michaela_lubbers's review against another edition
3.0
Takeaway: no, I would not recommend this. I got sucked into book one bc I got it for free on Kindle and now am invested enough to give book 2 a shot (for free, via the library's Libby app, which is 10/10 do recommend). The concept is captivating and I wish this could be re-written for an adult audience with either a better romance or it removed entirely.
Ugh. So. The world building and description of the Nevernever (the Fey domain) is excellent. The overall plot of "iron fey exist and are taking over and killing Nevernever - it's up to us to save it!" is interesting enough that I'm continuing with the series (though I don't know if I'll finish it).
But this damn love triangle! This book is a decade old and, frankly, it shows. It's the tired, boring set up of old friend vs new exciting broody boy. It's enemies-to-lovers done badly - there's very little chemistry, emo boy doesn't say much of anything, ever, and their "falling in love" period was incredibly short and featured a lot of nothing. The claims that Meghan is in love are absurd and ring very, very deeply of 16 year old. Which she is! But damn. The story is treating that as Truth instead of her thinking/feeling/wondering and it just seems silly to me.
Meghan is an OK main character but feels like Kagawa got overly moralistic when writing her. Puck gets to be grating, occasionally, but overall he's fine. I think I might could like Ash if he got to say more than 3 words, was allowed to have expressions, and wasn't shoehorned into this flat romance. As he is, I sort of hate him.
I also have to critique the ending - the build up was so long and then, bam! Conclusion reached?
**spoilers after this:
Yeah, I'm talking about Meghan killing Machina in 3 pages or whatever it was. She spent as much or more time getting into the damn tower than she does killing him! Maybe he's not really dead and that will make more sense later on but it felt very anticlimactic and rushed. He's barely introduced before he's dead and then Meghan thinks she can just stay away while the Iron Court builds itself back up with a new nasty on the throne? Power vacuums don't make things more stable, hon. Somebody needs to be there overseeing and building it up safely!
Ugh. So. The world building and description of the Nevernever (the Fey domain) is excellent. The overall plot of "iron fey exist and are taking over and killing Nevernever - it's up to us to save it!" is interesting enough that I'm continuing with the series (though I don't know if I'll finish it).
But this damn love triangle! This book is a decade old and, frankly, it shows. It's the tired, boring set up of old friend vs new exciting broody boy. It's enemies-to-lovers done badly - there's very little chemistry, emo boy doesn't say much of anything, ever, and their "falling in love" period was incredibly short and featured a lot of nothing. The claims that Meghan is in love are absurd and ring very, very deeply of 16 year old. Which she is! But damn. The story is treating that as Truth instead of her thinking/feeling/wondering and it just seems silly to me.
Meghan is an OK main character but feels like Kagawa got overly moralistic when writing her. Puck gets to be grating, occasionally, but overall he's fine. I think I might could like Ash if he got to say more than 3 words, was allowed to have expressions, and wasn't shoehorned into this flat romance. As he is, I sort of hate him.
I also have to critique the ending - the build up was so long and then, bam! Conclusion reached?
**spoilers after this:
Yeah, I'm talking about Meghan killing Machina in 3 pages or whatever it was. She spent as much or more time getting into the damn tower than she does killing him! Maybe he's not really dead and that will make more sense later on but it felt very anticlimactic and rushed. He's barely introduced before he's dead and then Meghan thinks she can just stay away while the Iron Court builds itself back up with a new nasty on the throne? Power vacuums don't make things more stable, hon. Somebody needs to be there overseeing and building it up safely!
puzumaki's review against another edition
3.0
Fun to relive the story, but also it's not easy to enjoy this without having read the book first. It jumps enough detail to make dinner plot points hard to follow
bethrenee's review against another edition
4.0
Super cute! I loved the original series and this just reminded me of how I felt when I was reading [b:The Iron King|6644117|The Iron King (The Iron Fey, #1)|Julie Kagawa|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327877670s/6644117.jpg|6838626] for the first time.
patienceshantel's review
5.0
Very cute! I really enjoyed it. It is really close to the book and I made me fall in love with the characters all over again. The art work is gorgeous and my love for The Iron King series is still strong and unbreakable. Always Team Ash. Always.
nytxia's review
3.0
I have purchased this exclusively because I enjoyed the book but I was disappointed.
I am giving three stars for the artwork. I thought this was incredibly short and fast paced. It's interesting for those who have read the book as you can see the characters come to 'life'. But if I have to be honest, if I haven't read the book before, this on its own would not pique my interest (so I am happy I read the book first).
Also, dividing the first book in several parts for the manga was a bad move and I won't be buying the next one (I will stick to the books!)
