Review of The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten) by Julie Kawaga!

As the next Friday-Reads-but-not-really  review, here is the pleasant surprise for me of a book about the Fae that I actually loved and that made me want to read another series about the Fae!


The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Let me start this review stating that I am not a big fan of books about the Fae. If you were to ask me why, I might have a bit of trouble putting into words exactly what is that I dislike, but I am not drawn about books with them as a focus. That is the reason that I still find myself so surprised that I loved this one and even more than after reading it, now I find myself adding the previous series to my TBR list.

The Lost Prince is the first book in a spin-off series of the Iron Fey series and it was one of those welcome surprises for me. Well, a book about the Fae that I like? That's always a surprise for me!

Ethan is the main character in this book and with his dislike of the Fae I think we connected great right from the start! He is a teenager and his perspective was written so well. He's full of angst and prejudiced against the Fae due to his experiences in the past and how he feels he has lost her sister to Them. He has the Sight, but has become an expert on ignoring Them and protecting himself and his family, or so he thought. He is angry at the Fae and at the world and has built a persona that keeps everyone at arm's lenght so they can't get tangled with the Fae.

At the start of the book he is starting in a new school and things start going south very early on. With a reputation partly undeserved and his own desire to push people away, things aren't easy for him. And despite all his precautions, he finds himself in the middle of Fae affairs, and not only that but someone has decided that they want to get to know him. That someone is none other than Kenzie, a girl that won't take no for an answer and that manages to push all the right buttons for him.

Ethan and Kenzie end up in the Nevernever, the Fae world, trying to hide from a new and nasty kind of faeries and there we encounter quite a few new characters (old friends for those that have read The Iron Fey books, of course) like the encounter with Grimalkin. He is a talking cat that reminded me so much of the Chesire Cat in Alice in Wonderland! Elusive, irritating and so very cat-like! Meghan as the Iron Queen and still being very much Ethan's sister, Ash, Puck... it was a pleasure meeting them all for the first time, and I felt quite drawn to read their stories. I guess for fans of the original series it must feel different and they might want more from their fave characters, but I'm quite happy I jumped into this spin-off as I did, cause I can appreciate all the new characters more.

Keirran was quite a shock for Ethan, since despite being his same age, he's Meghan & Ash's son and so his nephew. He also became an ally even if he had his own agenda. There seems to be more to Keirran than we see at first, and despite his good guy presence, there's something disquieting about him.

There's adventure, there's romance and it's the slow burning one and so it is quite a great first book that not only introduce us to a new world but also stands well on its own with plenty of action and an incomplete resolution to the problem of the Forgotten Fey.

A great first book and very much deserving of 4 stars!





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Mark This Book Monday: ARC review of All Is Fair by Emma Newman!!

Hey there everyone! Monday is here again and with it a pair of new Mark This Book Monday entries!

I will start with the review of the ARC of the third book in the Split Worlds series that I got from NetGalley and that I had as part of my September is for Sequels challenge!

You can also check my reviews for book 1 (Between Two Thorns) and book 2 (Any Other Name).

 All Is Fair by Emma Newman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


All Is Fair is the third book in the Split Worlds series and it would be the last one if it was a trilogy, but I'm really really hoping it won't be!

As always, since this is the third book in a series some spoilers for previous books are to be expected, but I will try my best not to let any spoilers for this one creep in.

A lot has changed for Cathy and Will since we first met them and both of them have grown a lot, changing their own expectations and ideals, and even more pointedly for Cathy, adapting and growing and stopping running away from things. Their relationship is growing steadily, even if their life in the Nether as Duke and Duchess of Londinium is putting a lot of pressure on them. They finally have proper conversations, proper communication and despite all the things they keep on doing on asides from each other, they finally know how to be together and united.

Cathy has to deal with recovery from her ordeal, the awful Dame Iris, the expectations of the Iris fae patron and with finding away to work against the system from within. She will try her best to find allies but in the end she'll have to be the one to take the initiative and be the one willing to take on the risks.

Will, oh dear will, he finally gets into the position of power his patron asked of him, and now he starts discovering so many uncomfortable truths, and he has to deal with so many regrets... He's trying to do what's right, fix some wrongs and ends up getting some revengue... but afterwards he truly realizes he has no taste for it. By the end of the book there's still one big secret he's keeping from everyone including Cathy, and I'm so sure it's going to bite him in the arse sooner than later...

Max and the gargoyle, those two are such a pair! They can be a bit of a comic relief on occasion but they both are also key players on all the confusion with unraveling what's really going on with the Sorcerers and despite the bloody mess it all ends up being, they will stick together through and through! They both learn a lot of lessons, and I'd really look forward to see what they're manage to build out of the rubble they're left with.

Sam... well Sam is the one that undergoes the most unexpected path for me, and the one that made me cry, since his was a very emotional charged path, unexpectedness aside. He'll became quite an ally in the changing of the future of the Split Worlds, and quite more of an enemy to the Fae that they'd ever expect!

This book was quite a ride, even if at times I was a bit reluctant to see what came next, since I'm not too much of a fan of when-the-shit-hits-the-fan bits on books! Some tentative friends turned into enemies but then turned into friends and allies, and we meet a character that was both hilarious and confusing, dear Rupert! And let's not forget some of the not exactly unexpected but equally disturbing revelations/confirmations we get about the Fae & the Nether in this book.

The ending could be left as is, I guess, but there are so many tiny threads all over left unresolved and frankly, as open as it is, I'm hoping we'll get to read more! I can't wait to see Cathy kicking arse and taking names, even if I'm sure the Fae will come craking down hard next!

