Review: The Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa

THE IRON WARRIOR
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #3
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Release Date: October 27th 2015

Book Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen

The Iron Prince—my nephew—betrayed us all.

He killed me.

Then, I woke up.

Waking after a month on the brink of death, Ethan Chase is stunned to learn that the Veil that conceals the fey from human sight was temporarily torn away. Although humankind's glimpse of the world of Faery lasted just a brief moment, the human world has been cast into chaos, and the emotion and glamour produced by fear and wonder has renewed the tremendous power of the Forgotten Queen. Now, she is at the forefront of an uprising against the courts of Summer and Winter—a reckoning that will have cataclysmic effects on the Nevernever.

Leading the Lady's Forgotten Army is Keirran himself: Ethan's nephew, and the traitor son of the Iron Queen, Meghan Chase.To stop Keirran, Ethan must disobey his sister once again as he and his girlfriend, Kenzie, search for answers long forgotten. In the face of unprecedented evil and unfathomable power, Ethan's enemies must become his allies, and the world of the fey will be changed forevermore.

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Review

The very last Iron Fey book. Never again will I return to this magical world. No more faeries, no more talking cats and to just stick the knife right into my heart- no more Ashallyn’ darkmyr Tallyn. Is everybody just a little bit depressed, everybody with me? Great, now onto the review!

So after the literally ‘killer’ ending of The Lost Prince we find out that Ethan is in fact not dead whew, the Veil between humans and faeries was temporarily lifted during Ethan’s ‘death’, The Dark Muse/The Lady is now more powerful than ever and is ready to wage war against the Seelie, Unseelie and Iron Courts to reclaim the Nevenever and become the one true Queen, and lastly, that Kierran my sweet little Kierran is now a complete and utter lunatic who has lost his soul and is now the champion of the Forgotten and leading this whole damn thing.

Ethan must travel through the Nevernever, the Between and the Dark Wyld in order to try and save the world of faerie. In a wicked twist of fate Ethan discovers that he must destroy the amulet his Guro made for Kierran, in order for Annwyl to avoid the Fade. The amulet is now eating at Kierran’s soul and the longer he is without it, the more likely that his new darker, merciless side is going to be permanent. However the amulet is not easily destroyed and the process might well be impossible, also can anyone really destroy the amulet knowing that Annwyl's life will end without it?

I absolutely loved coming back to the Nevernever and being reunited with some of my favourite characters from the first series. The plot as always was well paced and filled with action, adventure and plot twists that you never see coming, Kagawa doesn’t pull any punches with this last book, sacrifices must be made, bargains are made and lives are lost.

The Iron Warrior was a strong final book and I was so sad to see it end. For me there was far too little Ash & Puck but this wasn't their story and to be honest there could be a whole book dedicated to them and I would still say the same, the characters from the original series will always be my favourite and it’s going to be so hard to let them go. Although I do think it’s only right and long overdue that Puck has a series of his own, surely? His short scenes and one liners just make the book for me! Also Ash will continue to be the love of my life <3 *sigh* 

The only issue I has with this book was the fate of a certain character, I was absolutely devastated. I felt like there was going to be another plot twist or some faery loop hole and things would change but alas they didn’t although I do understand that it was needed but still my poor, lonely character. This ultimately affected my feelings on the ending, which was great, but it was left a little to open-ended for me so the faery door is now stuck ajar and will forever plague me with many, many questions!

Overall this was a fantastic ending to one of my favourite series and although I’m sad to see it go, I will forever return for re-reads, talk about it with my fellow bloggers (Hi Erika, let's cry together later) and will always compare book boyfriends to swoon-worthy Ash. Well done Kagawa but just know I am waiting for Puck’s story-- always.