The Iron Knight

Title : The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey #4)

Writer : Julie Kagawa

Number of Page : 394

Publisher : Harlequin Teen

"I will always be your knight, Meghan Chase. And I swear, if there is a way for us to be together, I will find it. No matter how long it takes. If I have to chase your soul to the ends of eternity, I won't stop until I find you, I promise."

At the end of the previous book, Ash had made a promise to come back. Meghan was now an Iron Queen and he couldn't be beside her because iron meant death to him. If he wanted to live in the Iron Kingdom, he should find a way to become immune of that metal. And it meant he had to find a soul and become a human.

This book was about a journey, an adventure to search a soul. With Puck, Grimalkin, Wolf, and someone from his past, Ash traveled to the end of the world. The tests were hard and challenging. As a fairy, he was soulless and feeling-less. Now he had to deal with the ghost of his past and his cruel mistakes to prove that he deserved to get a soul. 

In my opinion:

I'm trying to take a breath now. This book is so intense and I haven't overcome the after-effect. I couldn't even write a longer synopsis because it was full of so many amazing parts that I don't want to spoil them all.

I like various fictions, but I mostly enjoy romance because it's light and I don't need to use my stressful brain to digest most of the dialogs. I also love fantasy because I'd like to know other people's imaginations. If I want to read romance, I can find a lot of romance books out there to satisfy my needs. But when I want to read fantasy, I rarely find books that match my taste. I had to read so many reviews before I dare to read the book. I don't want to waste time with annoying novels. What I want is a little bit of romance in the fantasy books that I read. A little, not much. The fantasy should be more emphasized and it would be good if the characters are also lovable. 

And I had found those books. The Hunger Games series, Eon series, The Iron King, The Iron Queen, and now this. The Iron Knight.

I could list many weaknesses of this novel. It was written in Ash's point of view and yet it felt like reading a depressed teenage girl. Not really that different with Meghan's voice actually. There was a love triangle, another girl. And it seemed that Ash was not so sure about his feeling toward Meghan, he had loved the other girl once and still loved her until now. Really, Ash? You wanted to become human for Meghan and now you had doubts just because a girl? The ending for that other girl was so typical, she was dead at the end so that Ash could live happily ever after with Meghan. Of course, it was not that simple. Ash would carry the burden throughout his lives and I knew very clearly that regret was a nasty thing that nobody wanted to carry on ever. 

However, those weaknesses were not important. The joy, the thrill, the excitement of the adventures were so amazing that I didn't see the bad sides anymore. The journey and the tests for getting a soul in this book were probably not something that creative or original. But, the description was. I could set all the places, creatures, situations in my head in 3D! (not exaggerating, really). I felt the fear, eeriness, anticipation, nervousness, and everything. It was so real like watching movies. 

I could know Ash better in this book. He was not perfect and unrealistic as in book one and two. He had his issues, his grief, his dilemma, and he--like many other people--had done so many mistakes. He wanted to change his past, he didn't want to be the cold and heartless faery who killed many innocents, and if only he could protect Ariella (her fiancee)... she would not die. I could not imagine what it was like to have so many regrets. Ash wanted to die just because of that, he couldn't bear facing the evils inside him. And I can't help myself to feel sympathy for him. So sad being him.

Had I told you how I like Puck and Grimalkin? Yes, I ranted about these two in the previous reviews. I thought that was enough. Simply put, Puck and Grimalkin are the best characters ever. And I didn't even miss Meghan. Ash, Puck, and Grimalkin were enough for me.

As always, the saddest thing is that I finished reading all books. *sigh

Some favorite funny scenes:

“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.”

(I believe most people had been tricked or had faced Puck's pranks, he was that exasperating)

One of the challenge in the journey was to duel with the evil reflections inside them. Ash dueled with his cruel twin who knew his weaknesses, his moves, his thoughts. Puck and the others were also the same. But Grimalkin...

"Interesting." Grimalkin appeared in front of a mirror. " I do not know which is more annoying, the real Goodfellow or the reflection."

"Well, considering they are one and the same," said a second, identical Grimalkin, materializing next to the first, "we should be thankful that there will only one left when this is all over."

"Agreed. Two Goodfellows would be more than anyone in this world could take."

"I shudder to think of the implications."

"You are not so helping, Grimalkin!" the real Puck called, ducking beneath a savage head strike. "And we're not here to have tea with our evil doppelgängers! Shouldn't you two be trying to kill each other?"

The Grimalkins sniffed. "Please," they said at the same time.   (imagine the note and the expression when they said "please"... this becomes my favorite line now, gonna say this to annoy someone :p)

The Iron Fey Series:
1. The Iron King 
2. The Iron Daughter 
3. The Iron Queen 
4. The Iron Knight

5/5