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beaktastic's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed this book, maybe not quite as much as the first but I enjoyed it none the less. Short review btw! Really, I wanted to rate this 3.5 stars.
The Iron Daughter continues the story of Meghan Chase, as she fulfills her deal with Prince Ash from the previous book and goes with him to the Winter Court and Queen Mab. Meghan struggles to cope there, but finds herself even more drawn to Ash, despite the fact Summer and Winter are forbidden to love each other. But after the Scepter of Seasons is stolen by the Iron fey (under a new Iron King) and Summer is blamed, Meghan has to race to find it and stop the Iron fey before the Nevernever is engulfed in war and destroyed...
I liked this book again. It was a good continuation of the previous one, featuring all the favourite characters from the first book and adding a few more. The story evolved and grew more and was interesting, even if it did stall a bit in the middle. I also found the main story and action to be a bit less gripping and intriguing than the first book.
I kinda found Meghan a bit more annoying in this book than in the previous one to be honest. She seemed to be a lot more pine-y for Ash than she was in the first book and at times a bit more dumb, I also kinda felt that Ash and Meghan's love seemed to grow and accelerate ridiculously quickly in this novel which annoyed me a bit. In the previous book I didn't get the Puck x Meghan relationship thing, and whilst I did see it a bit more this book I still don't really see it. Also, I didn't really see why the prom scene near the end was added in, other than to cause more teen-love-triangle drama.
But yeah, overall a good book. The main story was interesting, although not as interesting and gripping as the first, and Meghan seems a lot more immature and annoying this time around.
The Iron Daughter continues the story of Meghan Chase, as she fulfills her deal with Prince Ash from the previous book and goes with him to the Winter Court and Queen Mab. Meghan struggles to cope there, but finds herself even more drawn to Ash, despite the fact Summer and Winter are forbidden to love each other. But after the Scepter of Seasons is stolen by the Iron fey (under a new Iron King) and Summer is blamed, Meghan has to race to find it and stop the Iron fey before the Nevernever is engulfed in war and destroyed...
I liked this book again. It was a good continuation of the previous one, featuring all the favourite characters from the first book and adding a few more. The story evolved and grew more and was interesting, even if it did stall a bit in the middle.
Spoiler
Although I'm a bit unsure about the whole Meghan and Iron glamour thing... and I'm curious to see how it will all be explained in the next book. I'm guessing Meghan is somehow the next Iron Queen, but it's the why that I want explained.I kinda found Meghan a bit more annoying in this book than in the previous one to be honest. She seemed to be a lot more pine-y for Ash than she was in the first book and at times a bit more dumb,
Spoiler
like, early on Ash tried to distance himself from her while they were in the Winter Court, and Meghan just moped that he had 'used her and played with her' and stuff, whilst it was quite obvious that he was doing it to protect her...But yeah, overall a good book. The main story was interesting, although not as interesting and gripping as the first, and Meghan seems a lot more immature and annoying this time around.
vanikr's review against another edition
5.0
Winternacht ist einfach total schön. Ich mag Meghan und Ash die beiden sind für einander geschaffen. Mir tut Puck ein bisschen leid, weil er Meggie ja auch liebt, aber trotzdem bin ich für Ash, weil er einfach alles für sie aufgegeben hat.
Durch das wunderschöne Ende liebe ich das Buch noch mehr, aber ich möchte unbedingt mehr davon erfahren.
Durch das wunderschöne Ende liebe ich das Buch noch mehr, aber ich möchte unbedingt mehr davon erfahren.
kathydavie's review against another edition
2.0
Second in the steampunk urban fantasy for young adults series, The Iron Fey.
The Story
In the last story, Iron King, Meghan has fulfilled her contract with Prince Ash and returned to the Winter Court which Ash promptly leaves, abandoning Meghan to the machinations of his brothers, Rowan and Sage, as well as the rest of the Unseelie courtiers. At least until it's time for the Exchange.
An essential, twice-yearly event in the faery courts, the Exchange ends disastrously in war when someone steals the Scepter of the Seasons throwing the weather out of whack in both fey and human lands. It is essential that the Scepter is retrieved before disaster worsens and the Winter and Summer Courts are annihilated leaving the way open to the Iron fey.
