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The Mystical and the Magical

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The Iron King  - Julie Kagawa This is a spoiler-ish review! :P You have been warned.

All right. The Iron King went from something I labeled as 3.2/5 into 4/5.

Faeries, pixies, gremlins, ogres .... I've always found them interesting. I just haven't ever come across a book that really wowed me, except the Faeriewalker series. Not that isn't the only one -- The Iron King won my heart as well!

I started the book because a few of my friends called it really good and amazing. And honestly, when first read it I kept thinking what was so good about it. I didn't find anything that really made me go wow! like other books did.

I'm being quite generous, but that's because how Julie Kagawa ended the book was just so fantastic! I adored the ending; she wrapped with such a nice ending and yet still managed.to leave an aching cliffhanger.

Though the ending was fabulous, there was a few things I couldn't overlook.

The first thing -- the books starts off really slow. Like, dead-pan slow. Its not action-packed from the beginning; Julie Kagawa takes time to build to her story, which, I guess was all right. But I think for impatient readers it might count as stars off. I'm actually quite flexible and patient, but not completely. I had 50% limit remaining before the action started.

Another thing. Puck.

Puck is Meaghan's best friend. I loved him -- dude, he was so funny and cheerful. I loved his sense of humor, and he made me laugh out loud. And trust me, berg few books do that to me. I usually just lol in my head.
Anyway! The thing I hated was the lack of Puck during the whole book. He's been with her since forever, but Julie Kagawa makes him appear as though he has no connections, no feelings towards the person he's been protecting from the Faeryland. For example, when (spoiler!) Meghan goes to take back her brother from the supposed abducters from Faeryland, the author almost immediately takes Puck out of the picture by saying "he's put as a crow for centuries for bringing you back." It's almost obvious Puck has romantic feelings for Mehgan, but Kagawa took him out of the picture so her relationship could develop with the Winter prince, Ash.

He's the other thing: the romance with Ash.
I personally think it popped up out of no where. There were very small signs given. He embraced her once, helped her from falling from a ditch, carried her off to her bed -- but there was nothing I could tell that made me think that he had feelings. It could seem that he was merely doing it out of the kindness of his cold heart (hardi har har) or perhaps because he found her "interesting." To say in the least, the romance developed too fast for my liking.
Wait! Before I move on to the awesomeness, I'd like to point out another flaw I found in Ash (oh, that name is so sexy for a cold-hearted prince!) (Spoiler!) -- Ash had been in love before, but she ended up dying right on his arms because of Puck (which explains why they loathe each other so much). But, I found that that doesn't go well with his personality -- he's cold (not literally, but he is that, too!), composed, closed-off and seems like the type that doesn't trust anyone too easily. That's the problem -- after his heart being broken, he still falls in love with Meghan so easily. I found that really .... infuriating. :/ So maybe Ms. Kagawa might say, "I put it as love-at-first-sight," but then I would say, "It still could've been written better, then."

Now onto the good parts! Spoilers ahead!

The ending just wowed me. Throughout the whole book, I was thinking what rating to give the book -- somehow, I couldn't bring myself to give it a 3-star, but not a 4-star either, because, honestly, it didn't deserve that.

When Meghan goes on to battle the Iron King to release her brother, she's so much stronger than the damsel in distress she was before. And when she found Ash almost dead -- and this was my favorite part -- she didn't run to him. Did I mention I hate it when herioines do that? Running to their lover when they find him unconscious or hurt? Its like they completely forget the trap and saving the world.
Well.

MEGHAN DIDNT DO THAT!!


Lord, I was so happy. She really exceeded herself there. And the battle scenes? Epic. I love it do much that I decided to ignore my other peeves and boost up this book's ratings! :D

Definitely a book you should read. Really good.

4/5