The Iron Knight (Iron Fey, #4)
by Julie Kagawa
Genre: Fantasy/Faeries
Reading Grade: Young
Adult
Publication Date:
October 25, 2011
Source: purchased
paperback
Age Rating: 14+
To cold faery
prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love
had died a horrible death, killing gentler feelings the Winter Prince
might have had. Or so he thought.
Then Meghan Chase—a
half-human, half-fey slip of a girl—smashed through his barricades,
binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And
when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond
to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm
where no Winter or Summer faery can survive,
With the
unwelcome company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and
the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound
to see through its end—a quest to find a way to honor his vow to
stand by Meghan's side.
To survive the Iron Realm, Ash must
have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn
these things are impossible. And along the way, Ash learns something
that changes everything. A truth that challenges his darkest beliefs
and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the
ultimate sacrifice.
My Review
It's over. The Iron
Fey series is all over. That's what comes to mind as I write this
review. I didn't expect to feel so much loss over that simple fact,
but as soon as I closed my copy of the book, that's what I felt. I
had been looking forward to reading the fourth and final installment
in the Iron Fey novel series for several months, and now that
I've read it, I know I'll be missing that feeling of anticipating the
next exciting adventure.
But, the story comes
to its inevitable conclusion as we say farewell to the characters
that got us started on this wild journey into the land of Faery. I
barely want to write much of anything about this particular
installment, so much as I want to write about how I feel about the
entire series. I'll weave the two together as best I can for my
review.
Ash starts out needing
to find a way to earn a soul so that he is able to fulfill his vow of
returning to Meghan Chase's side. Fulfilling obligations is serious
business for the Fey, and in this book we find out why. If Ash
doesn't try to do this, he will become an evil thing, and seek to
destroy all of Faery, including his beloved Meghan. So, this is
mostly what drives him.
Despite his cold
disposition, I warmed up to Ash pretty quickly when I first started
the series because I liked how he was obviously attracted to Meghan,
despite himself. When alone with her, he could be very kind and
concerned for her well-being. In The Iron Daughter, we got to
see this easily, and I loved Ash all through The Iron Queen,
too. His devotion to Meghan hardly has equal, and that comes to
fruition as he gets a chance to prove it in The Iron Knight.
And, what he must go through to prove it is painful, bitter, yet
ultimately full of joy, just like human life itself.
When I read “Summer's Crossing,” I fell totally in love with Puck, unexpectedly. Why I
hadn't earlier is beyond me, but he really is one of the funniest YA
heroes in all of YA literature. And, this journey needed to include
Puck, if for no other reason than because without Puck, there really
is no Ash. They are the oldest of friends, and you learn from reading
the right kind of teen literature that your friends are part of your
heart—you need to rely on them, as they need to rely on you. I
cried as Ash and Puck finally parted ways in that unforgettable
scene.
This story has such an
ethereal, dreamlike quality through most of the journey, so it feels
like being inside a strange dream Ash is having. Or, maybe that is
how he normally experiences life as a faery. It is so rich with
detail and beautifully designed scenes that stick in your head long
after you finish reading them. I could visualize everything in my
head so well, which is either like watching a movie, or just simply
being there on Ash's shoulder the entire time, like he's lending you
a space to sit on him and observe.
We really get to know
Ash, discovering that he and the Fey have no conscience, and we find
out what that really means. We get to see flashbacks to when Ash was
a soulless fey who never had a genuine mean bone in his body, but was
willing to behave terribly when goaded into it, or forced to. And, he
never felt any remorse. The Fey are sort of remarkable that way, and
it explains their often cruel and unfeeling behavior towards humans
and each other. I even pity the fey, having learned how terrified
they are of being forgotten by the very beings that created them—the
humans, for being forgotten by them means extinction.
I think this
installment is the perfect way to wrap up the series because it
addresses so many questions, even questions I didn't think I had. You
know you're holding the work of a great storyteller when she
clarifies the confusing, often mysterious aspects of her
world-building, whether you asked for it, or not. You realize it
deepens your understanding of all the previous books, making them not
just mere stories with beginnings, middles, and ends—but real
places you can journey to anytime you feel like it.
I'd say goodbye, but
that sounds so final, since Julie Kagawa plans to continue more of
her world of the Iron Fey in a future series starring Ethan
Chase, Meghan's little brother. So, we can reasonably assume our
favorite first-series characters will make cameo appearances.
Besides, the Fey are always out there somewhere, lurking behind a
bush, or a tree, so long as we remember them. And, as long as you
keep using the internet with your iron-derived technology, the Iron
Fey will assuredly prosper, too. Until I see all you faeries again,
I'll be the voice of reason (a.k.a. Grimalkin) and say, do try to
stay out of trouble….
My score: 5
twinkling Edge of the World stars out of 5. (I
loved it!)
