Review: The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Publication Date: October 25, 2011
by Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Fantasy
Source: review copy from publisher

To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.
Then Meghan Chase—a half human, half fey slip of a girl— smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.
With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end— a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side.
To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.
And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Before I say anything, can I just say how absolutely gorgeous this book is?  I mean, on the outside.  The cover is beautiful, the pages are all uneven on the side (which just looks cool).  I truly love it.  And now let's move on to the inside, because we all know you can't judge a book by it's cover (although I do it all the time).

This fourth book in the series was a bit slow to start.  Maybe even a lot slow.  And remembering that I didn't particularly love The Iron Queen, I have to say I wasn't especially excited to get to The Iron Knight.  Especially, and most importantly, because I've never really warmed up to Ash.  This book is dedicated to "Team Ash", and I'm most definitely not Team Ash.

Does that mean I hated the book?  Not really.  Once it picked up, it was quite an adventure.  It seems that the characters are hit with one thing after another, which is really not surprising since this is supposed to be a big quest for Ash to gain a soul.  And almost all I could think about was Spike going in search of a soul in Buffy.  This is not new stuff, for sure.

There were definitely some "huh?" moments throughout the book, but when I try not to think too hard about those, I can enjoy this for the fast-paced (at least the second half) adventure story that it is.  And Ash is very much flawed in the story, which is a nice change from the perfect, flawless boys in a lot of YA.  I think I even grew to like Ash as a character a little more, even though I still would have preferred Meghan ending up with Puck.  Oh well.

If you read and liked the previous three books in this series, it's a pretty sure thing that you'll like this one.  This is definitely not the place to start, though, so pick up The Iron King, The Iron Daughter, and The Iron Queen first.
Grade: B-

Review: The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

Publication Date: January 25, 2011
by Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Fantasy
Source: Library


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.




The plot of The Iron Queen, and the previous two novels in the Iron Fey series, is really interesting to me.  I think it's creative.  The biggest problem, for me, is that Julie Kagawa fails to really bring it home.

The characters feel a bit wooden, especially Ash, who is supposed to be a swoonworthy love interest, and who mostly comes across as boring.  And Meghan.  Oh my, is she rather thick-headed at times.  There was one particular point where Grim (the talking cat) was trying to get her to figure something out, and the wheels were turning so slowly in her head that I think they might have actually been going backwards.  Puck, who was my favorite character in the past, isn't even as interesting.

All that said, I was fairly captivated by the story.  I kept turning pages to find out what would happen, which is always a good thing.  And I'm definitely interested enough to read the next book, which I will be reviewing mid-November.  I guess I just wish there was a little more oomph to the story.  A little more something special.  There's a lot of potential here.  Grade: C+   

Review: The Goddess Test

Book Details

Title: 
The Goddess Test (Harlequin Teen)

Author: 
Aimee Carter

Genre: 
YA Fantasy

Page Count: 
297

Publishing Info:
April 19, 2011 by Harlequin Teen

Why I Read It:
netgalley review copy

Grade:
C+ (enjoyable, but not great)

Cover Thoughts:
I'm not exactly sure what's going on here on the cover, or how it relates to the story exactly.  It's kind of a typical YA cover 

My Review

Kate's mother is dying, and before she dies she wants to move back to her childhood home in a small town.  Kate starts going to high school, and (as we so often see in YA) seems to catch the eye of the good-looking boy with the jealous girlfriend.  So the girlfriend plays a prank on Kate, and that's how she meets Henry, who is actually Hades, god of the underworld.  Kate doesn't believe him at first, even after he brings someone back from the dead.  But eventually she believes him, and agrees to live with him and try to pass seven tests (judged by the Olympians) where if she passes, she'll become immortal, and also his wife.

Kate is nice enough, but I got annoyed at how she took the blame for every single thing that was going on around her.  And Henry, your typical brooding, gorgeous YA boy was not very believable as Hades.  At times I think the author forgot she was supposed to be writing Greek gods and goddesses.  I wasn't really feeling the romance either, mostly because Henry was just so blah about it all.  I don't really care about the reasoning behind it; the way it was written doesn't make me root for the romance.  On the plus side, there weren't any characters I hated, and the eye-rolling was minimal.
 

The gigantic house/manor they were all living in was very nice, and although you'd think it'd get boring having the whole story pretty much set in one house, it really didn't. 

If you're a big fan of Greek mythology, you really won't see a whole lot of it in this story.  In fact, if you go into it looking for that, you're bound to be quite disappointed.  On the other hand, if you completely forget that aspect of it, and are just looking for an easy to read, enjoyable YA, you might like this one.

