Review - The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden, Book 2) by Julie Kagawa (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic/Science Fiction
Size: 448 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Date: April 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-0373210695
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Blood of Eden series
Source: eGalley through NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the second book in the Blood of Eden series by Kagawa. I got an eGalley of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. Thanks to Harlequin Teen and Netgalley for a chance to read and review this book. This was an action-packed and fast-paced continuation of this post-apocalyptic vampire series.

Allie has vowed to rescue her maker, Kanin, who is being held captive by the psycho vampire Sarren. In her hunt for Kanin, she runs into her blood brother, Jackle. Allie and Jackle form an uneasy truce and end up hunting Sarren and Kanin back to where it all started...New Covington and the Fringe. Meanwhile a new strain of the Red Lung plague has broken out and is killing humans and vampires alike.

This was an excellent continuation of this series and I actually liked it better than the first book in this series. Allie spends a lot of time struggling with the balance between her vampiric nature and human morals. She is a very intense character, just like in the first book. In this book we spend a lot more time with Jackle, her brother (he was also made by Kanin). Jackle adds a lot of snark and dark humor to this book and I really enjoyed him as a character.

Zeke is in this book as well, later in the story. I liked him better in this book than the first one, he still comes across as a little needy; although he has become more accepting of Allie and what she is. There are a number of interesting revelations about him as well. The romance between Zeke and Allie is there, but it doesn’t necessarily drive the story. I enjoyed that their romance was in the background but still part of the story.

There is a lot of action in this book and a lot of mystery solving. They are trying to track down Kanin, figure out what Sarren wants from the labs he’s been raiding, and ultimately find a cure for Rabids.

The plot is fast-paced and engaging and there are some interesting twists and turns throughout. The book is well written and easy to read, the writing flows well.

Overall a decent continuation of this series. Honestly I still like Kagawa’s Iron Fey series better than this one, but I think that’s just because I like reading about Fey more than post-apocalyptic vampires. The book is fast-paced and engaging and I found it to be an entertaining read. I am eager to see how things progress in the next book in this series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- Young Adult Reading Challenge

Early Review - The Lost Prince (Call of the Forgotten, Book 1) by Julie Kagawa (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 400 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: October 23, 2012
ISBN: 978-0373210572
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Forgotten, 5th book in the Iron Fey series
Source: eGalley though NetGalley(dot)com
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This is the first book in the Call of the Forgotten series by Kagawa, this is a side-series that takes place after the events of The Iron Knight and features Meghan’s younger brother Ethan. I got an eGalley of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. I definitely recommend reading the Iron Fey series before this one because it is a great series and provides some wonderful background for this new series. This was a very well done book.

Ethan has spent his whole life running from and avoiding the Fey. He tries to not let on the he can see the Fey and tries not to get too close to anyone so that the Fey can use them against him. Things get complicated though when the Fey start disappearing and then Ethan is attacked by a new type of Fey. Now Ethan must journey into the Iron Realms to consult his sister and see if he can figure out the mystery of the disappearing fey.

Excellent start to a great new Iron Fey based series. Kagawa’s writing style is easy to read, action packed, and just as engaging in this book as in her other Iron Fey novels.

I don’t like Ethan as much as a character as I liked Meghan. Ethan comes off as a standoffish and whiny jerk. I know that’s kind of the point; but it makes it hard to relate to him. As the book continues Ethan does start to change his tune a bit, but his anger at pretty much everything and everyone is hard to deal with. I do think he has potential to become an excellent hero, but only time will tell.

Ethan’s friend Kenzie is a much more interesting character. She’s spunky and fun and has secrets of her own. She wants to be a journalist and I love how she is always where she shouldn’t be making trouble. She adds a lot of fun to the story and she offsets Ethan’s brooding, dark personality nicely.

For those who want more of our favorite Iron Fey characters, don’t worry they are here. Grimalkin features in the story quite a bit as does Leanesidhe. Puck is in the story a lot as well. We do get to see Ash and Meghan but they are more in a supporting role.

One of my favorite things about this book is that Kagawa introduces a whole new type of Fey. I am curious to learn more about this Fey and to find out how it is tied up with the Iron Fey.

This book is incredibly well written and fun to read. There is humor throughout as well. It’s fast-paced and has some excellent twists and turns that were impossible to predict. A perfect blend of action, some mystery, and of course a sweet little love story.

