The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

The Iron Knight:
"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.

Wow…so…yeah, it took me nearly two weeks to finish The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa. Admittedly I was a bit distracted, but I also found that this book really did not keep my attention completely focused. I’m as much an Ash fan as the rest of ‘em, but I just couldn’t connect to the characters in this one. I think I mostly just missed the interaction between Ash and Meghan, although I really liked the inside peek at the Winter Prince, as the story is told through his point of view. Julie has an amazing talent for pulling you into her world of the fey; visualizing the scenery came easily and I enjoyed that about the story. It was very slow to begin, but this book was one full of adventure and there were a lot of elements that were very reminiscent of The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende. 

Ash made a promise to Meghan that he would find a way to be by her side, and the only way he could survive the Iron Realm and continue to be her knight is to journey farther than any fey has dared in order to receive a soul. Traveling at his side are his enemy and friend, Puck, Grimalkin the cait sith, and the Big Bad Wolf of legend. Along the way they cross paths with someone from Ash and Puck’s past, and they build unlikely and enduring friendships during their adventure. While Meghan believes she has lost Ash forever, he will not stop until he fulfills his promise.