You may have heard of me…
Robin Goodfellow. Puck. Prankster, joker, raven, fool… King Oberon’s right-hand jester from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The legends are many, but the truth will now be known as never before, as Puck finally tells his own story and faces a threat to the lands of Faery and the human world unlike any before.
With the Iron Queen Meghan Chase and her prince consort, Puck’s longtime rival Ash, and allies old and new by his side, Puck begins a fantastical and dangerous adventure not to be missed or forgotten.
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Julie Kagawa has done it AGAIN.
I am so giddy, because The Iron Raven was just perfection. We get to go back to the world of the Iron Fey, meet up with all of our favorite characters, explore some old hurts, meet new interesting characters, and FURTHER explore this magical world.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for not sucking exceeding expectations.
🗡️ PUCK was SO much fun to read about! I love that he becomes more than just the jester, or Meghan’s best friend/romance rival to Ash. There is still resentment that Puck has to deal with, but that only makes him human and I appreciated that we get to see him work through his emotions and get to the bottom of them. Puck’s descent into wickedness allows Julie Kagawa to explore not only the good side of Puck, but the way he used to be the feared Robin Goodfellow.
The Iron Raven also works to flesh out the world of the Fey, and showcases Puck’s past. There are stories set in the past that speak to Puck’s evolution from Robin Goodfellow to Puck, and I enjoyed every single one of them. Specially, the one about when Puck met Ash. I am a total Ash fan, but even I can admit this is the story in which Puck shines leaving Ash in the background (as it should be) while still bringing back the old scooby gang. We get to tour the Iron Realm as it stands today (lots of bug contraptions), and even re-visit some old haunts. I love the descriptions of the different Fey and how distinct they are–I like to picture the forgotten as the Heartless from KH, and the Iron Fey (while being superior in every way) still manage to be kind/weird/quirky in true Meghan fashion.
Yeah that’s right, we get to hang out with Meghan again! We also see Ash, Kierran (briefly–he is much less ROMEO in this one and much more badass), and Grimalkin. I also loved the new characters! Nyx, a forgotten who used to protect The Lady, awoken from her slumber, an assassin with a tragic past, and Coaleater, a descendant from Iron Horse who serves to be the tank of the group.
All in all Julie Kagawa managed to create an RPG team out of the group: Puck (the bard), Meghan (the dark mage), Ash (the swordsman), Nix (the assassin), Coaleater (the tank), and Grim… the know it all? He doesn’t fight so he really doesn’t count.
The new baddie is interesting and brings new life unto the world. The characters are a joy to return to, the world is further expanded and fun to explore, Puck is both his worst self and his best self and I enjoyed getting to read about both sides of him. I think we got a winner and I can’t wait for the sequel!
PS; I find it funny this story can still be classified as YA–no explicit scenes-but all the characters are like eternal Fae that got stuck as teenagers somehow. Golden.
PPS; I was provided a review copy in exchange for an honest review. Thanks go to the publisher!
For the Sake of Reading 