Iron King (Iron Fae book 1)

by Julie Kagawa

Hmm... not sure how I skipped writing about this one back when I read it. This is a young adult series, mostly a trilogy but it has 2 shorts and then an epilogue/follow on from another character's point of view.

I think I may have gotten the first book free or something and really loved it right away. Meghan Chase is turning 16 and finds out that she's 1/2 faerie and that her biological father is King Oberon of the Seelie Court and her best friend Robbie is actually Robin Goodfellow or Puck from Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night's Dream. Her little brother (1/2 brother) is kidnapped by the fairies and Meghan goes in the Nevernever to get him back.

What she finds is a world we expect with a new twist. First we have the Seelie (Summer) Court and the Unseelie (Winter) Court that share power but don't really get along. However due to human's lack of belief in the 'other' these courts aren't as strong as they once were and a new Fae has cropped up called the Iron Fae, born out of progress. Since regular Fae can't be around Iron this is a neat twist. Since Meghan is a half breed she doesn't have an Iron weakness.

The book is full of adventure, a little youthful romance and some very gruesome scenes (Fae are vicious). I loved it, I loved all the characters that Meghan runs into and the world in general that the author depicts. Very well done, it really captured my attention!