Sunday's Reviews

Another week has come to an end and with it, I have a few reviews I'd like to post. So read on and see what I thought of the books I finished this week. I promise, no spoilers :)

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was anxious to read this installment in this series as I had heard this was the best book in the series. Sadly, I don't think that is necessarily true. I didn't find it to be any better or worse than all the others I read. In fact, I think it's right on par with the others and that is just fine with me. I am really enjoying reading this series.

Blurb from Goodreads:
My name is Meghan Chase.
I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.
This time, there will be no turning back

In this installment of The Iron Fey series we are reintroduced to all the characters we know well: Meghan, Puck, Ash, and Grimalkin. We even get glimpses of Oberon and Mab, even Rowan. And we are introduced to a few new characters and "reintroduced" to ones we never saw coming (although I had an idea in my mind). The characters in this book are consistent. We have the sassiness and stubborness of Meghan. The witty and sarcastic personality of Puck. The coldness of Ash, although he does peak through here with his feelings. And the ever elusiveness of Grimalkin.

The storyline is similar to the other books. The characters brave great odds to get through to the Iron Realm so they can kill the "false king" and restore the Nevernever to what it once was. But they meet many obstacles along the way. And you see the characters changing and growing, becoming closer to one another and revealing feelings. The ending broke my heart.

I knew where the story was going, so on that front I found it a bit predictable. It was obvious where they would eventually end up and what Meghan would have to do in the end. But, despite the predictability, I still wanted to read on to find out how the characters got there. To experience the hurdles they needed to overcome to come out as winners in the end.

All in all I enjoyed this, although I can't say it was much different than the others.
I am really looking forward to reading the next book from Ash's point of view. I really want to get into that boys head!

4 out of 5 star from me.

Summer's Crossing by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have to say I didn't realize the cover of this book had any significance until I started reading it. And there it was, a Raven on the front, signifying the even comical Puck! But I had no idea!
So, imagine my surprise when I get to read a book from Puck's POV! Since I didn't read the blurb for this little ditty, I had no idea what it was about. I loved seeing things from Puck's POV! He's funny and egotistical. He's endearing and loving. And he's such a prankster. I loved seeing his thoughts and perspective on things.
And I just love his relationship with Ash. It's so love hate! You can see that they want to be friends, but they have that big rift in between them that has been there for so long. They just can't get over it.
So watching them on an adventure together is really great. I can just feel Ash rolling his eyes at Puck and I can see Puck making faces at Ash behind his back!
And of course we get another glimpse of our favorite cat, Grimalkin. I really love his character. But he's always disappearing when it comes to danger getting in their way.
Puck shows us how he really feels about Meghan. Not that we didn't know, but we had only seen it from her POV previously. We really get to delve a bit into his heart in this novella.
This was really a fun enjoyable read. A little min adventure before the next big leap in the Iron Fey series.
I'm glad I got to it before The Iron Knight. I'm looking forward to seeing things from Ash's POV now.
As with the other Iron Fey books, this gets a 4 out of 5 stars from me. While I love these books, they just don't completely capture me as much as I would like.