E-Galley Book Review: The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

The Lost Prince

first book in the Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten
Julie Kagawa

October 23, 2012

Galley provided by NetGalley

Don’t look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase’s unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he’s dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister’s world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myths and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

My name is Ethan Chase. And I may not live to see my eighteenth birthday.

I don’t know how to write this review without getting it spoilery or it won’t end up with a lot of text-screaming with lots of exclamations points or just giving the blow-by-blow account of the things that gave me a lot of feels. So perhaps I’m gonna tone down this review and resolve to have just one or two paragraphs posted and I will edit this post in the future (i.e. a day after its official release) and insert all the missing fangirlishness and other points. 

To start off, I was kind of wary and worried when I heard that there was going to be a second Iron Fey trilogy. I was excited, of course, but I thought that the story would get dragged and stretched not to mention if I could take anymore blows to the happily-ever-after of Meghan and Ash. But this was the Nevernever we’re talking about after all and being together to face anything and everything is as close as you could get to having a faery-tale ending. 

As you know, this is Ethan’s story (with Ethan being all grown-up, hot, and half-naked on the cover) and we all thought after being rescued from the fey and safely deposited at home he would be leading a relatively quiet life. It’s definitely anything but. He’s the brother of the Iron Queen after all and has the Sight - the fey never left him alone. Not even if he surrounded himself with every anti-fey paraphernalia. And with what’s brewing in the Nevernever right now, everyone would be counting on him to help, keep his little nephew in tow (please, Kierran, for the love of all that is faery, don’t you dare do what I think you're going to do on the second book!). If you have read The Iron's Prophecy then you know where this is going... *laughter of doom*

*Ahem* I guess I let out a few things out. *sheepish* All I can say is that Julie Kagawa didn’t disappoint in the overall storytelling and recalls to mind the narrative development in the original series. What I’ve read this afternoon had me on a rollercoaster of feelings as I read Ethan’s adventures through the world of fey. I reunite with beloved characters and met some whom I’m still trying to get the grips on. And I look forward to reading The Traitor Son.

ETA:

I seem to remember that I would add other thoughts and comments that I have about The Lost Prince. This time this would focus on the new characters, particularly the girls, and of course the romance part.

One thing: I don't like the girls. Neither Kenzie nor Keirran's love interest whose name escapes me. They just didn't click with me - Kenzie was half-baked and not interesting at all not even if she's been described as the one of the popular crowd but not mean and snobbish like them; the dryad whom Keirran "loves" was negligible. Both of them were flat. And their supposed romance with their respective partners were not believable - Kenzie felt like as soon as she saw how different Ethan was and how mysterious, she gravitated towards him like he was a shiny, new toy. And in Keirran's case... it was like he's having a school-boy crush. Of course, it didn't help that I had Meghan and Ash's story as the standard. That would be a tough one to beat.

So, that is I had to add and the one tick I had with this book.

P.S. It was really cool that kali (we call it arnis here) into the story. It reflected the author's own passion for it... plus the bruises. I got a kick when I read the word mang-huhula. Whoop!