The Iron King (Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa
"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." Goodreads
This book is what you can call a typical faery book. To be honest, you will probably find a lot of the different elements that makes up this book familiar already. Summer court? Check. Winter court? Check. Characters from classical literature, namely Shakespeare? Check. We have them all - Titania, Oberon and not to forget: Robin Goodfellow/Puck. Mind you, this Puck doesn't bear a lot of resemblance to the Puck we're used to.
I never managed to fall in love with this book, even though I wanted to. Mainly because of Meghan Chase herself. The time-span of this book is somewhat confusing, and our main character makes a lot of weird, or even stupid, choices. I guess it's fair to say I'm not a huge fan of the main character, but the friends and enemies she gains along the way is a lot more interesting. Want a hint? Ash. Wow. Now that's a character to pay attention to.
The world building in this book is..Extensive. You'll probably discover the never ending descriptions of fantastic creatures that Meghan meets on her way. Loads of them. Thankfully, the author takes a break from that from time to time, throwing in some pretty hilarious dialogues, often involving Puck.
“Ladies and Felines," he stated grandly, grasping the doorknob, "Welcome to Tir Na Nog. Land of endless winter and shitloads of snow.”
I ended up giving this book 3/5 stars. It's an okay book (maybe I've grown too old to put up with the idiocy of a wannabe heroic main character?), but like I said, I didn't really fall in love with it.
