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mylandingin 's review for:
The Iron Knight
by Julie Kagawa
It is the finale of the series of the Iron Fey.
*Sorry, may have some spoilers...*
Meghan is now the Queen of the Iron Realm; the queen of a kingdom invincible to any other faery. Even her beloved Ash. Now, Ash - her knight, whom she banished to sacrifice herself for his survival - has not forgotten his irrevocable vow. And now he is stopping at nothing to find a way for him to be at his queen's side.
We are no longer seeing the story from Meghan's perspective. Now, we see Ash's. The epitome of oxymoron: cold and soul-less yet loving. He is the Prince of Winter - disowned, but still faery - and will stop at nothing to be at Meghan's side once again. Even if it means becoming a vulnerable and unstable species... human.
But no story could be done by oneself. Aided by Puck - or more like annoyed or bothered, in Ash's opinion - Ash goes to seek mortality, but the path is never perfect. Ash is haunted by dreams, memories, and longing - but he needs to be strong in order to gain mortality, a soul. But not all memories and dreams of Ash's are dead. To much of everyone's surprise, the balance of life and death is abandoned when someone comes into the story.
Ash learns more about being human and his motives are suddenly questioned. Unexpected problems are found and Ash finds difficulty finding what his true motive should be. Fortunately, but to Ash's expense, Puck never ceases to be sarcastic and jumpy, which balances out the serious atmosphere Ash's situation creates.
Characters:
This novel allows us to really see into the depths of the characters of both Ash and Puck.
Ash's personality was seriously questioned in this novel. We see a different part of him - unguarded, regretful, confused. It was quite different from the Ash we used to know.
Puck the crazily awesome faery he is finally bursts out of his bubble.
But this part, especially, made me really realise how talented Kagawa is:
Sacrifices are made. Loyalties are questioned. Consciences speak out. The Iron Knight was truly an adventure. But: Does Ash have what it takes to be human? Can he handle the difficulty and burdens being human has? Kagawa creates a meaningful story about what it means to be human and the lengths that love will go.
Also, can anyone answer this question? What did the very last scene mean? (That utterly stumped me.)
*Sorry, may have some spoilers...*
Meghan is now the Queen of the Iron Realm; the queen of a kingdom invincible to any other faery. Even her beloved Ash. Now, Ash - her knight, whom she banished to sacrifice herself for his survival - has not forgotten his irrevocable vow. And now he is stopping at nothing to find a way for him to be at his queen's side.
We are no longer seeing the story from Meghan's perspective. Now, we see Ash's. The epitome of oxymoron: cold and soul-less yet loving. He is the Prince of Winter - disowned, but still faery - and will stop at nothing to be at Meghan's side once again. Even if it means becoming a vulnerable and unstable species... human.
But no story could be done by oneself. Aided by Puck - or more like annoyed or bothered, in Ash's opinion - Ash goes to seek mortality, but the path is never perfect. Ash is haunted by dreams, memories, and longing - but he needs to be strong in order to gain mortality, a soul. But not all memories and dreams of Ash's are dead. To much of everyone's surprise, the balance of life and death is abandoned when someone comes into the story.
Ash learns more about being human and his motives are suddenly questioned. Unexpected problems are found and Ash finds difficulty finding what his true motive should be. Fortunately, but to Ash's expense, Puck never ceases to be sarcastic and jumpy, which balances out the serious atmosphere Ash's situation creates.
Characters:
This novel allows us to really see into the depths of the characters of both Ash and Puck.
Ash's personality was seriously questioned in this novel. We see a different part of him - unguarded, regretful, confused. It was quite different from the Ash we used to know.
Puck the crazily awesome faery he is finally bursts out of his bubble.
Spoiler
Upon arrival to Ariella's deathplace, Ash lashes out, to finally unlock his inner demon, and finally decides to kill him for once and for all. But, at that moment, Ash truly discovers the pain that Ariella's death had brought upon carefree Puck - and that Ash was not the only one to suffer. In fact:"Just because we have a different way of handling it, doesn’t mean I don’t have scars of my own.”
“Name one,” I [Ash] scoffed. “Give me one instance where you haven’t—”
“Meghan Chase!” Puck roared, startling me into silence. I blinked, and he sneered at me. “Yeah, your highness. I know what loss is. I’ve loved that girl since before she knew me. But I waited. I waited because I didn’t want to lie about who I was. I wanted her to know the truth before anything else. So I waited, and I did my job. For years, I protected her, biding my time, until the day she went into the Nevernever after her brother. And then you came along. And I saw how she looked at you. And for the first time, I wanted to kill you as much as you wanted to kill me."
But this part, especially, made me really realise how talented Kagawa is:
Spoiler
When we see through one of Ash's tests for mortality, we see a bittersweet future that Ash would have if he gained a soul - became human - with Meghan.Sacrifices are made. Loyalties are questioned. Consciences speak out. The Iron Knight was truly an adventure. But: Does Ash have what it takes to be human? Can he handle the difficulty and burdens being human has? Kagawa creates a meaningful story about what it means to be human and the lengths that love will go.
Also, can anyone answer this question? What did the very last scene mean? (That utterly stumped me.)