I am giving three stars for the artwork. I thought this was incredibly short and fast paced. It's interesting for those who have read the book as you can see the characters come to 'life'. But if I have to be honest, if I haven't read the book before, this on its own would not pique my interest (so I am happy I read the book first).
Also, dividing the first book in several parts for the manga was a bad move and I won't be buying the next one (I will stick to the books!)
ellieroth's review against another edition
4.0
Si me hubiera dejado guiar solamente por el prefacio, lo más seguro es que hubiera dicho more
carolinemeow's review against another edition
3.0
First thoughts: this book was cliche.
Seriously, all the cliches in a typical fantasy novel. Gorgeous, icy love interest in a position of power/is otherwise somehow special? Check. Protagonist has some special power and everyone wants her for some reason? Check. Protagonist is related to someone powerful? Check. Love triangle (sorta? I guess? I mean the Puck/Ash/Meghan thing)? Check. Fairies? Yeah, you got it. Never seen that one before.
That aside, they weren't badly written cliches even if I didn't find them well written, either. And I liked the talking cat. The talking cat was fantastic and probably the only character in the entire novel I really cared about had he died. The cover was absolutely gorgeous (GORGEOUS), and I thought Ethan was kind of sweet. Also, Machina/Meghan? Yeah, ship it. I like dark relationships, and I won't pretend the concept didn't fascinate me even if Machina got approximately ten pages onscreen.
Also, the idea of fairies born from technology? That's actually a pretty nice idea, I liked it, and it certainly has me convinced me I wanted more. When my friend told me Meghan was special because she was immune to iron, I was like, "Big deal. So there's exactly one substance in the universe that's deadly to fairies. Color me impressed." But when I read the book, I got why this was important.
I felt the pacing was kind of bad, in some ways - mostly Ash and Meghan's romance. I didn't mind it, because at least it didn't take up all three million pages and by the end Meghan's mind didn't dissolve into "Ethan? Machina? Who are they? Nah, gonna stick in the corner and make out with my love interest.", but really, the pacing was terrible and there was no development.
There was also a lot of characters popping in and out of nowhere, without a lot of explanation, just when they were needed. Like, wow, so convenient. (That's also what we call lazy writing.) Especially when Grimalkin appeared at the end, and never even explained how he got there, to help Meghan and Ash. You could say he was a. . .bit of a deus ex machina.
I probably just failed to use that term properly but if I didn't use it at least once in this review I would have been so disappointed in myself.
So, anyway. I'll probably read the next book, because it interested me enough to do it, but it has a lot of issues I feel like I don't like very much.
Seriously, all the cliches in a typical fantasy novel. Gorgeous, icy love interest in a position of power/is otherwise somehow special? Check. Protagonist has some special power and everyone wants her for some reason? Check. Protagonist is related to someone powerful? Check. Love triangle (sorta? I guess? I mean the Puck/Ash/Meghan thing)? Check. Fairies? Yeah, you got it. Never seen that one before.
That aside, they weren't badly written cliches even if I didn't find them well written, either. And I liked the talking cat. The talking cat was fantastic and probably the only character in the entire novel I really cared about had he died. The cover was absolutely gorgeous (GORGEOUS), and I thought Ethan was kind of sweet. Also, Machina/Meghan? Yeah, ship it. I like dark relationships, and I won't pretend the concept didn't fascinate me even if Machina got approximately ten pages onscreen.
Also, the idea of fairies born from technology? That's actually a pretty nice idea, I liked it, and it certainly has me convinced me I wanted more. When my friend told me Meghan was special because she was immune to iron, I was like, "Big deal. So there's exactly one substance in the universe that's deadly to fairies. Color me impressed." But when I read the book, I got why this was important.
I felt the pacing was kind of bad, in some ways - mostly Ash and Meghan's romance. I didn't mind it, because at least it didn't take up all three million pages and by the end Meghan's mind didn't dissolve into "Ethan? Machina? Who are they? Nah, gonna stick in the corner and make out with my love interest.", but really, the pacing was terrible and there was no development.
There was also a lot of characters popping in and out of nowhere, without a lot of explanation, just when they were needed. Like, wow, so convenient. (That's also what we call lazy writing.) Especially when Grimalkin appeared at the end, and never even explained how he got there, to help Meghan and Ash. You could say he was a. . .bit of a deus ex machina.
I probably just failed to use that term properly but if I didn't use it at least once in this review I would have been so disappointed in myself.
So, anyway. I'll probably read the next book, because it interested me enough to do it, but it has a lot of issues I feel like I don't like very much.
eleahareads's review against another edition
5.0
Ive read this book and oh my god it is one of my favourite books EVER! The story is very EPIC and the characters are very hooking. I love the way Julie K. has written it as well. Its new, amazing, romantic, adventurous, gripping and A TOTALLY MUST READ!