Very well deserved 4 stars for this one, and already hoping Emma with work on a 4th book soon!



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Mark This Book Monday: Any Other Name by Emma Newman!!

For the next Mark This Book Monday entry, the sequel to Between Two Thorns that didn't disappoint!


Any Other Name by Emma Newman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Any Other Name is the second book on the Split Worlds series and it continues right from the point where Between Two Thorns left us.

I don't think I can avoid spoilers for book 1 since so many of the twists and revelations are rather important to continue the story, but I will try my best to avoid spoilers for this one.

This book doesn't have to do with any of the introduction to the world that the first one had, and that makes it even more dinamic and with an even more complex plot. I won't say the plot is fast, cause with the amount of politics and court intrigue and general social & family drama going on, it's not a run-for-your-life fast sort of a plot, but everything that goes on keeps on moving the plot forward and adding more levels of complexity to the master plan(s) that seem to be leading the two sides on the Nether.

Cathy and Will got married, Will is trying to make the best out of it and Cathy is still raging and refusing to even try to work at it. Max and the gargoyle are expanding their investigation of what happened at their chapter and the actual reach of it all and discovering even more connections. They still work with Cathy on occasion but the mistrust is still there which leads to missing links that could be crucial in unravelling some of the enigmas they face. The Sorcerer continues to show signs on inestability and is not exactly the mastermind the investigation would need, despite his reputation and connections in both the Nether and Exilium.

Sam is still trying to figure out what to do with his life after being dragged into all the drama, and how to try and fix his marriage. He's still looking out for Cathy and being used by the Fae.

Aside from the four points of view we had in book one, we have two more added here, the newly named White siblings, Amelia and Cornelius from the Rosa family. They're perspective does give us a lot more information on how twisted really are the plans of the Fae, and how little any of the families in Society really know.

There is quite a bit of character growth and progression, mostly in Cathy and Will, and there is also a very slow and very painful progression in their relationship.

Cathy is no longer just the rebel that wants to run away from Society, but she's beginning to see that there might be something more for her to do that what Society expects of her and that she might be able to start changing things from the inside. Will also grows in kindness and in understanding of Cathy and her ways, he still can't really understand what her problems are but is determined to make the best of the marriage, even though he surprises himself by how hard he works at it. He's too focused on what he's supposed to do to realize that maybe not all the advice he gets is genuine. Despite being a bit of an arse on occasion, he's really grown on me and I think he's quite a good guy.

Max and Sam don't have as much character growth as Cathy and Will, but they also take more initiative and action to get information and find out what's going on. Max & the gargoyle are a bit like a dinamic duo of superhero and sidekick!

There are more questions asked since the plot progresses than questions answered, and I'm really hoping we'll get more answers in the next book!

On a side note, I completely love the fact that this is British English book through and through with all the awesome idioms all over the place!

Very well deserved 4 stars for a great sequel that's better than the first book!



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Mark This Book Monday: Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman!

A very unexpected surprise in the shape of a Fae based book that I really enjoyed for the next Mark This Book Monday entry!


Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Between Two Thorns is the first book on the Split Worlds series. We are introduced to Cathy who has been living on the run in Mundanus Manchester, Max an Arbiter that polices the interactions between the Fae, their puppets and the humans, Sam a human that had a night drinking in the pub go terribly wrong when he gets mixed in the affairs of the Rosas and William, one of those touched by the Fae and at their service.

Since it's the first book there's a lot we need to learn about the Nether, Mundanus and Exilium, and the different races that inhabit them. We're taken through 4 different points of view in the story: Cathy, Max (and his gargoyle), Sam and Will. Every bit of narration seems to be a bit disconnected at first, but little by little it all adds up, and contributes to getting a bigger picture of this world.

Right from the start I felt so much for Cathy, she has made some very hard choices and has worked very hard to get away from her family and the Nether and it's outdated Victorian rules and restrictions. She's always wanted more and was never good at complying with what was expected of her. Once her protection is blown she's dragged back into her family and the restrictions and obligations of those tied to the Fae, expect that it seems that Cathy is the only one that thinks like that, while the rest of the society can't understand what her problems with their way of life are.

Max is a hard character to get to like, since he feels no emotions and only cares about doing his job, protecting the innocents and find out who destroy his chapter and all his fellow Arbiters in Bath. His character is complemented by the gargoyle that for a fortuite event got reanimated and had Max's emotions tranferred to him. We also got the Sorcerer who is Max's top boss and quite powerful but inept on human interactions.

Sam's your regular bloke, he likes going out for a beer to the pub with his best friend and is married to Leanna, a fierce ambitious woman working hours without end. He goes out one night and witnesses something he shouldn't have and from then on is dragged into the Split Worlds affairs.

William is once of the Fae touched, and his the perfect example of what an inhabitant of the Nether should be, charming, sociable and skilled at navigating all sort of intrigues and politic affairs.

All these characters are so distinctly written and despite my affections for them changing a bit on the course of the book they feel so very real! The plot is more complicated than you might think on the start of the book, because every time there's a discovery through one of the stories, it adds another layer of deceit and misdirection. It doesn't seem to escalate so far, and despite all of Max's detective work, what gripped me more was Cathy's plight once returned to the society she despises and how she doesn't give up on trying to find a way to escape it while trying to navigate intrigues worth of any old royal court!

I'm not usually a fan of stories about the Fae and their twisted politics, but the way Emma weaved this story and the focus on not only the Fae politics but a big femininistic outlook, I thouroughly enjoyed it and I'm very much looking forward to continue reading this series!

A very well deserved 3 and a half stars.





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