Review: The Iron Traitor, by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Iron Traitor (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #2)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Genre: YA fantasy

Pub. Date: October 29, 2013

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. -Goodreads

4 Stars

*Received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Prior to reading this, there was this teeny tiny part of me that was hoping, hoping that Kagawa would give more attention to her old characters, the characters many of us hold dearly. Alas, I was disappointed. They were barely given any attention.

The logical part of my brain is agreeing with her, and I definitely see why she would not pay such close attention to the old characters, but still. I am proud of her that she has enough maturity as an author to let go of the original characters, but at the same time, allowing roughly only three chapters to Puck and Grim is saddening if not a bit of a letdown.

Anyhow, on to the book. There was all the action, betrayal, magic, suspense, and all that good stuff we expect from the Fey world. Really, could we expect anything less? It’s Julie Freaking Kagawa.

I've read somewhere that to be a successful author/writer, you have to pay attention to details. This is exactly what Kagawa does; her writing is descriptive, giving us a clear depiction of how the world of the Fey looks. As in the other books, her writing and world-building are simply impeccable.

The characters have grown tremendously between this novel and the previous installment. Ethan doesn't spend 99% of his day brooding, he shows a bit more maturity, and I don’t abhor dislike him as much as I did in The Iron Prince. The other characters matured and were more deeply developed as well. While a lot of people do hate Keirran, I am intrigued by his character. He’s probably the most interesting individual out of this whole series.

Admittedly, at first the novel was a bit difficult to get into. But once the action started, I could not take my eyes off the page. However, for those of you that have been following Kagawa’s books, as I have, I can’t help but feel that the series is becoming somewhat predictable. It’s not very obvious, but I could kind of guess what would happen during some occurrences, and during others, I felt that they found a solution to their problems unrealistically quickly. Nevertheless, The Iron Traitor is a very solid second installment.

The cliffhanger was, and still is, tortuous. [How did I not see that coming? The title makes it SO OBVIOUS. (hide spoiler)]

For those that haven’t read anything by Julie Kagawa, you probably should pick up one of her books pronto. Although it is susceptible to hackneyed characteristics in some of her books, the grandeur of Julie Kagawa’s storytelling is unbeatable, and it will be hard not to be immersed in the world of the Nevernever.