Blog Tour Guest Post ~ The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

I'd like to take the time to say Thank You to Julie for stopping by my blog today.  I really enjoy The Iron Fey series and I'm sad to see it end but I'm looking forward to reading more of your books in the future!

About the Author:

Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, when she was nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish and the odd eel.

When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job. 

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dog trainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks is at an all- time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyperactive Papillon.

Author Webpage

Now onto our guest post!

1. Where did you get your inspiration for the physical environment of the Nevernever?

For me, the home of the fey should be beautiful, haunting, and just a little bit creepy, much like the faeries themselves.  So I took an environment and made it so that something was just a little off about it.  I wanted readers to experience the same unease as Meghan when traveling through the land of the fey.

2. Before writing this series did you always know how it would end or did it develop as you wrote each one?

I knew how Meghan’s story would ultimately end, yes.  But within each book, I knew there were certain things that had to happen, and I wrote toward those events. 

3. If you had no other choice, which character would you want to step into the life of within your Iron Fey series?

It would have to be Grimalkin.  Super smart, super snarky, and can turn invisible whenever he wants.  Who wouldn't love to be a cat?  ;-)

4.      What is your writing space like?

I have an office, with a desk in front of a window so I can see out.  Unfortunately, the window faces the rising sun, so the blinds are usually drawn because the sun blinds me, lol.  My desk has my laptop on it, several books stacked and scattered about at random, and a constant supply of empty soda cans everywhere.  Caffeine, I can’t live without it.

Blog Tour Review ~ The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Iron Knight
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: The Iron Fey #4

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.

Unless he can earn a soul.

To cold, emotionless 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 solemn 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. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.

And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Review:

I LOVE The Iron Fey series!  I go all fangirl when I hear news about this series.  I especially love Ash, the brooding former Winter Court prince. TEAM ASH!  All that being said, I was really happy when I was approached about being part of a blog tour for this book.  The conclusion of one of my favorite series.  Now that I've gotten my fangirl moment out of the way now on to the review!

As much as I REALLY wanted to give this book a 5/5 for me the beginning of the book was a little bit slow for my liking.  But once the journey truly begins and Ash, Puck, Grim and the Big Bad Wolf find the seer things really started to pick up and this book had my complete attention.  See Ash made a promise to Meghan that he would not stop until he found a way for him to be with her.  Meghan is now the Queen of the Iron Fey and Iron is BAD for guys like Ash and Puck.  Just to add some "relief" for Ash Puck joins the journey and ok course in addition to making a great team their fighting is always entertaining. One of my favorite passages:

“I’m going to kill you one day,” I told him as we hurried after Grimalkin, back into the swampy marshland. It was not an idle threat.
Puck just laughed. “Yeah. You and everyone else, prince. Join the club.”

Personally, I think that Puck turns the humor up a notch or six in this book.  As much as they fight and shouldn't get along I've always thought that Puck's humor "cancelled out" Ash's dark broodiness.  All of this while still being sad that he lost Meghan to Ash.


Did you know that there is actually an End of the World?!  The seer is going to take this motley crew there and that will be were Ash will take the trials and hopefully earn his mortal soul, which will allow him to live HEA (Happily Ever After) in the Iron Realm with Meghan. A small wrinkle occurs though, Ash has history with the seer and now he has more choices and decisions to make.  After a wild ride down the River of Dreams and a trek through a long lost and forgotten are of fae, our hero Ash arrives at the testing grounds.  Ash must pass three horribly rigorous and gruesome test in order to achieve his mortal soul. The more the tests progress the more you learn about Ash's past and all the horrible mistakes and deeds he's committed.  But Ash remains steadfast, all in the name of love. Overall, I thought this was a great ending to a phenomenal series.  If you haven't checkout this series please do! 

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

Review:

Oh my goodness!  I got to read this ARC as part of a tour site and for me I was very sad that I had to send it on to the next person on the list.  I enjoyed this book so very much!  I will definitely be buying a finished copy when they become available.  FOR SURE!

There are so many things questions in this book that it made it a fun read for me.  Is Nikki able to cheat fate?  During the Feed who was the boys face that helped her make the decision to go back to the surface after the Feed?  Are there proper goodbyes?  Are there any goodbyes at all?  For the most part these questions are answered, well partially answered, your just going to have to get a copy of Everneath to find out the answers.

I was really intrigued by Nikki.  She was a mish mash of patience, intelligence, and caring with a healthy dose of dramatic and impulsive.  Nikki ends up in the Everneath by circumstances, ones I'm not going to give away.  Basically, Nikki doesn't want to hurt anymore and Cole comes along and offers her a "chance of a lifetime" kind of deal.  For me Nikki was really easy to connect with.  We've all hurt at some point or another and wished for a way to just make it stop hurting.  I thought the secondary characters were done excellently, even our two love interests.  Which seems to be a reoccurring theme these days in YA but I still liked it a lot.

Overall, I really think this book is the beginning of something really beautiful for this debut author.  If this book isn't already on your wish list, ADD IT IMMEDIATELY!