Review: The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Pages: 377 pages

Format acquired: Paperback

Publisher: Harlequin TEEN

Published on: October 23rd 2012

Source: Purchased from Fully Booked

Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

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.

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads)

Review:

Seeing a copy of this on our local bookstore's shelf brought back so much memories from the Iron Fey series. I also remembered that Meghan was turning 16 when the series started and I am not so far away myself (4,492,800 seconds away from my sweet sixteenth tick-tick-tick) I am already starting to accept that fact that I am NOT half fey or destined to change our crumbling dystopian society. *sigh* But anyway, back to the story. I was really excited so I immediately bought a copy and started reading ON THE SPOT. I know I'm already late because I remember months ago people were raving about the story. So here I am, giving a very late review on The Lost Prince.

The cover itself made my knees turn into Jell-o. This is not the first time I've seen it, though. But don't you think there's a difference between seeing a cover in print as to seeing it online? I think seeing the actual thing makes it so much more realistic and legitimate, yes? Anyway, I had severe cover lust and that is one of the reasons I bought it. I found his face so tortured. So intense. So handsome. :D The only thing I didn't understand was his body. I mean, are those tattoos or is his body really mutilated into ribbons? It's a freaky thought. I'd like to think it was the former. But over all, the cover really made me giddy and excited to read the story, as all cover should.

The book did not fail to remind me of who Ethan was (plus maturity). Last I checked, Ethan was a toddler who got kidnapped as bait for Meghan and now he's all grown up. *sniff sniff* He's around the same age as Meghan (18, I believe) and he has the Sight. While Meghan had Puck to keep her sight from appearing, Ethan basically had no one but himself, so you must imagine what he's going through. And with all the chaos the fey create when they know you could see them, it wasn't long before Ethan and the people he loved got in all sorts of trouble. There was a mention of a girl named Samantha and I thought she might have been in the past series, but I figured Ms. Kagawa would explain her somewhere in the middle. And explain she did! But that's a part of the story already. So here we have a grungy, emo-like look for Ethan to deter people from him because he doesn't want to do that ANYMORE (Hint). For me, Ethan is just this hard-headed, headstrong boy with a devil-may-care attitude but deep inside, it's because he's really broken and sad. :( I really appreciated how Kenzie was able to break down his tough-guy wall and really appreciate him. Like, really appreciate (Hint #2).

Also, the surprise of Keirran made me so happy! I mean, Keirran is basically a product of how successful and awesome Meghan and Ash's relationship was. (Hint #3) I was like a crazed maniac screaming and hitting the wall with the book because I was so scandalized of the revelation. Teehee~

One thing I just wasn't so keen on was how Ethan's trip to the NeverNever was a teensy bit like Meghan's. Just the part where they get in, though. But when you look at the entirety of the story, it is somewhat different. The Forgotten were real effective antagonists because I both feared and loathed them at the same time.

Calling all Iron Fey fans and all book lovers alike! If you haven't read this book yet, Get out from under your rocks and buy it!!

Rating:

.5