Book Review - Winter's Passage/The Iron Daughter

Winter's Passage

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: The Iron Fey #1.5

Genres: Fantasy | Young Adult

Release Date: 1st June 2010

Publishers: Harlequin Teen

No. Pages: 69

Source: Purchased - The Iron Legends

Rating: 

Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

Meghan Chase used to be an ordinary girl..until she discovered that she is really a faery princess. After escaping from the clutches of the deadly Iron fey, Meghan must follow through on her promise to return to the equally dangerous Winter Court with her forbidden love, Prince Ash. But first, Meghan has one request: that they visit Puck -Meghan's best friend and servant of her father, King Oberon - who was gravely injured defending Meghan from the Iron Fey.

Yet Meghan and Ash's detour does not go unnoticed. They have caught the attention of an ancient, powerful hunter - a foe that even Ash may not be able to defeat..

The following review may contain spoilers concerning earlier books in the series.
If you have not read the previous installments, please proceed with caution.

After finishing The Iron King, I wasn't hugely eager to get my hands on the following books, however, with every day that passed, I got more excited and eager and really wanted to move onto them. A few days later I bought The Iron Legends, The Iron Daughter and The Iron Queen and after bring them home, I flew through Winters Passage, the Novella between The Iron King and The Iron Daughter.

Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it, I even found myself reading whilst walking home, which I don't recommend anyone else doing, it's dangerous and I stepped in animal waste; not a good look, however, it felt a little, pointless. From my point of view, it felt as if Kagawa wrote this novella in order to prove that Ash did actually have feelings for Meghan, too become overwhelmed with her feelings and become a little bit, weak and naive, and for them to have a merry go round of running away from, as the book states, 'The Big Bad Wolf'. When you take away those facts, it was actually quite a good little read. I'd never read a novella before and wanted something that would contribute to the story as a whole, and having not read The Iron Daughter before hand, I didn't know how important to the story it may have been, but if anything, it's allowed me to have more strength in their building relationship, which I didn't have any strength in at all during The Iron King, and more strength in Ash, especially after hearing that he's MIA for a lot of The Iron Daughter. I also think it's now well established that there is no love triangle, I don't understand how people could think there ever was; Puck never stood a chance against Ash, and while I think that that is cruel, I think it'll help Puck with later developments not only throughout this series, but throughout The Call of the Forgotten series as well. My final points to mention however have to be how Kagawa has managed to, once again, created and extend the world of Faery that she had in book one, and also, I was a little disappointed by how the 'ancient, powerful hunter' was dealt with; just a little disappointed.

Reading the novella really increased how much I wanted to read The Iron Daughter, and I have to say, by buying it in the bind up of The Ion Legends, I really think it was worth my money. While I would recommend reading The Winters Passage before The Iron Daughter, I would say to you, don't get your hopes up a bit, you won't feel lost much when you read the sequel, as the events are recapped in book two and some paragraphs are even repeated, so don't feel like you have, however, I'm glad I did, as there's a little bit of mystery, a few more hints for the following books, and a nice little bit about Puck, who I dearly, dearly miss. Please come back my little fiery, red-haired fairy, I miss you..

The Iron Daughter

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: The Iron Fey #2
Genres: Fantasy | Young Adult

Release Date: 1st August 2010

Publishers: Harlequin Teen

No. Pages: 363
Source: Purchased
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

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.

The following review may contain spoilers concerning earlier books in the series.
If you have not read the previous installments, please proceed with caution.

After hearing so much about how The Iron Fey series 'gets much better the more you read', I have to say, I was highly disappointed throughout the first half of this book, and without a doubt, it was because of Meghan. Other than the first half being some of a disappointment, the rest of the story was quite enjoyable, and I found myself intrigued and interested with the new plot points, new newest plot twists and finished The Iron Daughter with quite a few questions.

