The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Goodreads summary: Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Review: Ah, the first book of the Iron Fey series. I've read so many reviews about this book saying that it was an awesome and fun read. But I would like to contradict this. The problem with books like The Iron King is that they are too predictable - too predictable that reading through every twist and revelation gets ridiculous!

List of predictable predictables in this book:

1.) Ordinary girl isn't ordinary after all. She learns that she is something powerful.

2.) Hot, mysterious(?), cold, snobby guy appears.

3.) Main character falls deeply and irrevocably in love with hot guy.

4.) Main character learns 'dark' past of hot guy.

Or probably numbers 1 to 4 are part of a formula you need to write a "fantastic" YA novel.

I have plenty of issues with this book. First, the writing style! My golly-lolly! I am sick and tired with styles like this, this Twilight-y, novice-ish style! I am not an idiot who needs to be told on what every damn movement the character makes or what that character looks like. I don't need to know that Ash has a great body, that his face is just superbly-perfectly-astonishingly-beautiful, and that his eyes are blue-azure-'ice cold'-'dark swirling'-(insert useless adjective here)! But I understand that not all people can write like Stephen King or Ian Mcewan or Vladimir Nabokov. I just wish authors won't treat their readers as morons and write in very unhelpful and useless detail what the shizzum the character is doing. Please go straight to the point, or else I will have to skip this part of the book.

Second issue, the characters. Meghan, Ash, Grimalkin and everybody else are your typical characters. They are cliche, Mary Sue-ish. There is nothing unique or original about them that can really stick to my mind, or make me remember them by heart. At least if you will use a cliche character add something about that character - a skill only that character has, an experience only that character has experienced, or anything so that character won't be tagged as 'cliche'. And please, please, PLEASE authors! If 'hot guy' has a secret past, don't make it cliche as well!

Third and last, the villain. The villain is supposed to be hateful, spiteful, 'cool', has awesome powers, omnipotent! But why did Julie Kagawa give us a pedophile for a villain? I think the Iron King just gave us one of the most pathetic and lamest reasons why he kidnapped Ethan, Meghan's half-brother, and why he needed Meghan. How do you spell Iron King? L-A-M-E!

This book is just a blend of popular books, mixed with cliche characters, and topped with been-there-done-that elements to make it seem 'unique' and 'one of a kind'.

BUT! yes,thereisabut Although, I definitely think that this book kind of sucks, there are some elements I can consider as interesting.

1.) The Iron fey. It's something I haven't heard of before.

2.) Puck. Enough said.

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