash a lot in Iron King, but found him cold and wooden in this short story, especially toward his love Meghan. I'm hoping the sequel has a better love story than this.

For those who are already in the series, I am certain it was even better to know what happened to Meghan and Ash. I see the heat building and would like to see it go somewhere in the future books. Meghan is apparently a faery princess who made a deal to save her brother in a prior book in this series. She now has to make good on that promise no matter how afraid she is. She seems determined and strong and isn't a pushover, which I like in a character. Ash seems distant and dark, which is intriguing. I liked the Hunter character because he was honorable and admitted basically that he got tricked, but still overall good and scary.

This is an in between story between Iron King and Iron Daughter. Neither of which have I read. I didn't even know about the series, so when I saw this and saw that it filled in a gap between two books in a series, I was excited. I like to get a look into a world of a book series to know if I want to get involved with the books or not. This was perfect for that. Not only was it well written, but it got me intrigued for the series. I plan to go back and get started on the first one and by the second one I will already have a good idea of how they got there. The characters are good and I already want to know more about a few who were mentioned in this little shortie. It was a good read and at the price of $0, why not?

After finishing The Iron King I was more than ready to jump into Winter's Passage - I love the idea of short novella's to help bridge the gap between books and I really enjoyed this look into the journey of Ash and Meghan as they head back to Tir na Nog, the home of the Winter Fae Queen Mab and the Unseelie Court.

That said, this was definitely a novella. It was short and sweet and dealt primarily with the budding relationship between Ash and Meghan. There was a smattering of action and a few appearances by some favorite characters but other than that, it was just a short story intended to whet the appetite for the upcoming release of The Iron Daughter .. which, thanks to NetGalley, I had waiting for me on my Kindle following the finishing of this book.