Overall an excellent start to a new Iron Fey based series. Fans of the Iron Fey series should be pleased. Ethan is a bit dark, brooding, and whiny for me at times...but I think he has potential. We get some excellent new characters, but the ones we know and love aren’t forgotten. A whole new race of Fey is introduced as well. Highly recommended for fans of YA urban fantasy. This is a great start to another wonderful series by Kagawa.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Novella Review - Iron’s Prophecy (The Iron Fey, Book 4.5) by Julie Kagawa (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 239 KB
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: September 1, 2012
ASIN: B0088NH1VC
Stand Alone or Series: 4.5 in the Iron Fey series
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This is a novella in the Iron Fey series that takes place after the 4th book in the series, The Iron Knight. This was an absolutely wonderful novella featuring Meghan and Ash. Highly recommended to fans of the Iron Fey series.

Excellent continuation of Meghan and Ash's story. Time has past and Meghan and Ash are married and in love. Meghan is exhausted running the Iron Kingdom but happy. That is until the Oracle demands her presence and warns of the Iron Prophecy which could rip the fairylands apart. This novella expands on the prophecy mentioned in previous books and starts to tie in with the next book Kagawa is releasing, The Lost Prince.

This novella is very well written and engaging. I loved reading more about Meghan, Puck, and Ash.

It was wonderful to see Meghan and Ash finally having a normal and happy life together. I loved reading more about the Iron Kingdom and how things worked there.

There is an awesome surprise in this novella and a new danger introduced. I really enjoyed that the Iron Prophecy was expanded upon.

All of our favorite characters are here, I especially loved hearing from the sarcastic and oh so catty Grimalkin again...I love that Cheshire-like cat.

Overall an excellent little novella. Highly recommended to fans of the Iron Fey series. It builds on the last Iron Fey book and sets things up for the first book in the Call of the Forgotten series, The Lost Prince, which features Meghan’s younger brother Ethan.

Early Review - The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey, Book 4) by Julie Kagawa (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 400 pages
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: October 25th, 2011
ISBN: 978-0373210367
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in the Iron Fey series
Source: eGalley though NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the fourth book in The Iron Fey series by Kagawa. I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley(dot)com. It was a great book, not as good as the previous series, but it wraps up things nicely. As far as I can find this book wraps up the Iron Fey series. Who knows what the future will hold though?

Ash will do anything to be able to stand by Meghan's side, but she has banished him from the Iron Realm so that he doesn't kill himself trying to stay there. Now Ash has a new quest, to find a way to become mortal. Helping him on his quest his is nemesis/best friend Puck, the ever-sarcastic Grimalkin, and even the Big Bad Wolf. Ash will have to travel to the end of the world and back again if he is to complete his quest.

While this was an excellent story it wasn't nearly as excellent as the first three books. The plot is very linear and having the story from Ash's point of view was okay, but not nearly as awesome as when it was from Meghan's point of view. Ash is a bit too moody and too whiny, there is a lot of humor lost with him as the narrator.

The true point of this book was to give us a more in depth look at the relationship between Puck and Ash and the history behind it. The other goal was to wrap up all of the crazy loose ends that were left from the from The Iron Queen.

Unlike the previous books that had multiple things going on, this story is very linear and quest based. Ash and Puck journey to the seer, then they fight, then they journey to point B, then they fight, then point C, then they fight, ect. etc. It was engaging enough and interesting enough, but not nearly as epic as the previous books. It kind of reminded me of a basic Dungeons and Dragons quest. The majority of the obstacles that Ash and company fight through on their quest are fairly familiar types of things from previous literature (glowing eyed Sphinxs, dooplegangers, etc). We meet a lot of interesting new Fey, but they are met in passing.

We do get to learn a ton about the history between Puck and Ash and about what happened with their former love, Arielle. It was nice to get the back story behind this and it really helped to lend understanding to Puck and Ash's characters. I loved that Grimalkin was in the story so much; the banter between him and the Big Bad Wolf kept things from getting too serious.

I did enjoy how Kagawa explores the theme of what it means to be human and what it means to have a soul as Ash searched for a way to become mortal. This was a large theme throughout the book and it is always an interesting one to read about.

This book does do an excellent job of wrapping things up. Although I have to admit I kind of enjoyed the open ending that Kagawa gave The Iron Queen, it was a unique way of ending the story that stayed true to the not-everything-ends-like-a-fairy-tale feeling that the story had. This wrap-up book seems more like something that was written to make her fans happy than anything else, as such it comes off as almost too good to be true.

Overall this was a good read. If you are a fan of the series you have to read it. I found the story generally engaging and loved some of the new fairies that we run in to. I didn't like Ash as a narrator all that much, he was too broody for me. The story was also much more linear than the previous books and had a bit of quest crawl feel to it. It also ended a little to happy, happy for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it...it just didn't blow me away like her other books did. This book felt like something Kagawa wrote to placate her fans. Anyway, I am eager to see what she comes up with next. Immortal Rules, the first book in her new Blood of Eden series, is due out sometime in 2012.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge
- E-book Reading Challenge

Short Story Review - Summer's Crossing (Iron Fey Short Story) by Julie Kagawa (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 213 KB
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: June 1, 2011
ASIN: B004XDYXN0
Stand Alone or Series: 3.5 in Iron Fey Trilogy
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 5/5 stars
 
This story takes place after The Iron Queen but before The Iron Knight.  I love this series and was excited to read this story.  It was an excellent installment in the series and well worth the money spent (I actually bought it for $2.39, although it is free now).
The story is told from Puck's perspective.  Ash is trying to find Grimalkin and he goes to Leanansidhe for help.  Unfortunately Ash owes Leanansidhe and she decides to call in her favor now.  Ash needs to go into the heart of the Summer Court and steal back Leanansidhe's violin from Titania.  He will need Puck's help to accomplish this, but will Puck remain loyal to Ash or let Ash fall to Titania in order to have Meghan for himself?

Kagawa does an excellent job in writing this story from Puck's perspective; Puck's tone of voice is deadon throughout and it was fun to read something from his viewpoint and to get inside his head a bit.

The story is fairly straightfoward initially but Kagawa does a good job of throwing in a couple twists and turns to mislead the reader and keep them guessing.  Kagawa's writing style is so readable and fun it made this story a pleasure to read.  Kagawa also packs a lot of story into this short story; you get more insight into Puck's character and into Ash's.  There was also some humor throughout to keep things lighter.

Overall I really enjoyed this short story and look forward to reading The Iron Knight when it comes out.  If you like reading about faerie be sure you read this series; Kagawa has great characters, a wonderful world, and doesn't sugar coat the danger of the Fey.

 

Review - The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, Book 3) by Julie Kagawa (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Urban Fantasy
Size: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: January 25, 2011
ISBN-13:  978-0373210183
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Iron Fey series
Source: ARC from NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the third book in the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. The fourth book in the series The Iron Knight is due out some time in 2011. I got an advanced reading copy of this book through NetGalley(dot)com. This was an excellent addition to the series and a great place to leave things with Meghan. I am not sure how she does it but Kagawa sure does know how to write a story that draws the reader in and totally captures your imagination. Can I give this book more than 5 stars?

Meghan and Ash have been cast out of Nevernever. Meghan is determined to go home to her human family but on her way up the driveway is attacked by the false Iron King's minions. Now she realizes she can't go home until the False Iron King is dealt with. To do that she needs to learn both how to fight and how to use her magic reliably. When she sets on the path to destroy the false Iron King she has no idea that her path will take her to an epic battle between the False Iron King and the rest of the fey; the very existence of the Nevernever will depend on Meghan's resolve.

This is a wonderful wonderful book in what has been an absolutely stellar series. Kagawa creates characters that are complex, easy to engage with, and so easy to care about. The world she has created is amazingly complex, but never feels too complicated. At every turn we see new fascinating places, people, and creatures. Kagawa always keeps you guessing. There is a ton of action here, some true love, adventure, quests, epic battles...really this book has everything any fantasy fan could ever hope for.

Gone is the Meghan who couldn't take care of herself; she is replaced with a girl with more backbone, more know how, and more resolve than ever before. The Winter Prince Ash has finally thawed, gone is the stoic Prince from previous books...now he is showing us how he feels and giving us glimpses into his past that help to explain his actions. To keep the story from getting too intense we have Meghan's sharp sense of humor and the presence (and sudden absences) of the wonderful Grimalkin...he continues to be mysterious, funny, and very Cheshire-cat-like. Grimalkin is hands down my favorite character in this series.

Kagawa does such an excellent job describing environments, I actually feel like I am there with Meghan. Her action scenes are creative and you never know what is going to happen when you turn the page. And this book was a page turner. I read the almost 400 page book effortlessly and couldn't believe I had already reached the end. It was soooo hard to put down. As for the characters, well this book is quite a rollercoaster...the characters are put through a lot. You will laugh, you will hold your breath, and you will cry a few times...it takes a great author to pull a reader through all this emotion and that is what Kagawa is. At times in this book the story becomes truly epic and I was impressed that Kagawa handled massive battle scenes just as wonderfully as the other types of scenes in this book.

My only complaint is that I want more. I will warn that some readers may be disappointed in how this book ends....the fact that there will be a book dedicated to Ash's story called The Iron Knight should give a bit of insight into the ending of this book. I personally thought it ended well and realistically, although it did feel a bit rushed and I was surprise that Meghan didn't struggle a bit more to change things.

Overall this is absolutely, hands-down the best fae based story I have ever read. Kagawa is a writer to keep you eye on; this blows all of those other YA faerie series out of the water. I just don't know how she does it; the pacing, the creativity, the wonderful world and characters; it is all spot on. I am super excited to see what The Iron Knight brings us and I thoroughly enjoyed this series. I highly recommend it to any fantasy fans out there; not just the female set either...there is enough fighting, action, and epic battle to make this book appeal to any fantasy fan in the young adult or older age category.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- The Young Adult Reading Challenge

- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge

The Iron Queen

Review - Winter's Passage by Julie Kagawa (4.5/5 stars)

I read The Iron King and loved it.  Then I got an advanced digital copy of the Iron Daughter and loved that as well.  So when I saw Kagawa had released a short story that takes place in the time that passes between those two books I was excited!  This was a great little story.  I got my copy of this story through netgalley.com

This story tells about what happens to Ash and Meghan after they leave her house but before they get to the Winter Court.  Ash and Meghan are being hunted by something dark, determined, and evil.  Can they make to the safety of Winter's Realm before it catches them?

If you liked The Iron King you will like this story. Kagawa writes it in the same action-packed, edgy, and engaging style that she her previous book.  This book also fills out a little more about what happens between Ash and Meghan to makes things super tense when they are in the Winter Court, in The Iron Daughter.

I really enjoyed the story.  I read it on my Kindle and it was a great read.  It is just a novella though and, at 60 some pages long, only takes an hour or two to read.  Still it is a nice interlude to hold you through until you can read The Iron Daughter.  Which by the way is an excellent book too.  I am very impressed with Kagawa's writing, I love how she leaves all the bad, gritty things in fairy with all the good.


You can read my review of her next book, The Iron Daughter, here.

Review - The Iron King (Iron Fey Trilogy, Book 1) by Julie Kagawa (5/5 stars)

This is the first book in the Iron Fey trilogy by Julie Kagawa,  The second book "The Iron Daughter" is due out in August of 2010.  I got my copy of this book through the Amazon Vine Program.  This was an awesome book and blew other young adult fairy series right out of the water.

Meghan Chase lives on a pig farm and her family is poor but her life isn't awful.  Then her brother complains about a dark man in his closet; when Meghan goes to look she thinks she sees something there, but when she looks directly it is gone.  Things start getting weirder and weirder for Meghan.  When she comes home to find her mother knocked out on the kitchen floor and her younger brother Ethan replaced by something that's not Ethan but looks like him...well she freaks.  Luckily her friend Robbie comes to her aid.  Only Robbie is not really her friend but the good old Puck sent to protect Meghan...because...you guessed it she is actually a fairy princess in hiding.  Meghan then embarks on a dark journey to save her brother and find out the truth of her own past.

This was an awesome book.  I really enjoyed Kagawa's writing style.  Her writing style is to the point but leaves room for beautiful description.  Kagawa is not afraid to show the dark side of the fae and does an excellent job of making them creepy.  She also excelled at the action scenes, they were awesome...with enough danger and gore to make them believable but not overdo it.  She doesn't shy away from violence...there is some swearing, some talk of rape, and lots of injuring in this book.  None of it was excessive and I thought it made for a better story, unlike some YA fantasy that shies away from showing the darker side of fairy.

The characterization was also very well done.  Meghan is an excellent character that really is just a normal girl caught in extraordinary circumstances.  She doesn't whine, she just does the best she can and through her wits and caring nature she accomplishes a lot.  Robbie and Ash are also excellent characters, both of them have deep dark pasts that make their characters at times tender and at times very dangerous, even bordering on evil.

The concept of fairy that Kagawa uses is unique.  I loved that she adds in a third fairy group that both the Unseelie and Seelie courts are in danger from.  The idea of human belief causing the rise of this third fairy group was unique and I loved how human advancement in technology ties into it all.  A very unique idea; at times it reminded me of parts of the Neverending Story and at times it got a little sci-fi. 

The story wraps up well at the end, but definitely leaves you wondering what will happen in Meghan's future.  I really, really want to read "Iron Daughter" as soon as I can get a copy of it. 

Overall this blows away most of the other young adult fairy literature that I have read.  It is much better than Marr's Wicked Lovely series, better than Lament, and better than Aprilynne Pike's Wings (although I did like that book).  I put this book on par with Holly Black's Modern Fairy Tales series; and I loved that series to death so that is saying a lot!

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The Debut Author Challenge
- The Young Adult Reading Challenge
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge
- 1st in a Series Reading Challenge