The Iron Knight
Julie Kagawa
Publication Date: October 25, 2011
galley courtesy of NetGalley & HarlequinTEEN
My name - my True Name - is Ashallayn’ darkmyr Tallyn. I am the last remaining son of Mab, Queen of the Unseelie Court. And I am dead to her. My fall began, as many stories do, with a girl…
To cold faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.
Then Meghan Chase - a half human, half fey slip of a girl - smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.
With the unwelcome company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end - a quest to find a way to honor his vow to stand by Meghan's side.
To survive in the Iron Realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. And along the way Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.
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I finished reading a couple of months ago but I promised myself that I would post my review about a month prior the publication. So here I am... and I promise I'm going to make this as pain-free and spoiler-free as possible.
As I said in my review of The Iron Queen, the ending left me unsatisfied. What can I say I'm a romantic and even though Meghan's journey's end was the right one, I would've had it that she got to be with the boy she loves. But nooooo, that did not happen and I stewed for hours in the corner grumbling.
But here comes The Iron Knight...
It was like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and I thought that: 'Yes! This will be where all my dreams will come true!' I expected a lot of things from this book: adventure, Ash and Puck's epic showdown, sacrifice, expectations, heartache, fulfillment, the characters own 'pot-of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow' and that unique chockful of goodness that can only be expected from an Iron Fey novel.
I got most of those things but I also got the other things that were unexpected (like that hag! sorry, I just don't do girl-boy-girl triangles) - things that I was apprehensive about and things that made me go What The Snitch! (we have underage people at the Ravenclaw Common Room so we had to come up with swear words that are appropriate for all ages).
The biggest surprise of all had to do with our main character, Ashallyn'darkmyr Tallyn. I just couldn't believe that he had this side of him - a softer, more vulnerable Ash - that effectively smashed my Icy Prince image of him. *sigh*
What I also want to highlight is that not only does this book tell a story but it also touches on a subject that is quite surreal: What makes us human?
Quite a question, ain't it? I'm going to shut up now before I let out all.
Now I was planning on writing you a big review on how amazing this book was and how happy I am that Julie really gave this series the 'firework' ending I was hoping for, this book will captivate you from beginning to end, and when it's over all you'll want to do is pick it up and read it again, so you don't have to face reality that it's all over.
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