Karen’s Comments (group member since Jun 07, 2016)

Karen’s comments from the Not Just Another Buddy Read group.

Hi Dano!

I'm glad you've been enjoying the book. Yes, Gris is the true gem in the story, he's so clever and witty. I love him. I also adore Alice in Wonderland so I really appreciated the similarities to dear old Cheshire Cat.

I hope reading the book has helped you forget about life's worries for a while and I hope you feel better soon.

Don't stress about falling behind in the reading. We aren't strict about that here :) We won't start reading the next book until mid-October either way.

Happy reading!

I finished! I got to run somewhere in less than 30 mins so I'll write more later.

The book was so amazing. What a beautiful and epic story. The ending didn't disappoint. It was a great climax and a suitable ending. Loved it :) I'm not going to pick up the next books right away but I would definitely be willing to someday. Just because of the beautiful and enchanting world the author weaved. She has a great talent for writing fantasy.

Ahhh! I can't wait to finish too! Five chapters to go!

Yeah cause she hesitated when he leaning in for the *that*? Too bad :( I think whatever happened to that other girl messed him up. I just got to a part where he said Meghan was just like "her". I wonder if that will actually make it harder for him to let himself be with Meghan.

Speaking of the lake scene, those satyrs are scary!!!

Yeah, I still think it's going to go with the Iron King being her dad. Oberon is probably still her biological father but the Iron King is probably the man she grew up with who suddenly disappeared. Maybe Meghan's mom was just a magnet for supernatural beings Maybe Luke (Ethan's dad) has superpowers too! lol But yeah, probably not Luke :)

The sacrifice she made with the Oracle was hard I thought. It would bother me to no end to not know which one she took if I was in Meghan's shoes.

I finally got to Part III! The story hasn't been light-hearted but I feel it's somehow gotten a little more dark and ominous in light of the events that happened after they left the Oracle's place.

What do you guys think about the evil guys? Trojan horse, Virus, bugs?? LOL I think it's clever but a little cheesy.

I was looking for Book #2 to add to my Want to Read list and I stumbled upon the graphic novels (manga) version of the series!

Here's a link:
https://www.goodreads.com/series/1156...

It might be fun to read someday but don't look if you don't want your mental image of the characters to change.

Yeah, I think I might finish the entire series too. I haven't liked a series this much since I read An Ember in the Ashes and Six of Crows last year.

Yeah, he said she wasn't supposed to get hurt and he looked regretful for a second. We'll see...

I'm by the part where they are on their way to see the Oracle but they haven't gotten there yet.

Edit: Oh and another thing, I must say Ash and Meg dancing back in Elysium was very swoony :))

Ahh!! I never considered that her dad is The Iron King but that totally makes sense!!! I think your theory is going to be correct. The next book is called The Iron Princess I think which fits perfectly,

Hopefully The Iron King is being kind to Ethan and not cruel. After all, Ethan wouldn't be related to him by blood so...and Meghan had that weird dream.

Ah! We are on different side then! Every time I read scenes of Meghan getting close to Ash I'm all indignant lol And there have been A LOT of them. Ahhh! But it's okay, I think it's fun to root for the pairing you prefer even when things aren't going your way. Puck does need to act more mature but I liked him since the beginning :o) That scene where he asked Meghan for *that* before him and Ash battled...aaaawwww!! Also, I was mad at him for lying to Meg all this time but he redeemed himself a little by not taking her back to Oberon. Ash is a cool character though and I think he's gaining respect and admiration for Meghan. I wonder what the thing from the past between Ash and Puck is.

And then there is Grim. He's the absolute best lol He just cracks up when he sees the two boys doing whatever Meg wants.

I read the title for Chapter 15 and I couldn't stop grinning :)) This book is turning me into a fangirl. I loooved the return of Puck and seeing him and Grim and Meghan all together.

Edit: Got to the end of Chapter 15! Boooo! Another character showed up and burst my happy bubble lol It'll be interesting to see what happens next though.

Oh! Another big thing that stands out to me is that throughout the book so far Meghan has been the damsel in distress many times. I don't blame her because honestly this faerie world is frightening but I am looking forward to seeing her develop her own strength and magic.

The cat's back you guys!!! I'm on chapter fourteen and the story is still quite good.

There was a scene where Meghan met Prince Ash. He's a cool character but my heart is still with Puck lol I can tell there is probably a very intense shipping war going on between the fans of this series. Which of the two love interests do you guys think is best? Honestly neither one has been very good to Meghan thus far. One of them lied to her a lot and the other one keeps threatening to murder her so...but I'm curious to know your thoughts early on in the "love" game.

But the strength of this story still lies in the magic and the plot. I'm glad we finally got to know a little bit more about what happened between Meghan's parents and the Fairy Queen and Fairy King. I'm glad Meghan has progressed to the next part of her journey after Elysium was interrupted. I can't wait to read on :)

Another thing I love is how the author weaves traditional folklore into the story such as the theory that someone knowing your "true name" can give them great power over you. Also, how she casually mentions the treatment of humans in the faerie world is quite horrifying :P

Wow! I got to Part II!!

