Title: The Iron Queen Author: Julie Kagawa Series: The Iron Fey #3 Cover Art: N/A Genre: Paranormal YA Reading level: Young Adult Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Harlequin (January 25, 2011) ISBN-10: 0373210183 ISBN-13: 978-0373210183 Source: NetGalley Reviewed by: Abigail

Book Description

The winds of war gather in acclaimed author Julie Kagawa's newest novel.

Meghan Chase thought they’d left Faery behind forever, but pressing matters cause the three exiles to be summoned to war.

A new alliance is made, along with a few contracts, of course, and Meghan, half Summer faery princess, half human, is pressed to choose Fey over her mortal beginnings. Will she abandon her human heart for an iron will that will help her survive? For as Meghan Chase can confirm—in real life, unlike books, faery tales don’t necessarily have happy endings.

"I thought it was over...The impossible choices, the sacrifices of those I loved. But a storm is approaching and they will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Back into a conflict so powerful...I'm not sure anyone can survive it." - Meghan Chase in The Iron Queen

 Review

I don’t don’t why I haven’t been able to completely gush over The Iron Fey series the way some of my fellow bloggers have.  Maybe it’s because I never fully bought into the star-crossed romance between Winter fey Ash and Summer fey Meghan; it never invaded my heart the way a good love story should. 

Maybe it’s because Meghan herself never seems to grow in these books.  She’s much the same slightly petulant character from THE IRON KING, still huffing, muttering, and complaining when people are trying to help her.   Seventeen on Meghan still comes across as very young.

Maybe it’s the fact that instead of the threats/danger growing with each book, they actually decrease.  In THE IRON KING alone, Meghan ‘is nearly eaten several times, ripped apart by trolls, drowned by nixies, impaled by a prince, raped by a herd of satyrs, and boiled by Goblins.’  In THE IRON QUEEN, she gets some welts training, um…is that it?  Yes, she fights in the various battles, but she’s not facing danger at every turn, she’s just thinking mostly.  About her dad.  About Ash and Puck.  About her mixed Iron and Summer heritage.  About her ultimate role with the fey. 

It was almost exactly a year ago that I read THE IRON KING and I remember loving the much darker, twisted, faery tale beginning that brought back memories of an equally twisted movie, Labyrinth.  The grim, and often harsh realities of violence and death stalked Meghan and her friends through the Nevernever of The Fey and it was Kagawa’s unwillingness to shy away from that darkness that has kept me coming back to this series despite some other shortcomings. 

Overall, in THE IRON QUEEN, the book where the Iron, Seelie, and Unseelie fey all collide in an epic LORD OF THE RINGS type battle, the story seems largely sanitized of the harsher realities that drew me to this series in the first place. THE IRON QUEEN is an improvement over THE IRON DAUGHTER as the fey war does actually happen in this book.  The battle is epic and the outcome not at all what I predicted, it’s better in fact.   Grimilkin is still a refreshingly fun character and he and Puck share the best interchanges in the book.  More fascinating sides of the Nevernever are revealed including the uber cool city of giants, and the set up for the next book, THE IRON KNIGHT, looks extremely promising, so much so that you can expect to see my review later this year.

Sexual Content: Kissing.  A non graphic scene where sex is implied.


My Rating:

3/5
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.

Click HERE to read an excerpt

Previous books in the series:

1 - The Iron King
1.5 - Winter's Passage eBook (novella)
2 - The Iron Daughter

Also reviewed by:

• BloodyBookaholic
• Parajunkee's View
• Mindful Musings

Giveaway

Giveaway is sponsored by Harlequin Teen

A copy of The Iron Queen and an Iron Fey t-shirt!

In less than twenty-four hours I’ll be seventeen.


Although, technically, I won’t actually be turning seventeen. I’ve been in the Nevernever too long. When you’re in Faery, you don’t age. So while a year has passed in the real world, agewise I’m probably only a few days older than when I went in.


In real life, I’ve changed so much I don’t even recognize myself.


MY NAME IS MEGHAN CHASE.

I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who’s sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I’m not sure anyone can survive it.


THIS TIME, THERE WILL BE NO TURNING BACK.

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