Iron Fey Series : Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Brief description of the book.

This is the last book of the series. Concentrate mainly on Prince Ash.

When he was a Prince in the Winter Court, any show of emotions or feelings is consider to be a show of weakness. Hence, he had to build a barricade around himself. And when his beloved wife died, its was like his heart had died. He only live for revenge.

That is until a girl, a half faery princess and half mortal, Meghan Chase, came into his life. She melted the ice around his heart and he starts to feel again.

However, destiny prevented their union.

In order for him to be re-united with Meghan Chase, he had to give up his immortality and to gain a Soul as all Faery does not have a soul.

This is his quest.

My Comment :

Although this book is not as emotional as the third book, and yet I enjoyed it very much. I love the light banter between Puck, Grimalkin and not forgetting The Big Bad Wolf. For we wouldn't want him to be forgotten and end up as a citizen of Phaed, would we?

As for Prince Ash, I don't think that he was that outstanding in this book but we do get a lot of insight on what he feels and things like that. I feel that he was being overshadowed by the supporting characters.

The part I enjoyed the most is when the came to the Temple and they have to go through a series of challenges.

I would like to comment that the author did a very good job in writing the part where Ash had to go through a series of test in order to become human. That part reminds me of the Chinese Story "Journey To The West" where the Monk and his disciple were face with challenges of the heart, mind and soul.

At the end of the book, there is a chapter in how to survive Faeryland which I found very entertaining. I can see the author's humour there.

Also another notable part is the Interview with the Author. There were two unexpected guests as well which make the interview more "colourful".

However, am feeling a bit down too now. Finishing these 4 terrific books, it's like loosing a friend. The end of a chapter. Hopefully, I would be able get my hands on some more terrific books like these.

By the way, there are two more books to this series "Winter's Passage" and "Summer's Crossing" which I have yet to obtain. It's in the form of e-books.

Iron Fey Series : Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

In Iron Daughter, Meghan, the half human and half Summer Faery Princess kept her word. She followed Prince Ash back to the Winter Court. There, she sort of a "prisoner with some privilege" to Queen Mab. Nobody believe their words in the existence of Iron Fey.

To her dismay, Prince Ash attitude towards her had turn colder than frozen ice upon returning to the Winter Court and had frequently look at her with disdain.

War looms between Winter Court and Summer when the Scepter of Seasons when missing. Meghan was there when the Scepter when missing but nobody believed her, especially when she the claim that it's the work of the Iron Fey.

Without her power, Meghan could do nothing. She had to depend on her wit for survival and do the best she can to retrieve the Scepter to prevent war.

Offer to help came to her from an unexpected side. Who can she trust? One miss step would prove to be fatal. Could she believe the words of a seemingly traitor?

My Comment:-

Again, the author had me biting my nails anticipating the action and how the story would develop.

I don't know how she do it but she certainly have the talent to bring the story from one height to another. The chemistry between Puck, Meghan and Prince Ash were there. Some would compare them to Jacob, Bella and Edward. However, in my humble opinion, the former combination is better.

Certainly not to be missed.

However, one down side is that I don't think this book could be read without reading the first book in order to understand fully of the sequel of events.

Suitable for young adults and those that are young at heart. Not much gory.

Iron Fey Series : Iron king by Julie Kagawa

Brief Description :

The series starts off with Iron King. Meghan was turning 16 that year but she is not your normal teenager. There is something special about her.

She discovered the truth one day when her younger step brother, Ethan, gone missing. He was kidnapped. In his place, they left a changeling.

Thus, this is the beginning of her quest to Faeryland (Fairyland) to rescue her brother. Along her side was her best friend, Robbie, who happens to have a secret of his own.

In Faeryland, some secrets were finally revealed. Even though it was not her fault, Meghan made some very deadly enemies and had become pawn in feud between two Courts; The Summer Court who is head by King Oberon and Winter Court headed by Queen Mab.

What made it worse is that Meghan was strongly attracted to the handsome ice prince from the Winter Court, Prince Ash who would not hesitate to kill her in a blink of an eye in view of the feud between the two Courts.

However, some circumstances force Prince Ash, Meghan and Robbie whose alternate identity is Puck, to join force and journey together to rescue Ethan.

There they discovered a new race of deadly faery....Iron Faery.

They managed to rescue Ethan but not before Meghan was given something unexpected and lost something in return.

My Comment :

I was hooked from page one of this book.

As I read along, I had this dejavu feeling that the plots or stories feels familiar. Part of it was like Narnia. Some parts were like Grimm's Fairy Tales and most obvious was a  lot of it made me feels that I am reading a branch of The Never Ending Story.

For example, the Nevernever slowly dying. Poisoned by Iron. Iron from the dreams of modern society.  It is pretty similar to The Never Ending Story where the Land was being devoured by "the Nothing" and the characters/people/fairy in it will soon disappear as people in the mortal world no longer believe in fantasy.

In both books, the characters depend on people's imagination and memory to survive.

Please don't get me wrong. What I am trying to say is that I love this book as it is as good if not better than The Never Ending Story. The author have amazing talent to be able to churn out such a wonderful book.

When I read the first few pages of the book, I felt very "happy". The kind of happiness that only a fellow avid book lover would feel when they finds a good book. Have you ever had that kind of feeling? Guess, am doing a very bad job of reviewing this book as word just doesn't adequately describe the feeling.

Though this book is aim at young adults, but I am sure those who are young at heart would certainly love it too. I know I do.

I hope to be able to collect the full set of this series. However, I was told that for some reason unknown, hardcopies of this book is not available in Malaysia. This book is loan to me by a fellow book lover.

Fragile Things ; Short Fictions & Wonders by Neil Gaiman

This is a collection of 31 short stories, some in the form of stories some in the form of poems.

This is the 2nd Neil Gaiman book which I have read and I can say that now I am a confirm fan of his writing.  It's extraordinary how he can come out with so many different stories...from Narnia type to Matrix type..to ancient Scottish type. I sense that he is impressive with Narnia as at least two of the story in this book makes reference to that.

Reading this books makes me feel that Neil Gaiman is playing and teasing the readers. Making the reader's brain work instead of following what's written down blindly. It's like duelling swords whereby words are his swords.

When I was reading "The Problem of Susan", I thought I caught what the plot of the story going to be at the beginning but  touché! he won again. The ending was not what I had expected.

Another story which I liked was "Goliath". It was something like the movie "Matrix" with a sinister plot.

As in most collection of short stories, there are certain stories which I won't claim that I caught on fully of it's meaning and wits. This is because my knowledge is not as wide as I would like it to be. Yes, I think for those who seldom read or those who stick to only on or two genre of books, they will not be able to understand what's written. Like what I have mentioned earlier, the stories here are linked to almost everything from Arabian nights, Sherlock Holmes, Narnia, Matrix, myth and legends to fairy tales.

Neil Gaiman is indeed a brilliant author and I look forward to reading more of his books.

The Adventures of Amir Hamza by Ghalib Lakhnavi & Abdullah Bilgrami

WARNING : TO BE READ WITH AN OPEN MIND.

The story in this book is something like The Arabian Nights Tales.

Amir Hamza was born under a lucky star. He was destine to do great things and to be a great man. Helping him was Amar Ayyar, his best friend who is the world greatest trickster.  

Before Amir Hamza was born, it was written in the stars that he is destined to save Persian Emperor, Naushervan's crown.And that he did. But at the same time, he fell madly in love with Naushervan's daughter, Princess Mehr-Nigar.

However, there are those who are in the court of Emperor Naushevan who hates him. And they poisoned the Emperor's mind against him. Emperor Naushevan gave him many dangerous and near impossible task. Amir Hamza travelled far and wide accomplish those task. Through his journey, he was endlessly challenged by human, magical creatures, Djinns and demons. He managed to defeat them with the help of his best friend Amar. He welcomed those who are willing to convert to the True Faith of Islam and destroy those who don't. In between, he also met and loves many lovely females.

It's a really beautiful tale. The wordings were flowery and meaningful.

However, I think I would love it more if it's translated into the Malay language like what I've read in Hikayat Seribu Satu Malam.

In my opinion, the book should have been name The Adventures of Amar Ayyar because Amar seems to outshine Amir Hamza. I couldn't help laughing at the tricks he played on people and marvel at all his brilliant ideas.

To enjoy this book, it have to be read with and open mind. Please do not let the differences in religion to hinder the joy of reading it.

I am glad that I found this Hardcover copy at the Big Bad Wolf Sale last year at RM8 only. What a great bargain.

Dragon Rider By Cornelia Funke

I was apprehensive whether to buy this book or not during the last BBWS as it looked a bit "young" for me.

I am glad I bought it in the end coz the other day I really need some "happy book" to read after reading Peony In Love. That was a very good but sad book.

