The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

The Iron King is just plain fun. Julie Kagawa takes sixteen-year-old Meghan Chase on a heroic journey through the lands of Faerie, where she meets a host of vivid characters and crosses unearthly landscapes in search of her missing kid brother. Along the way, she learns a dangerous secret about her parentage, gets caught up in a Faerie political struggle, and finds herself torn between two very different fey boys.

There’s an element of pastiche to The Iron King; readers may spot a dash of Lewis Carroll here, a smidge of Labyrinth there, a hearty dollop of Shakespeare, and even some Greek mythology. (Read the scene where Meghan meets Queen Titania and tell me there aren’t some serious Hera vibes going on.) Yet Read More

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

Meghan Chase has kept her promise and allowed Ash, prince of the Winter Court, to take her back to the castle of his mother, Queen Mab. Before arriving at the castle, Meghan thought a hint of romance had blossomed between her and Ash. Yet now he treats her with cold disdain before the entire Unseelie court.

The early chapters of The Iron Daughter focus largely on Ash’s icy demeanor and Meghan’s resulting hurt feelings. Meghan is rather annoying in these scenes; her angst drowns out any rational thought she might apply to the matter. The reader can easily see the real reason for Ash’s behavior, and so it’s frustrating to watch Meghan miss it. Happily, this doesn’t go on too long before Julie Kagawa introduces this book’s big conflict.

To sum it up quickly and as non-spoilerishly as possible, the Iron Court has regrouped under a n... Read More

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

A plague has killed off much of the human race, and now vampires rule, keeping the remaining humans under tight control to ensure a steady blood supply. Allie Sekemoto lives on the outskirts of New Covington, a vampire-ruled city. She’s part of a ragtag gang of street kids who survive by scavenging and stealing. And she hates vampires. That is, until the day she is mortally wounded and brought back as one of them.

The Immortal Rules follows Allie as she learns how to live as a vampire (still on the run, because her sire is persona non grata in vampire society), and later joins a party of humans and tries to fit in among them. Julie Kagawa creates a harsh post-apocalyptic world, spins an action-filled plot, and introduces us to a fierce heroine. Allie’s determination to survive and her unwillingness to blindly obey anyone will keep r... Read More