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at school for living in the middle of nowhere, but she does love her family and quickly notices that her brother has been replaced by something wrong.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.
