Monday, October 22, 2012

Review - The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten, #1)
The Lost Prince
by Julie Kagawa
Paperback, 379 pages
Expected publication: October 23rd 2012 by Harlequin Teen



Premise:

Don’t look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase’s unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he’d dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister’s world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.


My Review:

Wow!! This is a fun dive back into the world of Fey!

Julie Kagawa’s writing is beautiful, rhythmic, satisfying. I felt like I was being rocked along, soothed by her finesse and skill. Absolutely delightful.

The story is from Ethan's point of view. Ethan Chase is a complicated "bad boy" with real heart. He has been burned by the Fey for so many years that he has a vengeful, snappy irritation with all things Fey, and yet, despite his best efforts, he leaps to defend the down-Tod-dens.  He’s great at Kali, too, twirling two swords. Two.

The Lost Prince is a chance to experience Kagawa's incredibly complicated, invisible world freshly all over again. I missed Meghan’s early irritation with it, you know? Ethan knows enough to be wary, but not enough to feel comfortable and it’s the exact right mix to venture back.

I found a bazillion great reasons to love the Nevernever starting with the cait sith. So many characters I enjoyed in the first series are back... Puck, Ash, Meghan... the queen of the exiles with her dancing smoke. There's some fun new characters, too, just as full of character... Keirran, who is so like Ethan they either get along or argue, and Razor, a memorable gremlin. And Tod... what a hilarious (obnoxious)  half-fey with his piskie friends. Kenzie is spunky and brave. She keeps pushing on Ethan until she gets under his skin. She carefully guards a secret that everyone knows, everyone except Ethan.

Although The Lost Prince is a complete story in itself, it is the beginning of something big. I gasped when I realized I was at the end and my Nook wouldn’t flip to the next page, but I sighed immediately following. It’s a great stopping place… no, pausing place… but I can’t wait for the next book. I feel injured, raw, madly in love and ready to take on all the Queens at once. *gulp*

My Rating: 4.75 – My breakdown – the writing is a 5. I wanted to hug the beautiful words. The epic-ness is a 4. I’m breathless from hurrying around and slightly irritated (3.5) that everyone thinks they can fix things on their own. The characters are a 5 – all of ‘em.  The creepy bad guys are a huge 5: perfect Halloweeny ghosty things with razor-sharp weapons.

I recommend this book to all Kagawa fans, all Fey lovers… and anyone interested in trying out Kagawa or Fey (or fantasy in general). This book does not require reading the Iron Fey series first, although I do warn you that you’ll want to read 'em all. For Iron Fey veterans, this book is a warm, fuzzy Fey experience full of sharp pointy bits. *wicked grin*


Cover? Love it. Love the colors, the woods; love the artwork adding mystique to the guy. After reading the book I love how there's a question as to who, exactly, the "lost prince" is!

Like this, Like that... any of Kagawas books, although I love her writing in this book more than any I've read so far. Of the ones I've read, this book is most like The Iron King.

About the Amazing Author:
Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn�t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel. 
When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job. 
To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time. 
Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyper-active Papillon puppy.
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