A Novel with Thoughts and Ponderings

THE IRON KNIGHT

Author: Julie Kagawa ISBN: 9780373210367 11/2011 YOUNG ADULT/FANTASY Publisher: HARLEQUIN TEEN

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa
Unable to survive in the kingdom of his beloved due to his supernatural nature, a warrior prince sets out to turn himself human. But first he must cross deadly lands and overcome nightmarish obstacles before reaching the fabled testing grounds, where he will endure a series of challenges. He is joined on his quest by a team of fantastical creatures, each with an agenda of their own—one, a faery prankster whom the prince has vowed to kill for past misdeeds; another, a wise-speaking cat who claims to be a truthful guide; the third, a legendary and villainous beast pulled right from the fairy tales; and finally, the last, a seer who appears to be the resurrection of the prince's former love, long thought dead but now restored to life and as beautiful and tempting as ever.

With these dubious allies by his side, the prince sets off to achieve his ultimate prize, but to do so will require overcoming the greatest challenge of all in his quest for a human soul—himself.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

It's important to mention that The Iron Fey series has been a roller-coaster for me.  The first book was very intriguing—I couldn't put it down, and I really loved what Kagawa did with the Iron Fey and how they came to be.  It became pretty apparent as Book 2 and 3 rolled around that she was having trouble balancing the romance (Ash and Meghan) with the plot, at times.

Kagawa more or less painted herself into a corner, in other words, and if Book 3, THE IRON QUEEN, had been the last book, a lot of readers would have raised such a hue and a cry that I'd be worried for her.  As someone who is used to reading fantasies where the romance either ends in a bittersweet manner or is given the most ambiguous ending possible, I was okay with it.  And then news of THE IRON KNIGHT came out, and I threw my hands up because I knew where that would lead.

This book is told from Ash's point of view, which is a switch up from the previous three novels (all from Meghan's), and I would have welcomed if it had occurred in Book 2 and not Book 4.  Despite everything, Ash remained largely a mystery, and I really didn't understand the attraction between him and Meghan.  I never felt it.  Going through THE IRON KNIGHT, I can honestly say I understood his side of things much better.  Everything he never said to Meghan—and we only got as second-hand tales—is more or less laid bare. 

The problem is that the end could only be one of two things: he either fulfilled his quest or he didn't.  There wasn't a third option.  And given how everyone reacted with the ending of Book 3, I knew where it was heading, and that took a lot of the punch out of it for me.  It's hard to get worked up over a development when it feels like a stepping stone to a set path and not an obstacle to the unknown.

There is quite a bit more of Puck, which gratified me since he was, and remains, my favorite next to Grim.  I was less enthused that a previously dead character springs back up to make things a bit difficult for Ash.  And by difficult, I mean it was kind of a thinly veiled attempt to add some sort of tension to the possibility of a reunion between Ash and Meghan.

I'll be in the minority, but I thought the end of Book 3 suited things.  THE IRON KNIGHT serves as a good way to see into Ash's head and to give readers the ending they wanted in THE IRON QUEEN, but is otherwise not anything I would get excited over again.

Alexandra Cenni

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