The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa

Release Date: 22nd October, 2013

Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Pages: 352pgs

The Story

IN THE REAL WORLD, WHEN YOU VANISH INTO THIN AIR FOR A WEEK, PEOPLE TEND TO NOTICE.

After his unexpected journey into the lands of the fey, Ethan Chase just wants to get back to normal. Well, as "normal" as you can be when you see faeries every day of your life. Suddenly the former loner with the bad reputation has someone to try for-his girlfriend, Kenzie. Never mind that he's forbidden to see her again.

But when your name is Ethan Chase and your sister is one of the most powerful faeries in the Nevernever, "normal" simply isn't to be. For Ethan's nephew, Keirran, is missing, and may be on the verge of doing something unthinkable in the name of saving his own love. Something that will fracture the human and faery worlds forever, and give rise to the dangerous fey known as the Forgotten. As Ethan's and Keirran's fates entwine and Keirran slips further into darkness, Ethan's next choice may decide the fate of them all.

The Review

A big thanks to the publisher on netGalley for providing me a review copy of this book!

I've always loved Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series, but to be honest with you all, lately I have found her spin-off series to be a real disappointment compared to her original series and this book - most of all - is really lucky enough to receive even two stars from me because let me tell you . . . this next installment just gave me a headache for most of the time while reading it.

It's not to say THE IRON TRAITOR was a really bad book because it certainly has its perks, but it had more to do with how I'm struggling to connect with all of the characters and understand the things that they do. So unlike in The Iron Fey series (where they were so many likable characters around), in this particular series I've just found that most of the characters don't do anything for me, making me not care for them at all. And yet again, this has happened to me in this sequel because I just don't care anymore. The characters have no chemistry with each other, they feel out-of-place for some reason, and they do nothing to make themselves memorable.

However, even though I still don't like the characters all so much, but what has surprised me more than anything else was our main character, Ethan, whom I wasn't a huge fan of in the first book. But something has changed within him in this sequel. He is no longer the downer of the series and moans whenever he has a chance to, but rather he has now become the strength of the entire series. So yeah . . . Ethan out of everyone else has certainly changed my opinion of him (it was a what-the-hell? moment of me) and that's probably why I gave more stars for this book than I had planned to initially give. But Ethan was really something else in this book and I'm impressed.

On the other hand, Keirran, whom I've actually liked in the first book (well apart from his romantic relationship with whats-her-name girl who I just want to kill off already and I mean seriously it's more like obsession than true love with that girl), was the only character that had disappointed me the most. He was just . . . how do I put it . . . a stupid idiot. I honestly can't believe he is the child of our awesome and favourite Iron Fey couple . . . I mean how selfish is this one guy and how stupid can he really be. Oh dear lord. He, out of every other character that I don't like one bit, is the main reason why I got such a headache from this book and I seriously can't believe I liked this guy in the first book and not have liked Ethan. I mean, what was I thinking at the time? I should have known he would end up disappointing me. Oh Keirran, what happened to you? Anyway, rant over.

Overall, THE IRON TRAITOR had so much potential going for it, but like the first book it had disappointment once more and if it wasn't a spin-off series I would seriously consider not continuing the series. But, like a faithful reader and fan of Julie Kagawa, I will continue with this series and hope for a great conclusion to this series . . . so fingers crossed for me that the next book impresses me.

The Rating

2/5 stars