By Julie Kagawa
Available now from Harlequin Teen
Review copy
Meghan Chase gets crap at school for living in the middle of nowhere, but she does love her family and quickly notices that her brother has been replaced by something wrong. She decides to rescue him, and is off to search for him among the faeries with the help of her best friend Robbie, who turns out to be Puck. Obviously a book that was right up my alley, so I was very excited to read it. Unfortunately, my reaction was, "Eh."
Meghan has ties to the Summer Court, which is why Robin Goodfellow was watching her in the first place. How can Oberon have enough foresight to give her a bodyguard but not have anyone teach her the first thing about faerys? Seriously, she doesn't even know not to say thank you, which a quick exposure to choice children's lit could have taken care of. I was a bit baffled by the parenting fail.
On to the romance. Julie Kagawa does a wonderful job of showing how Robin cares for Meghan without having him say anything direct. Then there's love interest Ash, who I do like, but who seems to win Meghan over with nothing more than good looks. She trusts him and falls in love ridiculously quick. (Of course, so does Ash, while Robin is proof that faeries are inhuman and weird about that sort of stuff.)
The plot does move once the quest starts. I am interested in reading the next book and finding out how Meghan will get herself out of the pickle she put herself in. At the same time, I hope it is a step up. THE IRON KING wasn't bad, but it was average. It didn't have the spark of a modern faery tale like TITHE or EYES LIKE STARS. I was reading about things I enjoyed, but also things I'd seen done before and better.
I believe I stopped right before any quest, Meghan was just escaping from the palace or whatever. I thought I was the only one out there who wasn't really enjoying the book. I put it down and started something else I need to read for February and maybe I'll go back and give the questing a chance. So far I can't stand Robbie and I can tell I am not going to like Ash - reading these reviews made me realize that he's the love interest so I don't know how I'm going to feel about that. ;)
ReplyDeleteEee! i just got this one in the mail today! i can't wait 2 start it! I've seen many good reviews on it!
ReplyDelete@Cat: Oh, thank you! I was so afraid to a pan a book that I know so many people have been into. Er, by quest I meant the searching for her brother hiking through the woods and stuff. The action scenes worked for me, but the stuff gluing 'em together didn't.
ReplyDeleteI liked Robbie; I've got a soft sport for Puck legends. (But seriously, why not teach the girl something?) Ash sounded hot, but he was an incredibly shallow love interest. I thought he was going to be the wrong guy that she liked until she realized Robbie was there for quite a bit.
@Faye: Hope you enjoy it!
I recently recieved a copy of this and I'm looking forward to trying it. I hope I like it better than you did lol.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog as for me. I'd like to read a bit more about this matter. Thnx for giving that information.
ReplyDeleteI've seen so many good reviews for this book... maybe I'll try it.
ReplyDeletesorry you didn't like it all that much. it sounds interesting. I never fell in love with the idea like a lot of others, but I would like to try it at some point.
ReplyDelete-Lauren
I don't know if you entered the Holey Donuts giveaway or not, but if you could check out this post and do so for my blog, it would mean a TON for my family and you can enter for the book afterwards too if you wish!:
http://shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com/2010/02/giveaway-white-cat-arc-250-holey-donuts.html
Honestly? This seems a bit like the horrible love child of Margaret Mahy and Melissa Marr.
ReplyDelete*Sigh* I truly love the idea of reading YA urban fantasy with romantic elements, but it all sounds so derivitive. I'm sure it's not, but that's an impression I can't seem to escape.