The Lost Prince - Julie Kagawa

The Lost Prince - Julie Kagawa

This is the first book of “The Iron Fey – Call of the Forgotten” and even though I haven’t read the rest of ‘The Iron Fey’ series, it was very easy to follow. I think, however, that I will add Julie’s Iron Fey series to my ‘Must Read’ list.

This book is the story of Ethan Chase, half-brother of the fey Iron Queen Megan. Ethan has a gift; the gift of sight. He is able to see the Fey in their true forms while they are in the Earth Realm. He has been able to see them since he was 4 years old. Of course this has gotten him in to quite a few problems forcing him to keep relocating schools. Ethan has done all he can to protect himself and his family from the Fey but gets dragged into another twisted plot in Faery land.

Ethan is an excellently written character and I feel that Mackenzie is a perfect character to offset him. Ethan tries to be the type of student that kids usually want to avoid. He puts up a front as a street punk, clothes inside out, hair unkempt and a surely attitude. Mackenzie is one of the most popular girls at school and makes it her mission to get an article on this mysterious new kid that has a past filled with criminal and violent acts. These two are definitely polar opposites on the outside, but turns out that she is just what he needs to turn his life around.

The plot is a simple one; a friend has been kidnapped by the Fey and now that the Fey are aware Ethan knows, he is a target. Ethan has to try to survive the Fey attacks long enough to find his half-breed Fey friend. With is being a simple plot it is expertly written with some unforeseen twists, however there are few that are expected.

After the first few chapters the action picks up and flows pretty steady from there. With a fantasy novel such as this one would expect lots of magical battles, but that doesn’t happen. It’s mostly confined to close quarters, hand to hand combat. With that being said, the lack of magical wars don’t detract from the storyline at all, as Ethan and Kenzie are human and therefore have no magical way to battle.

The scenes are wonderfully written to where I could immerse myself in the story as if I were really there. There are no bad sections that ‘kick’ me out of the story. The author truly did her research on the geographic areas of her book and I could see myself standing in the middle of central park, even though I have never been there.

I find some books very hard to start, but it was not the case with this one. The ending was tied up neatly, with all minor and most major plot lines closed, but it still leads enough to the second book without being a cliff hanger. I eagerly await the next book ‘The Traitor Son’ to see what life brings for Ethan and Mackenzie.

See all of my book reviews at Kenn's Reviews.