It only took me a couple of days to finish The Goddess Test, and it's a very quick and easy read (that also happens to be quite predictable).  I was thinking the tests she was going to have to pass would have been harder--more focused on Greek mythology maybe, and less on Christian morality (the seven deadly sins).  The story was kind of a mish-mash of different things, but really overall it was enjoyable enough and good if you're looking for something that doesn't require a lot of thought (and in fact, may require you to not think about certain things).

Review: Here Lies Bridget

Book Details

Title: Here Lies Bridget (Harlequin Teen)

Author: Paige Harbison

Genre: Young Adult

Page Count: 224

Publishing Info: January 18, 2011 by Harlequin

My Review

Why I read it: netgalley review copy

The Plot: Bridget Duke is the uncontested ruler of her school. The meanest girl with the biggest secret insecurities. And when new girl Anna Judge arrives, things start to fall apart for Bridget: friends don't worship as attentively, teachers don't fall for her wide-eyed "who me?" look, expulsion looms ahead and the one boy she's always loved—Liam Ward—can barely even look at her anymore.When a desperate Bridget drives too fast and crashes her car, she ends up in limbo, facing everyone she's wronged and walking a few uncomfortable miles in their shoes. Now she has only one chance to make a last impression. Though she might end up dead, she has one last shot at redemption and the chance to right the wrongs she's inflicted on the people who mean the most to her.

The Characters: Bridget is a character you can't help but hate.  She's self-centered, mean, oblivious, and kind of stupid.  And since the story is told in first person, it makes it even worse.  But I'll give props to the author for writing a compelling enough story that even though I couldn't stand the main character, I kept reading.

The Setting: The setting really isn't very important here.  It's a typical high school setting, and I don't even remember if the book ever said what city they were in.

A Sample of the Writing: 
Nothing interesting ever happens or begins on a Thursday.
Friday and Saturday are the weekend.  Sunday is the end of the weekend, the last day of rest.  Monday is the beginning of another week.  Tuesday's a cool name.  Wednesday is "hump day," an expression I loathe.

Who Should Read This? Fans of YA high school dramas.

Final Thoughts: This book was short, and was very quick to get through.  That may have been the best part about it.  I was expecting something quite different when reading the synopsis, and what I got was more of a "mean girl" type story.  Bridget came off almost unbelievable in how mean she was, all the while being completely clueless about it.  The ending also seemed incredibly rushed, and we're left to wonder certain things, and I almost wonder if the author didn't really want to come up with the answers herself.  Not a horrible book if you're looking for an easy read to pass an afternoon, but there are definitely better YA books out there. 

Grade: C

Cover Thoughts: The cover is very eye-catching, but it gives you the impression that Bridget is dead in this story (as does the title), which is not the case at all.

 

Greek: Double Date

Title: Greek: Double Date
Author: Marsha Warner
Genre: YA Fiction
Page Count: 208
Why I read it: review copy from publisher
Grade: C-

Synopsis:
Two dates—same night!Major oops. When Casey Cartwright's brother begs her to be nerdy Dale Kettlewell's date to the sure-to-be-boring Honors Engineering Awards, Casey says yes. Even though Dale is totally not her type… and might have a crush on her. Ugh. But it's a nice thing to do, and Casey's always been the "nice" girl.
But now, that night conflicts with the biggest event of the semester, the All-Greek formal. Casey already has a date lined up: hot transfer student Rob Howell. He's her plan to get over her sexy-slacker ex, Cappie. And even nice girls get to be bad sometimes, right?
What to do? With a little help from BFF Ashleigh, unwanted advice from frenemy Rebecca Logan and even a push from Cappie, what Casey does may surprise even herself….My review:
I imagine reading this book was much like watching an episode of the TV show, Greek. I've never seen the show, but I'm thinking I'm not at all the target audience for this show. I like sci-fi and fantasy shows, and the occasional sit-com (but only if it's really funny). So I'd probably never sit down and watch this show, and for that reason I also had a hard time getting through this book.

The writing was okay, but I never felt invested in the story, and for taking place mostly o...more I imagine reading this book was much like watching an episode of the TV show, Greek. I've never seen the show, but I'm thinking I'm not at all the target audience for this show. I like sci-fi and fantasy shows, and the occasional sit-com (but only if it's really funny). So I'd probably never sit down and watch this show, and for that reason I also had a hard time getting through this book.

The writing was okay, but I never felt invested in the story, and for taking place mostly over the period of one night, it felt like it dragged a bit. I think for a person who watches and enjoys the show, and feels more invested in the characters and their lives, this would be a fun read. For someone like me, who is just coming into it without any previous knowledge, it's just not great.

So, with that said, I would recommend this if you like the TV show, or if you're a really big fan of sorority/fraternity stuff. Otherwise, I don't think it does a good enough job to stand on it's own for YA readers like myself.