Thursday, January 19, 2012

REVIEW: The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

I was so thrilled to win a signed copy of The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa in a Twitter competition! I'm such a huge fan of the Iron Fey series and I was desperate to read this final installment told from the point of view of icy Prince Ash!

And while I do love a good journey story, especially one that took us to the Edge of the World as did The Iron Knight, and however much I loved Ash and Grimalkin and Puck, I found this story to be lacking something. I can't quite put my finger on it. I really enjoyed it, and I flew through the pages just as addictively as I have the previous three books in the series. It just wasn't as emotionally impactful as the previous books.

While it can be pretty heartbreaking in places as Ash struggles with his choices and his decisions as he's making this epic journey to the edge of Nevernever in order to prove himself worthy of a soul in order to return to Meghan in the Iron realm as her knight, I didn't feel as though Ash's struggles well enough. However, there was still much to love in this book.

What I did love very much, is seeing the world through Ash's eyes. I loved finding out more about his past including his relationship with Ariella and the friendship between Ash and Puck before her death. I found myself lapping up every single detail about Ash before we met him in The Iron King. Even (especially?) when he reveals more about the things he did in the Winter Court, in order to please his Queen and to keep up with the politics. The fey and people he killed without a care and how easily he toyed with human emotions made him more real to me, seeing how flawed he is as an individual.

I also really enjoyed the evolving relationship Ash has with Puck. I was really happy to see him let go of some of that anger and resentment over what happened with Ariella so very long ago. And throughout all these tough decisions and personal development, there is still a great deal of action and excitement as Ash and Puck travel together, meeting some new characters and old and battle against mythical creatures.

All in all, an enjoyable end to what has been one of my favourite recent series! My long-standing crush on Prince Ash remains intact.

6 comments:

  1. I am so far behind in this series. Actually I've only read the first so far but I really liked it a lot. I also really liked Ash so i should hurry myself along and get to this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I adore ALL of the characters in this series, from Ash to Puck and especially, especially Grimalkin :)

      Delete
  2. This is by far one of my favourite series'. Man, I love Ash!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has really quickly become one of my as well, despite not always being a fan of books involving fey!

      Delete

HI! Thank you for leaving a comment, you've just become my new best friend :)