Book Review: The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey, #4) by Julie Kagawa

Summary: 

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…

Release Date: October 25, 2011

Age Group:  Young Adult

Publisher: Harlequin
Source:  NetGalley

Review:
I got so excited when I saw that The Iron Knight was available on NetGalley!  And then, I blew it.  I downloaded the book, got halfway through it, and my viewing time with the galley expired.  I was so mad at myself until I realized I could re-request the galley.  I did, and was approved to read it again---thank you, Harlequin---and was finally able to finish the book.  It was such a good read! 

I found the first two parts kind of slow, especially compared to the non-stop action of the first three Iron Fey books.  I think the real problem was that I have never truly been an Ash fan, and to have the whole book written from his point of view was hard for me.  I mean it was hard in that I really like Meghan and I was missing her voice.  In fact, I missed Meghan on the whole, as there is very little of her in this book.  But, I was able to overcome missing Meghan to really enjoy The Iron Knight.  

The first two parts contained a lot of building up to a final crescendo.  The third part was full of action and conflict resolution.  I loved the imagery as much as I did in the previous books, and I also loved the character development.  Grim continues to be my favorite character, although the Wolf is a very close second.  I just loved the Wolf's sacrifice, especially after all of his taunts towards Ash.  The Forgotten scared the heck out of me, as did the Thin Man.  And I could not believe how Kagawa brought a certain love interest back...

The challenges were really well done.  I especially loved how what I thought was the epilogue was just part of the final challenge.  I loved Ash's character growth---that really made the book for me.  I loved his choice and I have to say that the resolution between Ash and Puck was a long time coming and very satisfying for me.

With all that said, The Iron Knight lacked some of the magic that the first three books had for me.  I kept wishing Meghan was narrating.  I know, I know.  I am hard to please as far as faery books go.  The Iron Knight really was a great read, but I still want to read about Meghan's happily ever after in her own words.