I love the book. I finally met Grim and briefly Prince Ash. I like Grim too! There is this manga/anime series that I like a lot that referred to Cait Sith and I thought it was just something made up by the manga author so I was surprised to see him mentioned in The Iron King. I didn't know Cait Sith was part of folklore. Very interesting :) I love his character.

I really like how the author describes everything. She does it in a very simple but thorough way. All the mythical beings they have encountered so far have been so interesting. She's built a beautiful Faery world, a very classical one.

Meghan finally met King Oberon but I still have so many questions about her past. I am also very curious to know if Puck and Grim will come back into the storyline and how. I really hope they do!!

Awesome! I'm so glad you'll be joining us for The Iron King. So far I've been enjoying it a lot.

Hi! Welcome to our group! :) Should we call you Dano?

Yes, what Kristy said, that's pretty much how it works! Let us know if you have any questions about any of it.

We are currently reading The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. You can join us in reading this book or wait until the October pick. :)


Kristy- I stopped the moment they walked into NeverNever! I'm looking forward to reading more later :D I haven't met Grimalkin yet...I think! Can't wait to read the encounter with Ash! I don't think Robbie likes him at all lol I love how the story has picked up at lightning speed!

Chapter 4: OK we got a lot more information now although not everything. Love the A Midsummer's Nights Dream reference. One of my favorite Shakespeare plays along with Twelfth Night. Still love Robbie and the two encounters had with the magical beings. I can't wait to read more.

Hi!

At the moment yes. We have a few other members but only Kristy, Erin and I have started a mini group. We're currently on our 4th book. We take turns each month picking the new book of the month.

You're free to join our group or find one or two other people who like similar genres as you to start another mini group.

Chapter 2: The way Robbie took care of Meghan in this chapter was very very swoony :)) And magic! I like Robbie a lot :P

Chapter 3: More magic! I wish Robbie would explain more about what was happening. Especially with Ethan. And how about the mom? I wonder how much she knows about the magic stuff? If she knew everything she wouldn't have left Meghan alone with Ethan right?

Alright! So I finished chapter 1! So far so good! :)

I like the way the author has built up the story so far with the family living deep in a bayou surrounded by a thick forest where it often rains. The story is written very simply. I think the intended audience must be middle school or early high school. It gives me a nostalgic feeling because I used to read books with fairy magic all the time, what you would call magical realism. I don't think I've read one in quite a while so it's nice to read it now :)

The protagonist comes off sort of whiny but I guess you can't expect much else from a girl who is fifteen going on sixteen. She likes the high school quarterback and complains about not having hip clothes like the popular girls. Pffft lol The author is going VERY traditional with the high school tropes.

However, then you got the MAGIC and that's where the story is intriguing and unique and I can't wait to read on. Her mischievous bff Robbie, with his penchant for playing tricks and red hair is screaming ELF!! Meghan herself, with her silver blonde hair, obviously has some spell cast on her that makes her hard to "see" or "find". I liked reading about the creepy things that seem to be chasing her. When her little bro Ethan said he was scared of the man in the closet it gave me the creeps! Awesome! I can't wait to continue :)

Yeah! I was shocked that my library failed me! Haha :) But it's ok. I have an ebook version and I tend to read those faster than physical copies because I can pull it up on my phone at work. It's harder to get away with reading a physical book at work but I still do so when it's really slow. :P

Okay, Erin, sounds good :) Good luck with that paper!

I'm going to try to start it here at work Kristy so we can discuss some of that world building with you :)

I ended up not getting from my library but I have the book - The Iron King.

Yeah same! At first I thought Deb had been killed too but it turned out that she survived and now knew Dexter's secret and was somehow fine with it. I mean, she's his sister so I'm sure that's why she accepted it at the end of the day, but I would have loved to see a little more about her reasoning and acceptance process. I guess that's what the other books in the series are for!

Lucky! Nothing yet on my side for The Iron King but I'll start hunting for an ebook version if nothing changes in the next couple of days so I have it by the 16th.

Yeah! I thought the ending was a big twist. I never saw it coming. My guess was that it was Dexter's father (his biological one) for some reason even though that didn't really make sense either. When it turned out to be his big brother and the whole blood room massacre - woah! Never saw it coming.

I really liked Dexter's internal dialogue. It was very funny at times, eerie at others and sometimes went on for too long lol but overall also one of my favorite aspects of the story.

It was nice to see know his struggle when he saw his older brother and was torn between him and Deb. I just didn't like that the author skipped from that scene's peak to the epilogue. I was like come on!! I really wanted to know more and then the scene just changed and the big brother escaped. She left it an open ending to continue the series.

Overall, I enjoyed this read!! I'm slowly watching the show too.

Update on The Iron King, the book request is in although the status hasn't changed even though there are two out of three copies "in library" but I think I should have by next week.