23. The Iron King

Well, it's the end of summer. I'm torn between mourning the loss of break and rejoicing at the advent of fall. I'm choosing to focus largely on the latter, and I've already begun looking at pumpkin decorations and leaf crafts. But my summer reading ended with a bang, since The Iron King was such fun to read. I hope you had as lovely a summer as I did, and here's my last review. 

...SPOILERS..

It’s been a while since I’ve indulged in a fairy-world novel, but I’m glad that I chose to return to that genre with The Iron King. The novel was, to put it simply, fun. It was an easy read, with no excessive thinking required. It took no effort to understand the fantasy aspect of the story, because Kagawa laid it out so neatly. She took a fair amount of artistic license by creating the Iron fey, but she did it without introducing excessively complicated ideas. I liked the way she weaved between the human and the fantasy worlds. She had an intriguing concept of human technology and progress stifling the fairy world. Kagawa’s plot was based on the idea that fairies only exist as long as people believe in them; once people stop believing, the world of fairies withers away. But instead of coming across as overly conservative and anti-progressive, Kagawa formed an exciting, suspenseful story about finding balance between two worlds. My biggest complaint would have to be the predictability of the story. From the moment the main character’s father disappeared, I knew that King Oberon would be her true father. It was foreshadowed somewhat heavily, like with Puck calling her Princess and acting like her bodyguard. Another boringly predictable aspect was with Prince Ash, who we all knew would end up being the love interest. Kagawa had a heavy hand with her insinuations, and there was no subtlety to the foreshadowing. But beyond that, the plot itself was exciting and adventurous. The various journeys of the characters were amusing to read, and the story was fast paced. It was a quick read, and an entertaining one at that.