I'm going to cut right to the chase, get it? and get to why the first half of this book was quite disappointing. First of all, a lot of the first chapter was a run through of the events in Winters Passage, which I had already read, so I while I was able to skim past around three pages worth because it was already full of facts I already knew, I was only slightly rattled. Then, the real rattling came forth; Meghan's naive, frigid and completely absurd attitude. I had read a previous review that mentioned how Meghan changes from quite a strong character, full of gusto and bravery, to quite a mopey, whining and generally, quite pathetic teenage girl, something she never was even before entering Nevernever, and I wished I had listened and not shrugged it off, because it was completely true. This is because during the first half of the book, Ash tries to distance himself from Meghan, after all, they are in Winter, and their romance is very much forbidden, yet this is something Meghan can't seem to understand. No matter how many times she's told, reminded, pushed away or attacked, she still pursues Ash; normal circumstances, I would seriously give her a hand for sticking with her man, in these circumstances however, I found it seemingly stupid and naive, and I personally think she deserved that lesson, being stuck in a slab of ice, actually, she was a slab of ice.

After a fair few things happening, The Iron Fey returning, Meghan running off with Ash and finding out she can manipulate iron, the whole plot began to get just that little bit better, mainly because Ash was no longer involved. Now don't get me wrong, I actually came to care about Ash by the end of this book; I was surprised by how much of his past we got to learn and how much he'd lost in his life. It was finally nice to see some emotions from Ash, and as we did, we learnt about his feelings for Meghan, and just how much he was willing to risk for her, everything including his life, however, during about three fourths of this book, Ash was Meghan's weakness, making her quite stroppy, moody and generally quite a frustrating person, yet with Ash gone, Meghan changed back into her previous self; strong, independent, powerful and brave. I also confess to really being happy when Puck returned, and yes, I didn't approve of his and Meghan's scenes, and yes, I didn't and couldn't approve of how Puck became quite a jealous character, however, even though the times he developed deeper levels of jealousy, cruelty and a real sense of revenge, I was glad to see him return because he brought a real sense of humour to the running's. Surprisingly, I'm much more on board with the relationship between Ash and Meghan is this installment than the previous one, however, my reasons for that I'm still very unsure of.

I do however have to say, the last quarter of this book was absolutely fantastic. The action and fight scenes were amazing, and the character development between all characters involved was astounding; really really strong. I don't want to give too much away from the ending action scenes, but I was so happy to see Meghan come into herself and show her skills, proving to what extent she is powerful and how commanding and brave she can be, and it was great I think of Kagawa to show that love from people can be as stronger, if not stronger than any other power in Nevernever, and were some people have found it a weakness, Meghan makes it her strength. Characters whom I thought very little of previously began to become string favourites, especially Ironhorse and Grimalkin; maybe that's from my love of animals, or just the fact that Ironhorse was so commanding, brave and faithful to his beliefs, while Grimalkin was as always, quite a personality. Nevernever was once again just as vivid and magical, full of danger and excitement, showing many more layers, many more characters and proving once and for all, just how much was at risk if The Iron Fey succeed. I couldn't get over just how much Kagawa could put on each page, as there was always so much written into the story.

I can't put into full words how much I enjoyed this book, but I can say for certain, the character growth threw half a star onto my rating, which would have been less than it's predecessor had it not had that feature. I cannot fault Kagawa's world at all; I love Nevernever, even it's it's scariest aspects, and I really enjoyed how much of this book took place in the mortal world, where Meghan feels most of all herself, especially with her new found talents. I felt myself finishing with a large number of questions at the end of The Iron Daughter: who is the fraud Iron King? What has her 'father' got to do with everything? Why does she have these iron abilities? What has she got in her blood that makes her so powerful? and finally, how is she going to stop the Iron Fey considering her last scenes with Ash in the end? I'm quite excited to move onto The Iron Queen and see where the story takes me, and I do hope Meghan continues to be strong and influential, rather than revert back to her naive ways with Ash in tow.