Queen Mab will not believe Meghan as to the true identity of the thieves; she is the half-breed daughter of Oberon, King of the Summer Court and no one but she and Prince Ash have even seen the Iron fey. Obviously, Meghan bewitched Ash and killed Sage as part of a Summer plot.
So Ash and Meghan must escape Winter and retrieve the Scepter themselves from the Iron Court.
My Take
It's trite. The only clever bits are Kagawa's integration of industry and computer technology to create the Iron fey and her use of it to build their society and strategies. It does help of course that the fey to whom we are accustomed are made deathly ill by any contact with iron.
Naturally, there are iron-clad rules on subjects of the Winter and Summer Courts falling in love. Naturally, Prince Ash keeps trying to not love Meghan. Naturally, Meghan has to be all teen-agery…read "stupid" about why Ash appears to reject her at the Winter Court. I mean, really, how dumb can she be when Ash has repeatedly told her about the Winter Court and how he must behave so naturally, she gets all emotional when Ash "rejects" her in front of Queen Mab, his brothers, and the entire Court. Duh…
Of course, we have the scene where Meghan gets her comeuppance over the kids at school. We don't even get to enjoy this scene. There's all this lead up and….nothing. It's flat. The best we get is a sentence in which Meghan is simply relieved when the quarterback love-of-her-life from Iron King gives her up to Ash for a dance.
The Cover
I like the cover. It's probably the best part with Meghan's soft profile against winter with wrought-iron-like traceries bordering the edges. The title is certainly accurate although the fulfillment of it is more promise in this story. I suspect it will be completed in book 3.
The Story
In the last story, Iron King, Meghan has fulfilled her contract with Prince Ash and returned to the Winter Court which Ash promptly leaves, abandoning Meghan to the machinations of his brothers, Rowan and Sage, as well as the rest of the Unseelie courtiers. At least until it's time for the Exchange.
An essential, twice-yearly event in the faery courts, the Exchange ends disastrously in war when someone steals the Scepter of the Seasons throwing the weather out of whack in both fey and human lands. It is essential that the Scepter is retrieved before disaster worsens and the Winter and Summer Courts are annihilated leaving the way open to the Iron fey.
Queen Mab will not believe Meghan as to the true identity of the thieves; she is the half-breed daughter of Oberon, King of the Summer Court and no one but she and Prince Ash have even seen the Iron fey. Obviously, Meghan bewitched Ash and killed Sage as part of a Summer plot.
So Ash and Meghan must escape Winter and retrieve the Scepter themselves from the Iron Court.
My Take
It's trite. The only clever bits are Kagawa's integration of industry and computer technology to create the Iron fey and her use of it to build their society and strategies. It does help of course that the fey to whom we are accustomed are made deathly ill by any contact with iron.
Naturally, there are iron-clad rules on subjects of the Winter and Summer Courts falling in love. Naturally, Prince Ash keeps trying to not love Meghan. Naturally, Meghan has to be all teen-agery…read "stupid" about why Ash appears to reject her at the Winter Court. I mean, really, how dumb can she be when Ash has repeatedly told her about the Winter Court and how he must behave so naturally, she gets all emotional when Ash "rejects" her in front of Queen Mab, his brothers, and the entire Court. Duh…
Of course, we have the scene where Meghan gets her comeuppance over the kids at school. We don't even get to enjoy this scene. There's all this lead up and….nothing. It's flat. The best we get is a sentence in which Meghan is simply relieved when the quarterback love-of-her-life from Iron King gives her up to Ash for a dance.
The Cover
I like the cover. It's probably the best part with Meghan's soft profile against winter with wrought-iron-like traceries bordering the edges. The title is certainly accurate although the fulfillment of it is more promise in this story. I suspect it will be completed in book 3.
yodamom's review against another edition
5.0
Fabulous, Thrilling and utterly fascinating. This fairy tale is even better then the first book. The world building is incredible as are the relationships of the characters. Puck, Meghan and Ash and a new group of fae try to stop a war between the winter and summer fae, but everything is not as it seems. They must risk their lives and the ones they love to change the outcome. there are so many hidden reasons, so many hidden faces, totally twisted !!! Loved it, a first class fairy tale !!
bookph1le's review against another edition
3.0
There are some aspects of this book that I really like, and some of which I'm not as fond--hence the three-star rating. Still, I enjoy these books and am going to read the next in the series. More complete review to come.
