Today I'm talking about another series that has also come to an end... at least, sort of. The author of these books has admitted she will be branching off to write more books using other characters within the series, namely borrowing the central character's little brother, but that's ALL the author's admitted to. :/
Say hello to breakout author Julie Kagawa's The Iron Fey Series.
They say, "Hello right back." :D
Feeling a little overwhelmed? Six books? Isn't that a bit much? Well, let me appease your reading minds. Only three are from the main protagonist's perspective, making them the true books of the series' trilogy. Two of these books are novellas, and Kagawa mentioned reading the last book and novellas can be more than optional. I'm going to go into more detail on this, so hang tight, readers. Trust me. The series is well worth it.
The first three books we're going to talk about are these pretty covers right here:
These three covers, books The Iron King, The Iron Daughter, and The Iron King, represent the true "Iron Fey Trilogy." They tell a story of a girl named Meghan Chase who finds herself on a chase of her own when her little brother is kidnapped by something that goes bump in the night. Meghan is determined to get her brother back when she discovers the very real bumps hiding in her normal, mortal life are things she thought only existed in fairy tales—faeries—and those faeries aren't a hair as nice as they look in children's story books. Meghan must join together with the one person she thought was her friend, not her personal guardian and no way in hell the real to life troublemaker Puck.
Meghan soon uncovers there are darker secrets to her past and birth that she never knew. Traveling into Faery, she also uncovers that those secrets make her a valuable pawn in a war between fey she never knew existed. Meghan, illegitimate daughter of the Summer King Oberon, is hunted down by many, loathed by all. It's no surprise, with only the help of trickster Puck, an untrustworthy cat named Grimalkin, and the aid of an icy but pact-bound winter fey prince called Ash, that Meghan can begin to hope to track her brother down. Together, willingly or unwillingly, they must fight against a force that even the vicious fey of Faery cringe at.
That's how the series starts. Important things not mentioned? Ash and Puck have a history. It's not all unicorns and rainbows. Also, they find themselves drawn to Meghan, whether they want to be or not. Meghan has a missing father, the one who raised her when she was young, not Oberon. He disappeared when she was six, and she wonders if his disappearance may be like the disappearance of her brother.
Now, as mentioned before, the trilogy stands on its own. However, Kagawa did publish two novellas in case readers needed their Puck/Ash/Grim fix. I promise, readers, you do. :)
These are the two novellas, Winter's Passage and Summer's Crossing. BOTH ARE FREE FOR DOWNLOAD AT THIS WEBSITE. That's right, free, free as in: "you don't have to buy them."
Winter's Passage takes place after the second book in the trilogy. Summer's Crossing takes place after the third book in the trilogy, and it's told from Puck's perspective. These two books are TOTALLY OPTIONAL. However, if you read them, you will LEARN THINGS THAT BECOME IMPORTANT IN LATER BOOKS. However, again, those things WILL BE SUMMARIZED OR TALKED ABOUT IN THE NORMAL-SIZED BOOKS FOR THE READER'S SAKE.
Now that that's said... let's move on.
Kagawa, as she mentions in an interview in the last of her currently written books, The Iron Knight, wanted her story to end with the story of The Iron Queen. However, her publicist didn't exactly think her ending should sway that way. She encouraged her for a different conclusion, and so we thank her.
Not only do we get more awesome feyness, like in the novella Summer's Crossing, we get another perspective. Though it pains me to say it because I hate telling authors they're wrong about how they want to end something, I think, we DO get an ending that is more satisfying with the fourth normal-sized book. High five, publicist. Hello, The Iron Knight, all told from a certain winter prince's frosty and emotionally conflicted POV. ;)
Here's the front with the prince:
Here's the back with the trickster:
There's no Meghan 85% of it... just good old doses of Ash, Puck, Grimalkin, and some VERY notable others. *Waggles eyebrows*
I'll admit I was
Team
for the majority of the series.
This book, however, made me
Team
Don't disrespect. Pokemon will never get old. ;P
I found out about Julie Kagawa back in my sophomore year of college. At that time, only the first two books had been published. I started the series off not really expecting much depth from the characters. I figured the story would have it's predictable ups and downs, that I would be able to trace them. "Oh, it's about some girl torn between the love of two faeries while stuck in the plot of Labyrinth? Whatever." I was wrong.
Kagawa's books are ANYTHING but predictable. I mean, sure. You can kind of guess where the romance side of the story is going, but there's so much more to them besides romance. Meghan Chase is one of the most proactive female characters I've seen in a good long while. Even though she's just human or half-fey or whatever you want to deem her, she's amazing. She's the powerhouse every girl her age wants to be. She doesn't start out this way, either. The best part about this series is that we get to see her become one.
Overall rating (since this post is becoming a little long)?
Fiction or literature?
Fiction 95%, Literature 5%
Good or bad?
100% Good
Readers, this series is fun. It's fun and full of conflict of the heart and mind and body. Besides that? *Shrug* That doesn't mean you shouldn't read it. Read it. Not everything has to be literary for it to be readable. This series may stray from the pack we call literature, but sometimes we don't need the pack. We need just a pinch of fantasy. The Iron Fey Series has this. It will give you the magical. It will give you adventure.
Till next time,
Alex
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