The Amateur Writer

Thoughts:

I decided to pick up the series on a whim after it kept on popping up on my Goodreads recommendation list. So far I've never gotten into the Faery genre because of my previous bad experiences with it before. I don't get why it is such a difficult genre to write about when I think it is quite similar to vampires and werewolves. It falls under Supernatural after all.

As I'm writing this review, I am almost done with the second book of The Iron Fey series. Just figured it would be a relevant information for you guys to know. I will try to keep my thoughts from being mixed up with my feelings about Book 2. So here we go...

Kagawa might be one of the best writers for the Faery genre to date. Now I haven't read much Faery books but compared to other writers, she gets my vote. Her writing style is vivid and the world she has created for the series is beautiful and scary. She manages to create a seamless connection between what we imagine the Faery world should be (beautiful, magical,etc) and the dangers that come with that world.


The plot is quite strong because you will definitely get a non-stop adventure with The Irong King. For a book of 300+ pages you wouldn't think that the plot could progress much but let me tell you, a LOT happens within those 300 pages. You can't help but heaved a huge "PHEW" by the end of it. If an adventure is what you're looking for, this is the book to read.

Issues:

Now I probably will sound real harsh for this section. I've done a few reflections and this is what I came up with: My comments in this section really reveals what type of reader I am. What's my drive, what I look for in a book, etc. First off I'm very aware of this fact but I am a character-driven reader. It is crucial for me to be able to relate to the character in order for me to love the book.

Characters & Characterization

Therefore my biggest issue with The Iron King is the characterization of its characters. Kagawa has so much to work with and she blew it in the first book. I would even go as far to say that characterization is not exactly her forte. Her characters' lines are weak (ref: Puck) and their motives are questionable at times. There will be moments where you will go, "Why do you do that? That doesn't make sense!" so I do find myself frustrated quite often throughout reading this book. My beef is definitely with the main protagonist, Meghan because I started out liking her but her personality really challenges my patience with every page turned. To put it simply, she's dumb. End of story.

What I want to do to Meghan as I go through the book:

Marketing & Romance

I have a problem with the marketing of the series. If you take a look at the cover, it really comes off as this story of a great forbidden romance. And for a reader who soaks up that kind of sh*t, naturally I would buy it because I expect to read that kind of story. However when I read the book, it wasn't focused on the romance but instead on saving Ethan. Which is cool but I felt cheated somehow because there's barely any substantial development between Meghan and Ash. There's barely any build up on their romance because before you know it, they're sucking each other's faces off which is soooooo weird. The romance feels really forced and that sucks because then you would start questioning the marketing of this book. I really think it should be under the Fantasy genre instead of Young Adult. Yes, there's always something supernatural about the YA books these days but The Iron King should really belong at the Fantasy section of the bookstore instead of YA. Just because the main character is sixteen doesn't mean the book should be in YA.

The thing about most YA books is that there's always the promise of a romance with a hot guy and often, the plot revolves around the main character trying to be with the guy. But that's not the case with The Iron King. Meghan wants to save her brother from the Faeries. Why not focus on that and let us readers just discover Ash by accident. Then it wouldn't be as bad. In fact I wouldn't have an issue about the lack of development between Ash and Meghan because I know that is not the main focus of the book.

Marketing FAIL!

PS: You can't expect me to be on Team Puck or Team Ash when Meghan barely interacts with the two of them. :/

Honestly Julie Kagawa can be at the level of Cassandra Clare in terms of having an awesome series but seeing that Clare kicks ass at creating awesome characters, then Kagawa loses this round. Her publisher should do her a favour and put her under the Fantasy genre instead.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Obsession Rating: 3 out of 5