The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey #4) by Julie Kagawa + Extra

Title: The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey #4) Author: Julie Kagawa Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Adventure Published: October 2011 My Rating: 4/5 'My name - my True Name - is Ashallayn’ darkmyr Tallyn. I am the last remaining son of Mab, Queen of the Unseelie Court. And I am dead to her. My fall began, as many stories do, with a girl…' To cold faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.  Then Meghan Chase - a half human, half fey slip of a girl - smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive. With the unwelcome company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end - a quest to find a way to honor his vow to stand by Meghan's side.  To survive in the Iron Realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. And along the way Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

So these are my thoughts on the last book of the series.

If you haven’t read my reviews of the previous books, you can read them here:

The Iron King (TheIron Fey #1) + Extra

The Iron Daughter (The Iron Fey #2)

The Iron Queen (TheIron Fey #3) + Extra

First of all, I have to say this is one of the best series I’ve read. It’s very original, it’s funny, it’s packed with lots of action and romance… it played with my emotions countless times. What else can I say? Julie Kagawa knows what she’s doing.

I will admit that this one was my least favorite, not because it was bad or anything like that, I loved it. I just think I missed Meghan a lot, and since I find Ash a little bit frustrating, it was a bit more difficult for me to not get angry at him since it was from his POV.

If you read my review of The Iron Queen, you’ll know that I like it a lot when Puck and Ash spend time together, it’s hilarious. There’s a lot of that in this book, plus we also get Grimalkin. Aaand we also get to see a character we’ve met before, the big bad wolf, although if you haven’t read Winter’s Passage (The Iron Fey #1.5) then I suggest you go read it before The Iron Knight, that way you can understand things better... I like him :3

So we know that Ash promised he would be with Meghan, and the only way of doing this is by becoming human, so he can stay in the Iron Realm without dying.  He goes to this place far far away where he has to face some trials in order to earn a soul.

I did have a lot of mixed feelings about this. I actually sat a lot of time wondering what would happen and trying to find all the pros and cons. Because I do like Ash as a fey. I like his strength, how he isn’t afraid of anything, how he controls Winter glamour… and I don’t want him to be mortal. I mean, Meghan is immortal now, right? Or something like that… So she would stay alive while he got older and eventually died… How is that a good thing? :’( we’re going to all this trouble to stay with Meghan, Ash. So now you’re going to be mortal and get old and die and leave her alone? I don’t know… But hey, he has to be able to go into the Iron Realm without dying… Ugh this was seriously an issue for me, I just spent so much time thinking about all this…

In the book we also learn how Ash and Ariella met, I really liked this part. Yes yes, I know I always complain about Ash comparing Ariella to Meghan, but that wasn’t Ariella’s fault, so I had nothing against her… Just Ash :). She was pretty nice for being a Winter fae, she must’ve been pretty young or never got out of the house much, because how was she still alive when she met him?

Now, if you haven’t read this and don’t want to be spoiled because you plan on doing it, I’d suggest you leave right now.

Seriously. Go :)

Just go now.

Well now, this is the part where I freak out…

OMG EVIN#TVT AWGABGAE $RK@UGB GRAEB%GA EGAE

WHAAAAAAT??? ^$@(% FFRWW$

NA!V NTAV)BFE SHE IS ALIVE???!!!

OH.MY.GOD… Am I the only person who had to read like a third of the book to actually believe she was still alive?? I just didn’t want to trust her. I mean, there’s magic and all kinds of traps here! Is she even real??

Well yeah, she was. I freaked out alright. At first I was ‘OMG! You know what? You know what?? Please take Ash, Ariella. Take him with you, please do. I like him but he makes me freaking mad’. But I still wanted him to go back to Meghan. Although I really hated how he chose Meghan instead of Ariella because he was her knight and made her a promise. That was it. Just a promise. No ‘oh I love her so much, I’m sorry Ariella’. No ‘I want to be with her forever because I actually want to’. No. Stupid Ash.

But I have to say I didn’t get mad when he spent time with her, it was so much different from when he compared Meghan to her RIGHT IN HER FACE. Although, can we all agree that Meghan is WAY stronger than Ariella? Dude, really! Even when she was human. Why would Ash say Ariella was so strong and that Meghan was becoming like her? Ariella can just shoot some arrows, all right.

And there was this part where out of nowhere I just started freaking out again going all ‘THAT’S IT! No Team Ash. No Team Puck. No nothing. Meghan doesn’t need any of yooouu!!!’. I don’t even know where that came from, I did think that a lot throughout the series though.

Now I’m going to talk about my favorite part in the book…

Ash getting a conscience.

OH GOD THIS WAS PERFECT.

He was SUCH a bad person, man! And that poor girl he hurt by making her fall in love with him! (and am I wrong or did he do that to other girls too?) And don’t go all ‘Ooh but it was Rowan’s fault’. No no, no! He chose to do it. HIS choice.

And I was just THE HAPPIEST BEING ON EARTH when he was suffering. And don’t you judge me! He deserved this and more. After this I actually think I forgave him and let him go to Meghan after he was done with the trials. Yeah. Let him. Me :) 

And then there’s this last trial and he suddenly appears next to Meghan and I’m all WTF. How? When? I started getting suspicious. I thought it must be some kind of dream or something. But then they get married, live their lives, he gets old and dies… And I’m still ‘THIS CAN’T BE REAL. IT JUST CAN’T. WHAT HAPPENED? WHERE ARE THE OTHERS AND WHY IS ASH SO FREAKING LAME?!’. I did so pity him, I wanted old Ash back. This is what I was afraid of. And there was actually a moment when I started to think ‘Oh God, humans are so laaame’… Yeah, for a second I actually forgot I was a human. Go me. How sad it was when I came back to reality…

After that we find out that it was the trial and not what actually happened (I kneeew it!!) and he gets his pretty little soul… BUT HE’S STILL BAD-ASS!!! What was he then? A half-breed? Or what exactly?... But oh well, I’m still confused about what Meghan is now too.

The epilogue was the cutest thing. I really loved it. And I was SO excited to see Meghan again!! I missed her so freaking much :’( And not just that, but at the end there’s a Q&A section and Ash and Puck are there answering questions too! How adorable is that!!!!

Wow, this one was pretty long. I am so sorry D: if you’ve actually read this whole thing then you have my respect. I just started ranting at some point!

Now for the short stories…

Extra:

An Iron Fey Valentine (The Iron Fey #4.4):

Well, I think the title says it all. It’s the first Valentine’s Day Meghan and Ash spend together and it’s SO CUTE. I enjoyed this one a lot, definitely worth reading. I’m so glad I ended up liking Ash again. I think it must’ve been after he got a conscience and spent all that time crying for all those bad things he did. I definitely needed something like that to like him again!

Iron’s Prophecy (The Iron Fey #4.5):

READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS. A must read. Really. If you read the whole saga but skipped the short stories, you don’t want to miss this one. You get to see what happens after the whole thing, this is like an extension of the series and it’s pretty long, I wasn’t expecting that at all. Loved it.

So what did you think of The Iron Knight?

Thank you for reading! Bye-Bye! ♥