REVIEW: The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

EXCERPT

We whirled around. Grimalkin sat on an overturned

bucket, a bushy gray cat with his tail curled around himself,

watching us lazily.

“Oh, of course!” Puck exclaimed. “There you are. Do you

know what we’ve been through to find you, cat? Have you

been there the whole time?”

“Do not make me state the obvious, Goodfellow.” Grimalkin

twitched his whiskers at him, then turned to me. “Greetings,

prince. I have heard that you were looking for me.”

“If you knew, why didn’t you come to us?”

DESCRIPTION

Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.

Unless he can earn a soul.

To cold, emotionless 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 solemn 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. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.

And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Source: www.juliekagawa.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.
When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.
To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.
Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyper-active Papillon puppy.

Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin; Original edition (October 25, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373210361
• ISBN-13: 978-0373210367

SOURCE:  PUBLISHER

MY THOUGHTS
LOVED IT

The conclusion of the series brings Prince Ash to tell his tale and the story is an epic journey full of quests and obstacles to overcome in order for Ash to obtain a human soul so he can be with Meghan in the Iron court.  Puck and Grimalkin are helping Ash find the solution to his puzzle of becoming human.  The trail leads them through some harrowing clashes (several of them between the group itself) and they meet some unique foes with a good sense of fun brought in by Puck.  Oh Puck, how I love you!  The comic relief he brings to the story is priceless.  The conclusion of the series made me like Ash a bit more since some of his gruffness is worn away a bit.  The bond that forms between Puck and Ash is extremely well done and really helps move the plot along.

Meghan is not the star of this book, but she is in the back of Ash's mind constantly and his loyalty towards her is extremely gratifying for the reader. I honestly kept thinking that this would make a really great movie done in a Monty Python fashion since the trials that the group must endure and overcome had that bit of weirdness and whimsy.  Kagawa does an amazing job of writing the perfect dialogue for these characters.  This is a series I will definitely go back to savor again and again.  I am a bit sad that it is over and hope that the author has something equally wonderful for me to read next.