I am a little torn with this one. On the one hand, I really enjoyed The Iron King. It was a fun, fast read, touching on lots of things that I love - faery lore, magic, mystical realms and otherworldliness and some romance. But at the same time, I was periodically putting the book down with a frown on my face, as something nagged at the back of my mind.I absolutely loved all the allusions to other works - Shakespeare, Alice in Wonderland, The Labryinth, Peter Pan (to name a few!) - but because of these references, I was faced with a weird sense of deja vu which permeated the entire story. It left me with an overall feeling of predictability, and thus, the lasting impression is one of unoriginality. I was really hoping Kagawa would blow me away with her ingenuity, and I was quite upset with how little of faery history she manipulated into something of her own devising. That being said, I did love the inclusion of the Iron Fae, and the explanation for their existence.Meghan was a good protagonist, and charmingly reminded me a little of Bella with her clumsiness. There were definitely a couple of damsel-in-distress moments where I wanted to reach through the pages and grab her by the shoulders for a good shake, but she mostly redeemed herself in the end with her courage and bravery. I found her routine of embarking on a journey, stumbling into a dangerous situation, and being saved by one of her two faery escorts slightly irritating, but that was part of the predictability I mentioned earlier. I do wish that we had seen more of this "hidden" power that Meghan apparently has, as it is mentioned by several different characters throughout the book. We get to catch a glimpse at the end, but we're mostly just teased with morsels.The one thing I really disliked about Meghan was her willingness to enter into a contract/deal with every creature from Faeryland that she encountered. Anyone who has any experience with Fey are aware of some cardinal things - no names, no dancing, no eating/drinking of their food and no deal making! Even after being warned of the dangers of entering into a rushed deal with a faery, Meghan is offering to "do anything" every time she runs into a problem. I wish she would have taken time to think things through before rushing headfirst into something she will be eternally bound to.Being a sucker for forbidden love, I was intrigued by the flame blossoming between Meghan and Ash. Unfortunately my intrigue was undeserved, as their relationship bordered on love-at-first-sight. Other then the fact that he lost someone close to him and that he is a Prince of the Winter Court, I know nothing about Ash. I don't know his reasons for being attracted to Meghan, or her reasons for finding him so alluring - besides the shallow outer reasons of tall, dark and handsome (which she takes notice of repeatedly). There also seemed to be flickers of interest from Puck, which I hope were just my imagination - the last thing YA needs is another love-triangle. Not to mention the fact that Puck is centuries old and should be beyond feelings of fleeting interest for an awkward teenage mortal.I did enjoy the world-building, and found that Kagawa was able to create such vivid imagery that I could very clearly picture the scenes in my head. I enjoyed all of the characters - even the seemingly menial characters were full of personality and came alive across the pages - but who hasn't read a faery story about a child being replaced with a changeling, and the resulting quest of a newly discovered half-faery/half-mortal royal to get him back? So while enjoyable, I found The Iron King underwhelmingly unimaginative.Originally published on my blog, Radiant Shadows
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