Book Review: The Iron Daughter

Love & Betrayal

A Faery World

Gone Mad

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

I reluctantly picked up Julie Kagawa's The Iron Daughter last fall. I say reluctantly because I didn't like The Iron King as much as I had hoped I would. Also, I'm very definitely Team Puck. And everyone told me that if I liked Puck, I wouldn't like this book. That it was more for Ash fans.

Well... after finishing the book (after having it on hold for over half a year), I can say I don't exactly agree. This book made me love Puck more and hate Ash more. Which is fine. And when I say I'm Team Puck that doesn't mean I'm rooting for a Puck/Meghan relationship. In fact, Puck deserves better. In my humble opinion, that is. I adore Robin Goodfellow and all his trickery.

My biggest issue with the book is that things fall into place a bit too easily. "If only we had..." "Oh what luck... We do!" Once is fine. Twice I can live with. But a handful of times... it bugs me. Meghan is our heroine, along with her friends Puck, Ash, Grim, and more. And too often things are just handed to her.

That being said, I did enjoy the book. The way the Iron Court was introduced in book one was fascinating, and I'm enjoying learning more about them. I can't wait for book three, The Iron Queen and book four, The Iron Knight. And if you love these, be sure to check out both the Winter's Passage and Summer's Crossing novellas (available in ebook only).

(I feel like book three's title spoiled me way back when I was reading book one.)

Be sure to follow Julie Kagawa on Twitter (she's a funny lady!) and check out her blog. I love the posts with Iron Fey comics.

Book Review: What the Mouse Found, To Find a Wonder, Tales of Beedle the Bard, and Angelic

It's been a while since I've posted, so I'm going to cover several books in this post. First, WHAT THE MOUSE FOUND an anthology of stories for children by Charles de Lint. Since he's one of my favorite authors, I bought the special edition through Subterranean Press. It was quick and sweet. Tip and the Lion was my favorite story. Though these were written for children, they can be enjoyed by all ages.


Remember Braleigh, my lovely faery doll made by Jennifer Carson? Well here she is reading TO FIND A WONDER, another sweet children's story written by Jennifer Carson. Like so many tales for kids, they are great for adults as well. This story is about the squire Mortimer who is challenged to find a "wonder" in order for him to become a knight.

TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD, the most current read by JK Rowling. These five tales were supposedly translated by Hermione and analyzed by Dumbledore under the pretext that they are fairy tales for wizard children. The tales are charming, but not nearly as enjoyable as any of the Harry Potter books. Babbitty Rabbitty is my favorite story.

Book Review: The Wyrm King, The Wolves in the Walls, and The Blueberry Girl

I just finished read THE WYRM KING. It's the final book the in the Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles series. I'm sad that it's over. There are no plans for anymore Spiderwick books. I love the poem at the end. The last stanza of the poem is as follows: Please keep a pen with you to write, a pad, a brush, and ink. Because your faerie tale just might... start sooner than you think.


And while I was at Politics and Prose earlier today I read THE WOLVES IN THE WALLS while Alexander flipped through a Star Wars book. It's a picture book written by Neil Gaiman. I had read reviews of it on Amazon and was annoyed at people freaking out saying that this isn't a kids book because it's scary. The artist is Dave McKean, the same guy that illustrates The Sandman graphic novels. I'm honestly not crazy about his art. It's not bad... it's just not my style. Anyway, I was expecting a scary story, and while I can see it scaring kids under 3, I found myself laughing several times. It was a cute story.

I also read THE BLUEBERRY GIRL a while back. It was also written by Gaiman, but illustrated by Charles Vess. Sometimes I like his work, sometimes not. I loved the illustrations in this book. The story was a poem written for a friend of Neil Gaiman's, Tori Amos, when she was pregnant. There were also people on Amazon saying this book was not for kids because it makes no sense. It's a very sweet poem.

If you take one thing from this... Don't trust Amazon reviewers.

Book Review: The Seraph of Sorrow and Hunted

I just read THE SERAPH OF SORROW (Jennifer Scales, weredragon, book 4). This is the YA (young adult) series by MaryJanice Davidson (also writes: Betsy the Vamp Queen, Wyndham Werewolves, and Fred the Mermaid). If you like her other stuff, you will love Jennifer. It's my favorite series of hers. Jennifer Scales is a weredragon. Like a werewolf, only Jennifer grows scales and wings instead of hair. These books are funny, and I hihgly recommend them. One of my favorite series.

http://jenniferscales.com/

I recently bought the book, HUNTED (House of Night, book 5), by PC and Kristin Cast. Loving it so far. It's better than the previous 4 in the series. PC's other stuff is way better, but these are fun. What I like about this is even though it's YA and vamps (which has been done a thousand times), her vamp mythology is very different than many. For one... they follow the goddess, Nyx... and they are not soulless. They are marked as fledglings and are basically taught how to be a vampyre.

http://www.pccast.net/
http://houseofnightseries.com/