Iron Queen ★★★★

Iron Queen - Julie Kagawa ★★★★ 368 pgs

After being exiled from Faery, Meghan just wants to go home. To bad she and Ash have to many enemies for her to risk drawing them to her family. Now homeless, with the Iron Fey out to get her, she has to stop the false king in order to not only ensure her safety, but that of the Summer and Winter Courts. In order to do so, Meghan must come to terms with who she is and the powers she carries within her. However, having both Iron and Summer powers are making it impossible for her to use glamour without hurting herself. She's not ready, but it doesn't matter. An oracle predicts a future of pain for Meghan and those closest to her. Can she change her path to get the happily ever after she longs for? Or will she and her friends suffer extreme losses?

First, I'd like to say that all the books in this series are beautiful. I love that the team responsible for putting this book, and the previous ones together added a design to give the series some personality. I've always enjoyed this series, but for some reason it took me a few pages before I would get interested in the earlier books. That's not the case here. I was able to pick up the story with Ash and Meghan right away. The fact that they have been exiled from Faery just made me want to know what they were going to do next and what enemies would come after them now that neither of them had the support of the Summer or Winter Courts.

In The Iron King I worried about Ash and Meghan's relationship. There was something artifical and forced about the way they got together. That doesn't hold true with this book. Meghan and Ash are settling into their relationship and their fears and emotions feel much more realistic. Kagawa has tapped into her inner teenager and done an excellent job of weaving rational and irrational issues together to create drama for the characters to either run from, or learn and build a stronger relationship. She definately managed to get me emotionally involved in the story.

Meghan's character has grown so much over the course of the series. She's finally confronting who she is, her strenghts and her weaknesses. Meghan's growth is what made this book special and took this series from a "library" read to something I will actually spend money on in the future. Her and her boys make sacrifices and risk their lives. Their ride is extremely emotional and managed to illicit some tears out of me.