Full review:
I'm not the biggest fan of fantasy novels, and my enjoyment of them is really hit or miss. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the first book in this series, not because I went into it expecting to hate it, but simply because my feelings about the genre are pretty lukewarm. Still, I was somewhat ambivalent because, as much as I enjoyed Kagawa's world building and story, there were parts of the novel that bothered me, so it tempered my overall impression. This book had much the same effect. Spoilers to follow.
I'll start with what I didn't like about this book: Meghan's constant mooning over Ash. I never felt like their relationship was very well established in the first book, and I'll admit that I just have a prejudice against the whole "super hot boy from the wrong side of the tracks" device. The minute Ash appeared in the narrative, I knew he and Meghan would fall in love. Fine. This wouldn't have bothered me so much if I'd felt like there was a good reason for them to fall in love, but I never did.
Even with this book, their relationship does not make sense to me. I don't think Ash crossed the line into treating her so poorly that it seemed abusive but, at best, he never seems anything more than cold toward her. Yes, I know he's playing a role, but at no point does he ever really show Meghan enough of his feelings to underscore this. Instead, I knew he was playing a role because that's the way such a literary device works. Ash never really felt like a real character to me. His personality remains a total enigma, other than the fact that he's still pining for his old girlfriend, who died a tragic death--another tired device, if you ask me. By the end of this book, I still had no idea why Meghan loved Ash, other than because he was hot and really good with a sword.
My biggest annoyance, though, was the way Meghan acted. She was so dense at times in this novel that I wondered if she had a brain. It was so obvious to me why Ash was giving her the cold shoulder, and every time she chased after him and made a scene, I found myself rolling my eyes. She has so little sense of self-preservation, so little cleverness, that I got to a point where I actively disliked her a little. The reader is so explicitly told that the Winter court is dangerous, and it's illustrated with details that were borderline lurid at times and, yet, Meghan bumbles around like she's in the middle of spring meadow filled with flowers rather than trying to put her feet carefully so she doesn't step on a landmine. Plus, I just could not understand why Meghan didn't spend less time angsting uselessly and more time trying to either learn more about the fey world or how to control her powers. I mean, if I found out I was the half-fey daughter of King Oberon, you can bet I'd spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to use Glamour to my advantage.
However, there is still so much to like about this book. For one, the setting. Kagawa's language is so lush when she describes the various locales in which the action takes place, that I can picture them clearly in my head. Sometimes authors seem to just have a vague idea of what the place they're writing about looks like, but this isn't the case with Kagawa. I'm under the impression that, in her head, she knows every last detail of the Nevernever, even down to the particular shade of color of each of its objects. I really love it when an author's world is so well-realized that it seems to surround the reader in three dimensions.
Ash and Meghan aside, Kagawa is fantastic at creating secondary characters. In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I am a lover of all things Robin Goodfellow in Kagawa's world. I fretted nonstop until he appeared, and then I become really, really interested in the book. Unlike Ash, Puck feels so full formed that he's like a real person. I think his personality is engaging, and I understand why he acts as he does. He has depths and he evolves over the course of the story, and it becomes increasingly clear that he has evolved a lot from what he was when he first started to keep watch over Meghan.
Grim is another of my favorite characters. Again, he just feels so real. Whenever he does something, I find myself thinking, "Yep, that's Grim." I have such a strong sense of his personality. I also loved what Kagawa did with Ironhorse in this novel. When an author can take someone who was a villain and turn them into a hero in a believable way, that is a very admirable feat. Ironhorse added a lot to this book, and his role in the ending moved me to tears.
There are a lot of other things I really enjoyed about this book: the addition of Lea and her realm, the insight into what the exiled feys' lives are like, the mystery surrounding Charles. All of these things expand the Iron Fey universe in such a way that the story takes on new nuances, new urgency. The risk with a series is always that the author will begin to rely on it to the point of letting it get stale, but that's nowhere near happening here. Instead, Kagawa just keeps making her Fey universe and her overall story richer and more compelling so that, despite the weaknesses in her construction of Ash and Meghan in the first two books, I think her writing is very strong. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens in the next installment.
Full review:
I'm not the biggest fan of fantasy novels, and my enjoyment of them is really hit or miss. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the first book in this series, not because I went into it expecting to hate it, but simply because my feelings about the genre are pretty lukewarm. Still, I was somewhat ambivalent because, as much as I enjoyed Kagawa's world building and story, there were parts of the novel that bothered me, so it tempered my overall impression. This book had much the same effect. Spoilers to follow.
I'll start with what I didn't like about this book: Meghan's constant mooning over Ash. I never felt like their relationship was very well established in the first book, and I'll admit that I just have a prejudice against the whole "super hot boy from the wrong side of the tracks" device. The minute Ash appeared in the narrative, I knew he and Meghan would fall in love. Fine. This wouldn't have bothered me so much if I'd felt like there was a good reason for them to fall in love, but I never did.
Even with this book, their relationship does not make sense to me. I don't think Ash crossed the line into treating her so poorly that it seemed abusive but, at best, he never seems anything more than cold toward her. Yes, I know he's playing a role, but at no point does he ever really show Meghan enough of his feelings to underscore this. Instead, I knew he was playing a role because that's the way such a literary device works. Ash never really felt like a real character to me. His personality remains a total enigma, other than the fact that he's still pining for his old girlfriend, who died a tragic death--another tired device, if you ask me. By the end of this book, I still had no idea why Meghan loved Ash, other than because he was hot and really good with a sword.
My biggest annoyance, though, was the way Meghan acted. She was so dense at times in this novel that I wondered if she had a brain. It was so obvious to me why Ash was giving her the cold shoulder, and every time she chased after him and made a scene, I found myself rolling my eyes. She has so little sense of self-preservation, so little cleverness, that I got to a point where I actively disliked her a little. The reader is so explicitly told that the Winter court is dangerous, and it's illustrated with details that were borderline lurid at times and, yet, Meghan bumbles around like she's in the middle of spring meadow filled with flowers rather than trying to put her feet carefully so she doesn't step on a landmine. Plus, I just could not understand why Meghan didn't spend less time angsting uselessly and more time trying to either learn more about the fey world or how to control her powers. I mean, if I found out I was the half-fey daughter of King Oberon, you can bet I'd spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to use Glamour to my advantage.
However, there is still so much to like about this book. For one, the setting. Kagawa's language is so lush when she describes the various locales in which the action takes place, that I can picture them clearly in my head. Sometimes authors seem to just have a vague idea of what the place they're writing about looks like, but this isn't the case with Kagawa. I'm under the impression that, in her head, she knows every last detail of the Nevernever, even down to the particular shade of color of each of its objects. I really love it when an author's world is so well-realized that it seems to surround the reader in three dimensions.
Ash and Meghan aside, Kagawa is fantastic at creating secondary characters. In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I am a lover of all things Robin Goodfellow in Kagawa's world. I fretted nonstop until he appeared, and then I become really, really interested in the book. Unlike Ash, Puck feels so full formed that he's like a real person. I think his personality is engaging, and I understand why he acts as he does. He has depths and he evolves over the course of the story, and it becomes increasingly clear that he has evolved a lot from what he was when he first started to keep watch over Meghan.
Grim is another of my favorite characters. Again, he just feels so real. Whenever he does something, I find myself thinking, "Yep, that's Grim." I have such a strong sense of his personality. I also loved what Kagawa did with Ironhorse in this novel. When an author can take someone who was a villain and turn them into a hero in a believable way, that is a very admirable feat. Ironhorse added a lot to this book, and his role in the ending moved me to tears.
There are a lot of other things I really enjoyed about this book: the addition of Lea and her realm, the insight into what the exiled feys' lives are like, the mystery surrounding Charles. All of these things expand the Iron Fey universe in such a way that the story takes on new nuances, new urgency. The risk with a series is always that the author will begin to rely on it to the point of letting it get stale, but that's nowhere near happening here. Instead, Kagawa just keeps making her Fey universe and her overall story richer and more compelling so that, despite the weaknesses in her construction of Ash and Meghan in the first two books, I think her writing is very strong. I'm looking forward to finding out what happens in the next installment.
karelidz's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The pacing felt a bit slower than the first one. There was a stretch were I wasnt as engaged in reading it, but of course towards the last half of the book it picked up and i couldnt stop reading.
