Book Review #4

The Iron King

Exasperated sigh. 

That was my reaction to the whole first half of the book. 

         The Iron King was predictable, cliche, and every part of it was based off of a Shakespeare play. At least, that was my reaction in the beginning. Julie Kagawa starts us off in a small rural town where things aren't quite what they seem. The author does a good job of allowing our main character, Meghan, room to grow and become a better character and throughout the story she does. You are introduced to the best friend, Robbie, right off the bat and there is an easy transition that almost goes unnoticeable as you start to think of him as mysterious rather than just comic relief.

         Meghan is entered into the world of faery creatures and goes on a journey to save her brother for the unknown. The author cleverly sets up a love triangle, but their doesn't seem to be enough depth in either of the relationships until close to the end. The world is very interesting and the imagery used to describe the other world and its rules was pretty good. Meghan does have her growth moments which made me very happy. It was an interesting twist too that added more layers to the main character's personality as well when we see her fight against multiple minor antagonists and obstacles using wit and cunning inntelect rather than physical skill.

         While the writing wasn't fantastic and the beginning was not quite as strong as I would have liked it to be, the story does pick up the pace around half way through when you are really immersed into the world of faery creatures and meet new characters. There were some memorable moments as well and the ending had me wanting to read the next book and hoping for the best.

My Rating: 3 /5
 (two and a half out of five)

           (English: When the world stops spinning... We're still reading.)