ICOFA (InCase of Fairy Abduction)

In the event that you are abducted by fairies, please adhere to the following guidelines so that I don't have to watch or read about you blundering through fairyland like an incompetent idiot.

1. Never thank a fairy for services rendered.
2. Never eat fairy food.
3. Never dance with fairies.
4. Never strike a bargain with a fairy unless you've agreed on the fine points.

The Iron King is a book about a sixteen year old girl, Meghan Chase. Can I advise all people readi More...

Wow!- As many others have stated, at first glance THE IRON KING appears to be your typical faerie book. Summer court? Check. Winter court? Check. Shakespeare-esque characters? Check. Yes there are similarities, but these lie only in the bare backbone of the story. Yes there are those faerie courts and A Midsummer Night's Dream characters (Oberon, Titania, etc), but they are necessary for the make-up of the story. From here on out, Julie Kagawa makes THE IRON KING shine in the already-faerie inun More...

(Actual Rating: 3.5 stars)

The Iron King . . . What can I say about this book? Well, it's probably one of the best faerie books I've read in a long time. (For the sake of giving a short but sweet review, I won't spit back the plot since anyone can go read the book synopsis if they're interested.) I loved how the book weaved together familiar and popular elements to make something fresh and remarkable. Alice in Wonderland, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Peter Pan, the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales, and More...

Endearing Heroine? Check. Unique plot? Check. Gripping story that sucks you right in? Check. Loveable and interesting secondary characters? Check. Hot romance? Check!

You see? DING DING DING DING DING ! Jackpoooooot!

God, I literally devoured this book. As so many others I find it rather difficult to review books that I loved and seeing as the Iron King will join the rest of my favorite books in my personal hall of fame I can hardly come up with anything to say about it except for: This.Was.Truly. More...

This book was outstanding. I mean really... I was totally enthralled from page one to page three hundred and sixty eight. I am blown away at the sheer awesomeness that emits from this book.

First off, I’m a huge fan of “Fae” in general, especially love reading this type of story. But at the same time, when it comes to book about fae there are a lot of similarities. Many books share the same mythology, the Summer Court and Winter Court, references to Midsummer Night’s Dream... The Iron King has t More...

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★





To venture in a world of The Iron Fey, you must proceed with this knowledge:

1. This is not a book about fairies like these:



Imagine evil - well, not all of them are evil- ELVES, so called FAERY or plural FAE.

2. They don't have wings (well, most of them don't) and there are many of them like dryads, goblins, gremlins, kelpies, ogres and so on and on.

3. In this world, faeries are not to be trusted! They will always go for favors and bargains and never-ever-never say "thank More...

The Iron King was an enjoyable read, but not exactly a memorable one. And while there were certain elements to it that were fairly original, the majority of the story felt like the same old tired scenario that Holly Black and Melissa Marr have already used. And because I'm ornery for details - the linguistically accurate term is fay, not fey. Just saying.

For a protagonist, I certainly enjoyed Meghan Chase more than whosit from the Holly Black book and Madam Skank from the other author's book. Th More...

Beware of spoilers!

See, I haven't read many books on the fey. The last one I read was Spells by Aprilynne Pike. That didn't go well, meaning that it sucked platypus poop. So when I devoured The Iron King in a week, I was utterly mesmerized by it. The characters, the concepts, the world building, the colors and mist, the overall beauty of it, made me want to take a stroll in a garden while munching on Godiva neapolitan truffles.

Robin Goodfellow (Puck)
I haven't read A Midsummer Night's Dream. How More...

Before I begin this review, I'd like to clear something up. Keep in mind, it is complete fact*:

If there were 100 women in the world, 90 of those people would think long hair on a guy is gross. Of the 10 remaining women who aren't totally turned off by long hair, 8 of those women are scifi, fantasy, or romance authors.

Julie Kagawa, what the heck? You took a guy that could be a total babe (okay, who am I kidding, he still is) and gave him "silky" long locks. Blech.

This book took my ultimate night More...

**6.12.2011 ETA: Finished book three and this is one of the most frustrating YA series I've read to date. If you've no tolerance for angsty, bratty, obtuse heroines, steer right clear of it.**

**3.5-ish?**

Julie Kagawa’s YA novel is an interesting treatment of Celtic legend, with characters reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland and the movie Labyrinth. Kagawa’s vision of Faerie (or the NeverNever) is fully-realized and her particular talent lies in description--her world feels incredibly alive. I can More...