I think that the fact that meghan was "unable to acces" her powers couldve had more of an impact in the story, but since she didnt even really use them to begin with, it felt a bit inconsecuential.
Ofc I'll read the next one.
I think that the fact that meghan was "unable to acces" her powers couldve had more of an impact in the story, but since she didnt even really use them to begin with, it felt a bit inconsecuential.
Ofc I'll read the next one.
magencorrie's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
My Review:
The Iron Daughter was a lovely second book in the series. Being tossed back into the world that Kagawa created was enchanting, enticing, and wonderful. Seeing Meghan grow, getting to know Ash better, and experiencing more of the Nevernever was worthwhile. And where the book ended has left me wanting more!
I really did miss this world, so getting back into it was an amazing and delightful experience. The second book didn’t have the usual drudge that second books in series experience.
Within The Iron Daughter readers get a pretty nice glimpse and insight of all the characters. Ash, though distant at first, eventually does opens up and allow his true emotions to show. Which I loved. Meghan is of course forced to face even more trials and tribulations to gain what she wanted, to do what she feels is right. She powered through, like always. Something I greatly admire about her. Even Puck, I felt, showed a different side of him. Each one grew and developed, showed me more of who they are.
The book has many twists and turns, just like the first one. The pacing fast and the action in a never ending sequence of events. And though, like the first book, I felt that things did happened a bit too rushed for my liking; however, the book still held my attention and captured my emotions.
The growth of the story and the characters are worthwhile to watch. There were events that really broke my heart and others that really made me happy. Though I did figure out a few of the plot twists and events that took place, I enjoyed the book thoroughly. I really can’t wait to pick up the next one.
My Review:
The Iron Daughter was a lovely second book in the series. Being tossed back into the world that Kagawa created was enchanting, enticing, and wonderful. Seeing Meghan grow, getting to know Ash better, and experiencing more of the Nevernever was worthwhile. And where the book ended has left me wanting more!
I really did miss this world, so getting back into it was an amazing and delightful experience. The second book didn’t have the usual drudge that second books in series experience.
Within The Iron Daughter readers get a pretty nice glimpse and insight of all the characters. Ash, though distant at first, eventually does opens up and allow his true emotions to show. Which I loved. Meghan is of course forced to face even more trials and tribulations to gain what she wanted, to do what she feels is right. She powered through, like always. Something I greatly admire about her. Even Puck, I felt, showed a different side of him. Each one grew and developed, showed me more of who they are.
The book has many twists and turns, just like the first one. The pacing fast and the action in a never ending sequence of events. And though, like the first book, I felt that things did happened a bit too rushed for my liking; however, the book still held my attention and captured my emotions.
The growth of the story and the characters are worthwhile to watch. There were events that really broke my heart and others that really made me happy. Though I did figure out a few of the plot twists and events that took place, I enjoyed the book thoroughly. I really can’t wait to pick up the next one.
lexie_988's review against another edition
5.0
Took me a while to read, I got very distracted with well life and uni. Also misplaced the book for a while so couldn’t read it.
Was a lot slower action wise compared to the first book. Megan I’m this book really annoyed me for some reason, I think it’s the too much emotion that she uses to make decision that get other people hurt but I think that the Beauty of it of it, it brings on the humanity part of this fantasy world, where we make our decisions based on emotions and whether the consequences are good or bad, we will always make decision with emotions playing a part of that. And as much as she annoyed me, I love that she always stuck to the person she was. Never once did she compromise her nature and the type of person she was.
I love this series so far and need to read the third one to know what happens next, this can’t be the end of the Megan change adventure in the Nevernever
Was a lot slower action wise compared to the first book. Megan I’m this book really annoyed me for some reason, I think it’s the too much emotion that she uses to make decision that get other people hurt but I think that the Beauty of it of it, it brings on the humanity part of this fantasy world, where we make our decisions based on emotions and whether the consequences are good or bad, we will always make decision with emotions playing a part of that. And as much as she annoyed me, I love that she always stuck to the person she was. Never once did she compromise her nature and the type of person she was.
I love this series so far and need to read the third one to know what happens next, this can’t be the end of the Megan change adventure in the Nevernever
carolinemettens1333's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0