Thursday, October 10, 2013

Review: The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa

Oh, I'm going to have trouble writing this review of mine. I wanted to love this book, but I did not. I'm going to rate it a three star, though sometimes it felt like less than that for me. But, if I had read this book a year ago it probably would have been a five star for me. Most likely. But, I read it now. And I'm sorry I didn't love it.

It's been a year since I read the first book, The Lost Prince. I remember loving it, and I gave it five stars. But oh, since then I have gotten very picky with how I need the writing to be. I cannot enjoy something if I don't like the writing. And I did not enjoy the writing in this book at all. Not one bit. Which makes me sad.

Thing is, I have read a lot of books by Julie. And while it has been a year since I read the Iron Fey books by her, it's been just six months since I read The Eternity Cure. I don't remember any of her books being written like this one was. And I enjoyed her other books so much, and loved the writing. So it upsets be a bit that I couldn't enjoy the writing in The Iron Traitor. But that's just the way it is, I suppose. I can't love everything, all the time.

But even though I did not like the writing in this book, I did enjoy the story. For the most part. It is exciting and I loved being back in the Fey world that Julie has created. It's pretty amazing to read about. I just had issues with the way Ethan thought. And some clichés. They annoyed me a tiny bit, but I didn't really mind them that much, because I did enjoy most of this book. I liked the characters, though I might have liked Keirran the most, and he isn't even the main character. But he was pretty awesome.

We get to know more about Ethan, and I'm sorry, I just didn't feel much for him. Didn't connect that well with him. And I don't know why. Probably my fault. Sigh. It makes me sad, but I am still glad that I read this book, because I do adore Julie. Anyway. I won't say too much about the plot in this book. Though I will talk a little bit about it. And a little bit about the characters. And all the betrayal and heartbreak. Though I felt some things were a bit cliché, I still enjoyed reading about them. Mostly, I think :)

We get to read more of Ethan and Kenzie. First a bit of school time, though that doesn't last for long. We learn more about Kenzie's family; like her father. I didn't like him. Though I felt a little bit like he wasn't done well enough. Wish he had cared more. We see more of Ethan's parents too, and I liked them a little bit better. We see some of the old characters from the Iron Fey series. A little bit of Grimalkin; whom I still adore. A bit of Puck too. Still don't like him much :D Though I loved Razor.

There are some other characters in this book too, and I mostly liked them. I think I liked Annwyl. She was interesting to read about. I did feel sorry for her. An interesting character was the Thin Man. I enjoyed reading about him. We also see a bunch of other faeries. And we see more of the Forgotten. Though not as much as I had hoped. I did enjoy reading about them a lot. Though I should have read the short story before reading this book.. regretting that a bit, but I still understood mostly everything.

Anyway. Don't really have much else to say about this book. There are some interesting scenes that I enjoyed reading about, though I couldn't ever start liking Ethan's thinking method. It kind of drove me nuts. Didn't manage to forget about it for a moment. Sad face. But I did manage to enjoy the plot, because it is interesting. Truly. Though some things were a bit creepy. Some things sad. There is a lot of sad things in this book. I enjoyed them. Anyway. I do suggest reading this book if you read the first one.

The ending in this book is cruel. Very cruel. Though that is getting usual with Julie :D I love it. Though it was heartbreaking. And I'm worried. Though I doubt it can be that bad; new book coming and all. <3 But yeah. I am worried. Though I am also very excited for the third book, and I do hope I will enjoy it more than this one. It's just, it upsets me that I could not enjoy this. I wanted to, so much. Hmm. Might be because I missed Ash? Maybe. He and Meghan was not in this book much at all. Sad face. Still :)

Okay. Yes, I did not like this book. Though I am giving it a three star. Though probably a two point five star. I wish I could have loved it more, like I did the other books by Julie. But I just didn't. Anyway. Just also wanted to mention that I adore Julie, and I think she's an amazing person and author. And I will still be reading all the upcoming books by her, even though I was disappointed with The Iron Traitor. I still cannot wait for the last book, book three. I am very excited to read the end of the trilogy :)

I wanted to thank Mira Ink for the print ARC of this gorgeous book. <3 I love the cover; it's so pretty. Also thank you to Harlequin Teen for the auto-approval on Netgalley, though I ended up reading my print ARC :) I am happy that I got to read this book early. And I am still getting my pre-orders. <3


Goodreads - Pre-Order: US - UK

8 comments:

  1. So sad to hear you didn't like this book as much as you were hoping. =(
    Hopefully the next book will be better for you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aw, sorry you struggled some with this one!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ohh, I'm sorry you didn't like this one :( I really loved it, though I get what you mean about the cliches. I also loved seeing the old characters but yes I wish there was more Ash :P
    I hope you'll like the next one better xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry this book didn't work out for you Carina, I completely understand though why this book didn't work for you. A lack of connection with characters usually results in a disappointing read for me too. And I too have become a really fussy reader over the last year, before I was able to give out high ratings all the time, but now a book needs to do so much to fully win me over. I really do hope the next book meets your expectations. Lovely review!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great review! The writing style is VERY important to me too.
    Different kinds of books with different themes must be written differently!

    And I'm sorry you ended up disappointed with this book! It happens to me to, the book I waited for, and from a favorite author, just sometimes isn't it. :(

    Beatrix @ Way Too Hot Books

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am sorry you didn't enjoy this one as much as you wanted too! It is amazing what time can do with our thoughts on a book or style of writing. :) Thanks for sharing your review!
    ~Jess

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh gosh. The title alone gives me the heebies. Ethan was on thin ice with me, already on the the first book. I just don't know how this book could change my mind with a title like that. To be honest though, I was ready to move on from this series after book one. I think I'm over the fairy realm.

    Sorry you didn't like it as much, Carina. I hope your next read's better!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have to say that I didn't like this book as much as her other work either. The story missed some of the charm from her other books in this series. Great review :)

    Mel@thedailyprophecy.

    ReplyDelete

I love getting comments. Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog :)