The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

First Line: Ten years ago, on my sixth birthday, my father disappeared.

Meghan begins her sixteenth birthday wanting what any other teen girl wants: her drivers license, to be noticed by the cutest boy in school and respect from her parents (oh, and a cell phone).  Her life focuses very quickly on what is important when she gets home from school that day with her mom lying in a pool of blood and her four year old brother kidnapped by creatures from the nevernever.  She acts fast following her "not as he appears" best friend Robbie into another world and an adventure that will leave her permanently changed.  

I struggled getting into this book, it was just too 'Alice in Wonderland' for me.  I never really 'got' or liked Alice in Wonderland, not sure why. 

ANYWAY...  Things really pick up and when 'Alice in Wonderland' collides into 'Transformers' meets 'World of Warcraft' - it became a bit more my mythical style - lol.

The imagination of Julie Kagawa is insane - in the best way possible.  Her attention to detail, the explanation of the surroundings both familiar and extreme, Her description of both the characters and the land made me think that this would make an awesome movie.  I could see the landscape sprawling out before me as Maghan was discovering it for the first time herself.  Stinkin cool!

There where sporatic swear words tossed in that I HATED.  Really I have issues with swearing - especially in Young Adult books.  It wasn't super extreme, but I really could have done without it.

Overall I did end up loving the book, I am excited to read the next one and if you are a fantasy lover I definitely recommend it.

 

Iron Fey Series

Book 1: The Iron King, released February 1, 2010

Book 1.5: Winter's Passage, released June 1, 2010

Book 2: The Iron Daughter, released August 1, 2010

Book 3: The Iron Queen, to be released February 1, 2011