The Bursting Bookshelf

Title: The Iron King
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release: February 1, 2010
Rating: 5/5
Pages: 368
Series: Iron Fey Series
Synopsis:
Meghan Chase has a secret destiny—one she could never have imagined…
Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.
But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Review:
Wow. Oh my gosh, wow. I went in with no real idea of what this book was about but I expected it to be similar to the Wicked Lovely series that I really enjoyed. The two books are hugely different but boy, did I ever love this book. It was so different from what I expected it to be. I was left speechless when I finished it and it left me anxious to get home to the second one. I loved this book. It left me speechless and wanting more from the romance aspect to the action parts too. Ahhh! I don't have the words to say how much I enjoyed this book.

The characters blew me out of the water. I immediately fell for both Ash and Puck and I thought it was so cute how Puck was watching over her her whole life with out her knowing. It was so romantic to me! But then Ash. Woah, he came into the story and I completely fell for Ash. the way he was so cocky when he asked Meghan to dance in the beginning to the way he risked his life to help her to the Iron Kingdom (he was bound to do so, but hey: it was still cute!). He was dark and dangerous and risky. I liked him A LOT. My all time favorite character in this book was Grimalkin. He made me laugh and I liked the general vibe from that character. He just was quirky and was great as he was completely and utterly unique. I mean how often is it that you read about a talking cat with attitude? The main character for this book was Meghan Chase, an ordinary girl who finds out that she's half faery on her sixteenth birthday. She also finds out that Robbie, her best friend and seemingly guy next door, is the infamous Puck who has had numerous stories and such written about him over the years. That's a lot to go through when all you want for your birthday is your drivers permit. I adored Meghan. She was able to cope with all that and save her brother from the Iron Fey. That's a lot to put on a newly turned sixteen year old girl. I think she dealt with it amazingly and realistically. I mean the character had the real flaws that a teenage girl actually has. It was great that she wasn't some uber-perfect chick, but I was able to relate with her.

The cover was gorgeous. That's it. End of story. It was beautiful and it fits the book perfectly and it was a big reason in why I bought this book from the start. I love the shiny highlights on the cover and the thorn theme that's going on in the background, the title and the thorns that kind of frame the rest of the cover. It all came together extremely well and the cover model is exactly how I picture Meghan in the book. I also just love the colour too!

The story and setting were just as great as the characters. They were different than anything I've ever read. There were equal parts action  I really enjoyed Julie's writing style and how she painted a picture in my head of what everything looked like and how things worked. She left no hanging questions along the way and she provided a very full story along with the amazing description. Julie also obviously had an idea of where she wanted her story to go and how it would get there as no part dragged at all and something was always happening even if it was the death threats being thrown around by Puck and Ash, she made it interesting. The novel itself was also a really nice length, not too long but also not too short that it just flies by in an hour. This book was just amazing.

Just reiterate myself, everything in this book was just great. The Iron King kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through. Everything was well planned and written from the characters to the setting, I enjoyed every last detail of this book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has not read it yet. That's why it gets a well deserved 5/5.