By Kim Chi
Recently, I’ve been reading a series called “The Iron Fey” by Julie Kagawa. The series includes a total of 6 heart-racing books plus an anthology and side stories from the point of view of different main characters. You’ll be so addicted that it’ll be nearly impossible to tear your eyes away. The main character, Meghan Chase, finds her life turned upside down on the day of her sixteenth birthday. Tragedies happen and she gets so caught up in it all. When the people who matter most to her are harmed, she can no longer stand in the sidelines and watch. She steps in and goes on a dangerous, exciting, and shocking journey to the “NeverNever”, aka the Faery world, where a shocking secret is waiting to be unraveled with her best friend, whose whole life has been a mystery to her. She gets trapped in a world of faeries-yes, faeries- searching for one of the things that matter most to her. When I say faeries, I don’t mean little creatures with wings like Tinker Bell that flit around sprinkling pixie dust, but mythical creatures that are created by our imagination and dreams.
Secrets are revealed and Meghan finds herself in a difficult position when she meets a mysterious young prince who’d rather see her with his blade through her chest than let her touch his icy heart.
As the story unraveled, I found myself not being able to put the book down. I often found myself wondering, “what would happen next?” The story gets more intense and events happen that left me questioning the objectives of the characters and how they would deal with the situations they face.
This series is so interesting, but I find that it resembles the “Twilight” series. The main character meets two guys who are supposedly “enemies” and hate each other and ends up falling for both of them. She knows that she loves one more than the other, but she’s like a moth being drawn to a flame. Also, since this is a fantasy-type book, there are a lot of names of mythical creatures that may be unfamiliar to some readers. I wish that the author could have used more imagery in some parts that describes each creature so that the readers could have a sense of direction and allow them to imagine what each creature looks like or what they may act like. The main character seems ungrateful to the friends who stick by her side on her journey, so her attitude would be something I’d personally like to tweak. But besides that, she has the characteristics of a true hero. She is brave, good at keeping her emotions at bay, and has potential she doesn’t realize she has in the beginning.
If you’re not sure about what to read or if you haven’t found a book that suits your tastes and are interested in a book that is similar to “Twilight” with a twist, then this book is for you. There’s love, betrayal, humor, heartbreak, separation, and adventure all wrapped up in one!