The Iron Knight & MaddAddam: mini reviews

Title: The Iron Knight (Iron Fey #4)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Source: Changing Hands Bookstore

Rating: 5 stars

Summary: 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.

My Review:

Wow, well, this was like a billion times better than the first three books in my opinion. I am so glad I stuck with the series. It's never been one of my favorite series, but I bought all the books, so I stuck them between other reading this past year. 

I am so glad this book exists, and is in Ash's pov because he really needed some peace of mind, or whatever you call it. The Iron Knight is certainly your old-fashioned tale of dashing princes, epic trials, soul-searching, and most importantly, comic relief. Maybe my problem with the previous books was that I just couldn't ever completely like Meghan. So since she wasn't really in much of this, I was able to focus on the rest of the supporting characters, and actually pay attention to them.

Also, great middle-epilogue. We manage to get a HEA without all the cheesiness. So glad! But the actual ending was sort of bittersweet. I think it's easy to say Puck and Ash's relationship is my favorite in this series; it's so complicated and true.

If you thought the ending to The Iron Queen was good, the ending to The Iron Knight is fantastic.

I'm not sure I will continue on to the sequel series, but if I do, it will be after they're all out, like I did with this one. And only if I'm reassured that's all she's going to write. I can't have her go all Cassandra Clare on me, one is certainly enough. ;)

(Um, small use of language below, in case that offends. But if you're used to reading Atwood's books, it probably wouldn't.)

Title: MaddAddam (MaddAddam Trilogy #3)

Author: Margaret Atwood

Source: Changing Hands Bookstore

Rating: 5 stars

Summary: A man-made plague has swept the earth, but a small group survives, along with the green-eyed Crakers – a gentle species bio-engineered to replace humans. Toby, onetime member of the Gods Gardeners and expert in mushrooms and bees, is still in love with street-smart Zeb, who has an interesting past. The Crakers’ reluctant prophet, Snowman-the-Jimmy, is hallucinating; Amanda is in shock from a Painballer attack; and Ivory Bill yearns for the provocative Swift Fox, who is flirting with Zeb. Meanwhile, giant Pigoons and malevolent Painballers threaten to attack. 

My Review:

What captures me most in this trilogy, now more than before, in MaddAddam, is the unconventional narrative style. It reads like a story, as in storytelling, not in book-reading, if you follow me. With the complexity of the characters lives twined together throughout years of events, much of the book is told in dialogue and flashbacks. Our main point of view is from Toby, though it's third person, present tense. In my opinion, that is probably the most horrible viewpoint decision, but because of the whole storytelling thing, it's really the only way to go, and I think it worked for the most part. Near the end that all got very different with Blackbeard (one of the Crakers) narrating and helping out due to Toby's deterioration, but nevertheless still as captivating.

Oh the slang/lingo/language she came up with...so many strange combinations of words and play on words...I can't even begin to list them, but one that was most intriguing was the Church of PetrOleum and the entire belief system related. The creativeness impressed me most definitely.

For one final small thought, one of my favorite Craker understandings was this: When Snowman-the-Jimmy started to recover, he realized some things and naturally when bad things happened, he would cry, Oh Fuck! and the Crakers would pester: Oh Toby, what is this Fuck? Who is it and where is it? She had to give some reasonable reply, so she said, "Fuck is who we call on when we need help and are desperate; Fuck flies through the air and gives aid to who needs it." The definitions she had to create for the Crakers...they really make you think about what we say every day.

MaddAddam answers all those questions and whereabouts of people that were introduced in the first two books, and it ends well, but with lots of bloodshed. I would recommend reading "Oryx and Crake" and "The Year of the Flood" before MaddAddam, but it doesn't really matter what order you read the first two, but this one really should be read last.

Hm. Those didn't end up to be mini reviews, did they?

-Jane :)