IT'S FEY DAY! MINI-REVIEWS: THE LOST PRINCE and IRONSKIN

Series: The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: 10/23/12
Format: eARC
Pages: 379
Source: Received from publisher, via NetGalley.

Don't look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.That is Ethan Chase's unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he'd dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister's world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

Why I  Read The Lost Prince:
I am a huge fan of the Iron Fey series. When I learned that Julie Kagawa had revisited the Nevernever with Ethan as the lead character, I was so stoked.


Engaging and enchanting, The Lost Prince is a much-welcomed revisit to the Nevernever.

As someone who is a giddy fangirl for the Iron Fey series, I had high expectations for The Lost Prince. And I've promised myself over and again that I wouldn't read and compare this book to that fantastic series. It's not fair to the story and it's not fair to Ethan, because, really, NO ONE can compare to Ash. But I did. I compared Ethan's reluctant journey to Nevernever to Meghan's and I spent most of the opening chapters anticipating a reappearance of the beloved characters. When those characters actually did show up, I was beyond thrilled, which is awesome, but also not so awesome because I did miss them when they were gone. I wanted more of them, less of Ethan and his journey.

But once I got over myself, I really enjoyed The Lost Prince! Ethan is not the sweet, lovable little boy we knew. He's almost grown now, and a life spent tormented by the fey has made him irritable, sullen, and aloof. Ethan is resentful of his sister, who left the family behind to become the Iron Queen, his parents just don't understand what he's going through. He doesn't want friends, or to be anyone's hero, but helping a bullied, half-fey schoolmate land Ethan exactly where he doesn't want to be: in the Fey's sights. Along with Kenzie, a beautiful, sweet girl who won't let Ethan push her away, Ethan travels through the one place he swore he'd never return to, reuniting with family and old acquaintances, and becomes the hero he never expected to be.

Julie Kagawa's Fey world is by far my favorite. Her descriptive story-telling is highly visual, but not so heavy handed that it becomes boring or overwhelming. The action sequences are exhilarating, the dialogue is light and intense all at the same time. Her characters, whether you love them (Ash and Puck) or love to hate them (Leanansidhe) are always engaging. Wherever her next story leads, I will surely follow.


Favorite Quote:

  "Kenzie held up her hand, and several more tiny lights hovered around her, landing on her fingers and making them glow.
  For a second, I couldn't look away. My heartbeat picked up, and my mouth was suddenly dry, watching the girl in the center of the winking cloud, smiling as the tiny lights landed in her hair or perched on her arm.
  She was beautiful."   (eARC, 36%)


  " 'You do not know as much as you think you do. Besides...' He blinked, raising his head imperiously. 'I am a cat.'
  And that was the end of it."  (eARC, 37%)


  "As the eerie music swirled around us, I knew that if I remembered anything about this night, it would be this moment, right now. With Kenzie less than a breath away, the moonlight spilling down on her as she danced, graceful as any faery."  (eARC, 68%)


You can purchase at:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository


Series: Ironskin #1
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: 10/2/12
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Source: Received from publisher.

Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.

It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.

When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a "delicate situation"—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.

Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey.

Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again.

 

Why I Read Ironskin:
I noticed this book on a lot of Waiting on Wednesday posts, but wasn't sure it was the book for me. When I received a surprise copy from the publisher, I decided to give Ironskin a try.


Back before I became obsessed with YA and hot rock stars, I was in love with broody English men. Seriously, I could not get enough of men like Maxim de Winter, the Mr. Darcy and Heathcliff. I loved that these men seemed cold and indifferent, until a pivotal moment would loosen their control and each declared his mad love to the sweet, young woman (Not Catherine, she was awful.) who stole his heart. Something about a repressed English man really gets to me, I guess. Then you have the heroine, a girl who is convinced that this sophisticated, aloof man could never love her. She believes that he is still in love with the ghost of a woman long gone. And lastly, you have the setting. Dark and broody English moors, the homes that seem to be alive with memories, secrets in the dark corners. All of these elements made me a young lover of Gothic Romance (I know P&P is not Gothic, but I'm still including it.), and they made me so completely happy that Ironskin landed in my hands.

Author Tina Connolly took inspiration from a classic story, and gave it a magnificent spin by adding a world in which the fey exist, and have terrorized humans for years. Jane is a casualty of the Great War. She is scarred and cursed by the fey, with a rage that can only be contained by her ironskin mask. When she becomes the Governess to a young girl, mysteriously afflicted by the fey, she unexpectedly falls in love with the child's father, Edward Rochart.

Humans, though still frightened believe the Great War is over, but the fey will not stay in the woods forever. As Jane slowly pieces together the horrible truth about the cursed, and her own boss, she uncovers the fey's horrific plan to retake the land.

I was stunned and captivated by the beauty of Connnelly's writing. From the moment the story began, I began, I was enthralled and happy to be in this frightening, haunting, and beautiful world. I was hooked until the shocking end and will be desperately waiting for the next installment.



Favorite Quote:

  "Jane emerged into the round blue-lit foyer, half-thinking he was going to ask her to leave and not return. Despite her desperation - perhaps it would be for the best. To be stranded here in this house that reeked of fey, with this man who ripped down her barriers, who loomed over her with unreadable eyes...perhaps it would be easier if he dismissed her now."  (pg. 16)


  " I don't understand why you need a reminder of how evil people can be,' she said. 'It's something I try to forget.'
   He moved closer, the formality fizzling off and away, as if by coming to the studio Jane had given him the necessary permission to indulge in speaking with her, watching her. His lean frame was so near her own. 'Sometimes we have to remind ourselves we are capable of.' "  (pg.64)

You can purchase Ironskin at:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository