The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was my first fae series. It lead me to becoming the fantasy obsessed book reviewer that I am today. So this review is incredibly biased and pretty much a fan-rant.
Ash is the original winter prince, cold inside and outside. He has always hidden his real emotions to survive at court where Mab accepts no weakness.
“May I remind you three,” she stated in a no-nonsense voice, “that even though this is a party, we are there for a specific reason. We are not there to spike the punch, seduce the humans, glamour the food, challenge the males to a fight, or do anything pertaining to mischief. Is that understood”
And Meghan? This bitch aint nothing but weaknesses.
In all fairness, she was full-mortal like 1 book ago so there is a little bit of a learning curve. However her personality is to be the antagonizing opposite of fae. She is trusting, she makes friends easily, she wishes no ill to others. She literally just wanted to adjust to life as a Half Summer Fae which is already quite difficult
“I am so screwed up,” I muttered, flopping back on the bed. The cracks in the ceiling smirked at me, and I groaned. “What am I going to do?”
“Hopefully obsess in silence so I can get to sleep,” Grimalkin said without opening his eyes.”
The worldbuilding is beautiful where each book adds to the complexity of the world without confusing the reader with blocks of text and tons of backstories that you arent sure which to keep track of. The different beasts and animals and magic are woven throughout the plot and reoccuring so it isnt some obscure name-dropping mechanism.
The honor of Ironhorse. The mischief of Grimalkin. The loyality of Puck. The devotion of Ash. The naviety of Meghan. Each character added to this hilarious group dynamic so you enjoy reading as they each struggle to survive crazy circumstances and not kill each other in the process
“Don’t kid yourself, Prince.” Puck grinned and drew his daggers, pointing to Ash with the tip. “You’re a traitor, Meghan’s the Summer princess, and I’m Robin Goodfellow. I’m sure the ranks of Unseelie will just let us waltz right through.”
But yes, there are some very very valid critiques of this series. I just dont want to talk about them.
I want to acknowledge the fact that to this day, I still REREAD this series just to recapture the magic of the world, the awesome fey trope, romance of our characters and the creative build-up to the series’s plot twist. And I cannot say that about a lot of other series.
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