The Iron Raven by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Thank you to the publisher, Inkyard Press, for providing me with an ARC of The Iron Raven in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Gist
I had the strangest déjà vu when I first saw the name and the cover of Kagawa’s newest book. I swear I saw this book years ago and put it on my to-read list. Goes to show how one can be truly mistaken.
Regardless, I have heard of the author’s other series, The Iron Fey, and the first book has been on my to-read list for a very long time. Sadly, I haven’t had the chance to read it yet.
This new series, based on The Iron Fey stories, can be read without prior knowledge of the former series, although it would add to your reading pleasure and certainly has me now intrigued to give them a try.
The Details
As I said before, I had no prior knowledge of the background that The Iron Raven comes with. But that didn’t really hinder or spoil any enjoyment of the story.
Even in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Puck used to be my favourite character. Having an entire book narrated from his perspective was a lot of fun.
Puck is witty, sarcastic and a bit of a shit-disturber, yet he has remarkable depth and dimension.
He isn’t just some one-liner delivering jester that breaks up the monotony of the slightly traveling troupe style story.
A few people may gasp in shock at my next statement, I just can’t help myself: I did not like the Iron Queen or Ash. Perhaps that’s because I don’t know the details of their story.
I just found them slightly boring and annoying. The Iron Queen would state a fact or observe something, but her delivery felt flat and uninspiring.
Ash’s almost perceptible smiles or grimaces of emotional pain were just not my cup of tea.
The character of Nyx is my absolute favourite and I always perked up a little when she was present in any scene.
The story was relatively fast-paced, even though at some point I was thinking that they haven’t even left the Shire yet and it’s the halfway point in the book.
The writing was very good and kept me engaged in the story. I appreciated the sarcastic and witty style that held up nicely throughout the story.
The Verdict
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It was a fun adventure/fantasy story that put a smile on my face. Something that doesn’t happen too often these days, unfortunately.
This story certainly piqued my interest in The Iron Fey series.
I would definitely recommend The Iron Raven.
About the Author
Julie Kagawa is the New York Times, USA TODAY and internationally bestselling author of The Iron Fey, Blood of Eden, The Talon Saga and the Shadow of the Fox series. Born in Sacramento, she has been a bookseller and an animal trainer and enjoys reading, painting, playing in her garden and training in martial arts. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and a plethora of pets.
