Review- The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

The third installment to the "New York Times" Bestseller.

My name is Meghan Chase.

I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.

This time, there will be no turning back.

(Cover and description taken from Goodreads)

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A year has passed since she learned her true heritage, and Meghan Chase thinks she’s left the faery world behind. Having decided to exile herself in order to be with Prince Ash, the Winter fey prince whom she loves, she finds herself unwillingly dragged into battle with the Iron fey once more. And this time, it could be the end of faeryland as they know it…

Meghan’s father, who disappeared into the faery world when she was six years old, is still alive, but his daughter has no memory of him, having accidentally relinquished her memory in exchange for help from a deceitful Oracle. Now she finds herself facing the perils of Faery once more as she tries to get her memory back and to re-establish a connection with the man who, if not by blood, was her true father. But this is only the least of her worries. In killing the previous King, Meghan has inherited his power, and as Meghan tries to master her abilities she finds that the conflicting glamour of Iron and Summer warring inside her makes it impossible for her to use magic. To make things worse, she can never contact her family again without putting them in danger from the Iron Fey. The false Iron King will stop at nothing to kill her in order to get the power he sees as rightfully his - and he will stop at nothing to destroy Faeryland and the lands of Summer and Winter forever. Oberon, the Erlking, and Queen Mab of Tir Na Nog, must unite and face the armies of the Iron Kingdom. But the outcome of the battle seems inevitable: how can faeries of old win out against the relentless march of technology?

Meghan finds herself in the centre of this conflict as the Iron King unleashes all his forces to destroy her. Accompanied only by her faithful friend Puck; her knight, Ash, and the unpredictable cat Grimalkin, she takes on a final, desperate journey into the Iron Kingdom. Now she is a major player in the war, balanced between the faery and mortal worlds, but what is her destiny? Do Ash and Meghan have a future, a half-human and an immortal faery prince? Or will everything she loves be destroyed?

I knew there was a reason I picked up this series. The Iron Queen is even better than the first two books in the trilogy, and Meghan develops a lot more as a character over the course of the novel. The Faery world is fantastic; Julie Kagawa does such a good job of drawing on myth and fairytales to create something unique, and utterly absorbing. Her characters are three-dimensional, and I feel that we get to know them all so much better, even though the action doesn't let up from start to finish. At the risk of employing an over-used cliche, the term 'roller-coaster of emotions' fits this book exactly. In my view, this is one of the best young adult fantasy series out there - I can't recommend the Iron Fey series enough! Better still, I then learned that the story doesn't end with The Iron Queen - there's a fourth book to come, which gives me a tiny bit of hope despite the heart-breaking - albeit undeniably apt - ending.

Rating: *****