Yeah I need fireworks. It is my highest rating for YA book so far. I know there are only a few YA books on my shelves. But if I had to put all YA books which I tried and read no more than four chapters, I would have made myself look like a villain. Which is not gonna happen. I almost gave up after a couple first chapters because of the heroine. She had been weak, spineless, and reckless. Thank God for Goodreads! After reading a friend's review, I decided to keep reading. She was right, it was wo More...

I know allot of people loved this book...don't kill me but... eh, I really didn't like this book much. Half way through I was enjoying it, but then it just fell flat for me. It was quite hard to finish. I just keep hearing the same inner debate from Meghan and thought she needed to stop thinking about what she should do and just F***ing do it! I mean really how many times are you just going to stand there and let something happen to you without catching on that you should move the H*LL out of th More...

The Iron King definitely holds a respectable spot in the world of faerie fiction. Fans of the Wicked Lovely series will enjoy this highly fantastical adventure that spans across three fey courts; includes numerous seelie and unseelie characters that abide by the rules of engagement of faerie lore; and creatively parallels a beloved Shakespearian play. Well done!

The story does include your usual suspects found in most YA books such as your typical teenage girl who is unaware of her true self and More...

I honestly loved this book. It was hard not too. Kagawa created an enchanting blend of classical fairy tale and modern-day adventure(much like the aforementioned villain, the "Iron King", creating a neat parallel).

Though it isn't a particularly funny book per se, I personally appreciated the quiet sarcasm and quirky wit thrown in at random times. That is,the universe was darker than I'd thought when reading the blurb, but frankly, it was a nice change.

The author does not only show great attenti More...

Well, that was mighty unimpressive.

I'd seen this series mentioned several times, but I never really thought about reading it. The premise was, sorry, just like any other girl-with-secret-destiny-and-two-hot-guys book out there, and I've read enough of those to be weary of sneaky marketing. But then I read Kagawa's "The Immortal Rules", and I admit, I was impressed, even if I thought the book had problems. So I picked this series up.

Um...

Well, first of all, I think that this is probably going to More...

This is going to be an embarrassing revelation but I thought faerie and fairy was the same thing. Meaning the spellings was interchangeable. I know shameful right? Obviously it's not quite the same. When I started reading this story I knew it was going to be about normal sized faeire folk, but I learned a lot about the whole workings of how their societies work. And there were swords. If I see a sword I have to read it.

Meghan Chase (cool last name no?) at this point of her life is worried about More...

2.5
Meghan Chase is an outsider. She lives in the middle of nowhere, barely has any friends, and her own family sometimes seems to forget she even exists. And all of that is bad enough, when Meghan's 4-year-old half-brother is kidnapped, replaced with a violent faery changeling, and Meghan learns that her best friend is really a faery, and hey, so is she -- the daughter of the Summer King, Oberon. And so Meghan must descend into the Nevernever to rescue her brother and reconcile the life she's al More...

Reviewed by Jo for Book Chick City.

I do feel that Fae are the new Vampire in the YA catagory, but I love faeries, so it's not a bad thing but its a question if the latest faerie book brings something new or not. I thought 'The Iron King' was really enjoyable, and the mythology it brings really is new and magical.

This book felt like an original fairy tale. Before Disney sugar coated things, fairy tales were a thing of horror, with gruesome plots and where love is never guaranteed and a happy ever More...

Ummm....WOW! That is how I felt after reading The Iron King. Simply amazing. I was lost in this book for a few days and I never wanted to leave the beautiful world Julie Kagawa painted. This is the best "Fey" book I have ever read!

What I liked about this book: everything! There is not one thing I would change. I rarely give books 5 stars unless the story really calls to my soul. And boy was this book singing! The characters were totally believable and realistic. Puck is my favorite bc he is simp More...

(If the pictures are cut off, read it here.)

Just to let you know, I’ll be having a conversation with myself, because I get bored and need to talk to someone. There’s me, and there’s “Myself” — who will be playing the “nice” part of me, and… asking questions, and making sure I don’t go on and on about unrelated topics. (There’s My Other Self, but asleep, thank god.) Don’t expect anything professional, or even something that makes sense. It's also very, very long.



Myself: This doesn’t even have 5 s More...

To have a more organize review I'll use pros and cons(as always^^, OC that I am!).

Pros:
1. Okay this is my 1st fairy book, considered that a plus. ***I'm confused though if this is the 1st fairy book that I've read because I've already read Artemis Fowl (is that a Fairy book?) and City of Ashes (there's a little Fairy scene in it too)***

2. The Fairy Realm created in the book was really creative I love the Seelie(Summer) Court and the counterpart of it the Unseelie(Winter) Court...Oh I love the Po More...

Oh here we go, I thought, upon cracking open the e-book of Julie Kagawa's The Iron King. Another star-crossed YA romance with supernaturally-inclined love interests. Ho hum. I suppose this could be enjoyable.

Upon finishing the book? I quite enjoyed it! Could it be that the author DID HER RESEARCH on mythology and fairy lore? YES!!! *fist-pump*

Now, I love anything and everything to do with fairies. I grew up in rural England, for goodness' sake, I used to go looking for them in gardens and parks More...

Once upon a time The Labyrinth and Alice in Wonderland met in an enchanted wood. As they walked through the forest, they spoke of their mutual love of The Matrix, Melissa Marr and Shakespeare in the Park. It was the start of something beautiful. As things grew serious, The Labyrinth offered its cruel, mysterious king, its kidnapped brother, its dark twisted creatures and wild imagination. Alice In Wonderland offered its dark nonsense and whimsy, a scene-stealing talking cat, its cryptic riddles More...

Meghan Chase is a 16 year old, who is Half Summer Faery Princess, half human. She is abruptly introduced to the world that her mother, and biological father fought to keep her blind too, when her half brother Ethan, was kidnapped into the Iron Kingdom. Meghan has to make a continual string of hard choices in order to save the ones she loves. This book is full of action, suspense, and is magically romantic.

Meg has two love interests. The first and most endearing, in my point of view, is Robbie, More...

The Iron King is a breath of fresh air after a string of mediocre novels.

I guess that's not entirely fair. Some of the novels I've read lately have captured my interest and kept me turning pages to the end. But, in recent memory, I can't recall a book that has literally made me forget who I am and what I'm doing. I feel like I body-snatched Meghan Chase and was in her shoes for the whole 370ish pages.



I felt her worry for her brother, Ethan.

I felt her confusion and frustration in Nevernever whe More...

Reviewed by Lynn Crow for TeensReadToo.com

Meghan Chase doesn't feel she has a place in her life. At home, her stepfather seems to forget her more often than not, and at school the popular kids tease her for her family's backcountry ways. Her only comforts are her one friend, Robbie, who always seems to be there when she needs him, and her little brother, Ethan, who adores her.

But on her sixteenth birthday, Ethan is stolen away, and Robbie reveals he's something far beyond a human boy. He gives M More...

The Iron King is a fast paced, magnificently written story that kept me turning the pages. The settings are exquisitely detailed without being overly wordy and even the supporting characters are dynamic and real. The heroine is tough, stubborn, and somehow vulnerable at the same time, and much more empowered than the female leads that I've found in other YA novels. While there is a wonderful romance woven throughout the tale, this is not a story of a teenage girl pining over the mysterious bad b More...

To begin with:



I am so GRATEFUL for The Iron King. THANK YOU Julie Kagawa for writing this because my jaw dropped about a gazillion times..And I'm not even sorry.xD

About the writing:

It has been so long since I have read such a perfectly written story.

Consistent and well-structured plotline?*check*
Breathtaking descriptions that will make you wish you were a faery even though you're not still 5 years old?*check*
Fiery action?*check*
Heros and heroines with style and for every taste?*check*
Page-turne More...

"Sweet sixteen. It has a magical ring to it. Sixteen is supposed to be the age when girls become princesses and fall in love and go to dances and proms and such. Countless stories, songs, and poems have been written about this wonderful age, when a girl finds true love and the stars shine for her and the handsome prince carries her off into the sunset."

Before I begin the review, I just want to say a few words to all the 16-year olds out there reading the YA novels being "written" these days...

TH More...