The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey #4) - Julie Kagawa [Review]

This review contains spoilers.

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Iron Knight
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin TEEN
Series: The Iron Fey #4
Release Date: October 26th 2011
Pages: 394
Rating: ★★★1/2

Synopsis of the book

My name—my True Name—is Ashallayn’darkmyr Tallyn. I am the last remaining son of Mab, Queen of the Unseelie Court. And I am dead to her. My fall began, as many stories do, with a girl…. To cold 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 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. And along the way Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice

Review

I was pleasantly surprised by the final book in the Iron Fey series.

The whole book was written from the perspective of Ash, instead of Meghan's. This gave me a whole new look on Ash his character. In Meghan's eyes he always was this handsome, brave guy who she loves and we never get much more development than that.

The book is about Ash his quest to become human, so he can be with Meghan in the Iron Realm. He is accompanied by Puck, who he has sworn to kill. Those two characters have a great chemistry and their dialogues are hilarious. On their way they meet Ariella, the girl they both loved and thought to be dead. I did not think this character added much to the story. It was clear from the beginning Ash was over her and wanted to be with Meghan, so it did not add any suspense. 

The actual trials Ash had to go through to obtain his soul made me a quite depressed and I really expected Ash to quit, especially after the look at his future as human. The ending was a bit too 'and everything was perfect' for my taste. Ash thought he would become human and thus mortal, but it turned out he might actually live forever as a sort of half human half faery. This makes it seem that in the end he did not sacrifice anything to be with Meghan, which defies the whole meaning of Ash' quest. 

But apart the few negative aspects of the book, I really liked the new perspective on Ash' character. I always wanted to know some more about him and I found him to be a more interesting narrator than Meghan.

I would definitely recommend the book. It is a good ending to the Iron Fey series.

Stars: 3.5 out of 5