Review: Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

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

Sometimes after the first few books of a series the author seems to lose there creative edge.  But this is not this case for Julie Kagawa.  The Iron Queen was fabulous, like the rest of the series.  Meghan really shows what she is made of in this one.  In the first book she was the mind blown girl looking to save her brother and get the heck out of faerie.  But, as we know that didn't quite workout so well.  In the second book we find her stuck in the winter court freezing her booty off and continously in heart ache because of Ash.  The third books starts out with Meghan and Ash banished from the faerie world and all Meghan really wants to do is go home.  Apparently that is too much to ask for.  Meghan and Ash have to find Meghan's 'father' and to do so she has to get her memory back from the oracle in New Orleans.  Turns out Puck is exiled as well and decides to join Meghan and Ash in their journey to find Meghan's dad.  The iron fey are destroying NeverNever under the rule of the false King.  King Oberon and Queen Mab agree to unexile Ash, Puck, and Meghan if Meghan will go into the Iron Realm and defeat the false king.  The Iron Queen is full of friendship, loyalty, love, and bad a** fight scenes as well as sacrifice and heart break that may leave you crying like a baby at the end. 

 

I really like has Meghan has evolved from book one to now.  In the first book she just wanted to save her brother and didn't care how it happened.  She was likeable but reckless and making promises, friends, and enemies left and right.  In the second book she starts out heart broken and imprisoned and devestated for a large portion of the book.  But in this one she begins to own her powers and earns her rightful place in the land of NeverNever.  Despite all of the major events that happen in this book she stays level headed and doesn't need to be saved every few minutes by the boys.   

Ash shows a new side of himself that you don't get to see in The Iron King and The Iron Daughter.  In the first two books he cold and very much the winter prince he was raised to be.  But by the end of the second book when he chooses to be with Meghan and go into exile over NeverNever and the winter court he shows that he really does love Meghan.  In the Iron Queen you see that grow even more and he seems to warm up and become more friendly to even Puck.  Don't get me wrong he will always be the fierce Prince Ash but there is much more to him now.  Plus you can't go wrong with his and Puck's squabbling. 

There is an event at the very end of the book that is my favorite part.  It's very minor but for anyone else that was wondering about this very minor character I don't want to give it away.  It was something that had really been bothering me since book one and thought that it was completely forgotten about.  So to see it pop up at the end of book three I was fantastic.




If you guys didn't know Julie Kagawa's newest faerie book, the Lost Prince came out this past tuesday!!!