Dragon Rider is about a quest taken on by Firedrake, a brave young dragon. The dragon have been in hiding from human for a long time because human likes to kill them. They hid in a peaceful valley but one day the serenity of the place was broken by bad news. The humans are coming. The dragons will have to find a new place to hide.

Then come a story from the old ones that there was once such a place long time ago where the dragons originated from. It was called The Rim Of Heaven. However, it was so long ago that nobody remembered where it s located and many thought it was just a myth.

Firedrake would not give up and he volunteered to go and seek out this place. The old ones cautioned him to beware of "The Golden One".

Hence Firedrake set off in search of Rim of Heaven. Along the way he had many magical adventures. Made some friends who helped him in his quest. However, his quest also attracted the attention of The Golden One, who wish to seek out and destroy every dragons.

This is a very good book to read especially for teens and those who love fantasy. It was like East meet West. The dragon, brownies, elves and fairies were very much western. It was very entertaining when she add in Djinn and Lama. No regrets in getting this book.

InkDeath By Cornelia Funke

This last book of Inkworld starts with Farid is unable to let go of Dustfinger and had Orpheus read into Inkworld to resurrect Dustfinger. Unfortunately, Orpheus was a greedy and self center man who is more interested personal comfort and getting more treasure from Inkworld than helping Farid to bring Dustfinger back to life again. Or rather he was lack of the ability.

Adderhead and his men are constantly trying to capture Mo for he wants Mo to bind a new White Book. In previous story, Mo binded The White Book for Adderhead to secure his immortality but then he also did something to the book. The book is now turning rotten and falling apart and so does Adderhead.

Meantime, Mo was getting used to being "Bluejay" and had becoming more daring and reckless. Resa noticed that and she worried. She was desperate to leave Inkworld especially now that she is expecting another child.

She went to Fenoglio for help but Fenoglio have all worn out and is nothing but an old drunk. She went to Orpheus for help but Orpheus named a terrible price. He wants Mo to summons The White Women and he plans to exchange Mo for Dustfinger.

The White Women came but Death would be bound by no one let alone that twerp Orpheus. Death agreed to release Dustfinger and Mo on condition that Mo gave him Adderhead who is immortal. Failing which, Death would not only take Dustfinger and Mo but also Meggie too.

Mo was puzzling how to do that when opportunity came in the for of Violante, Adderhead's daughter who wants to kill her father for she can't stand to see the people suffer.

Mo "surrendered" himself to Violante in order to save the children. Together they journey to the castle where the White Book is kept. But then they plans went wrong. Orpheus went and work for Adderhead and told him of Violante alliance with the robbers.

Dustfinger, Brianna and Mo was imprisoned. In order to help his daughter, Dustfinger betrayed Mo. But Resa managed to come in the form of a Swift to keep Mo's sanity. Dustfinger and Resa searched the castle for the White Book futily while Mo was forced to bind a new White Book. At the very last moment Jacopo betrayed his grandfather, Adderhead and h=gave the book to Mo so that he can write the 3 words that will brings an end to Adderhead.

Orpheus bet on the wrong team and had to flee while Fenoglio starts to write again. Violante become the new ruler of Ombra. She ruled with kindness.

Farid wanted to go travelling and asked Meggie to join him but Meggie found that she is no longer in love with Farid. Later she married Doria.

Meggie had a little brother. They continued to live in Inkworld but he is keen to come to our world after hearing so much about it.

I find that this book is less interesting than the previous two books. The supporting characters seems to be over shadowing the main ones and the story kept jumping here and there. Some part kept dragging on and on while some parts just pop up without much explanation. Needs to have a very wide imagination to keep track with it all.Could it be because the author lost her husband when she was writing this book?  



InkSpell by Cornelia Funke

Inkworld is really something. The first two books were so good that I can't help grabbing one more set of Inkworld book from the Big Bad Wolf Sale for my niece.

Gosh...the last I heard from mother-in-law is that the girl nose was in between the Inkworld pages though the next day she have examinations in school. But what can I say. The girl is a genius and have always done well in every examination.

Inspell continues with Dustfinger going away together with Farid with the only copy of Inkheart. Farid idolise Dustfinger and wish to learn to be a fire eater.

Dustfinger finally found someone who can read him back into Inkworld. That man is  Orpheus a petty criminal. Orpheus read Dustfinger back into Inkworld but not Farid. Farid was left holding the book. He got no place to go so he went back to Meggie and Mo.

Meggie discovered to her delight that she can read Dustfinger and herself into Inkworld and she did. There they met with a band of strolling player headed by Black Prince. They went to Ombra, the capital city of Lombrica. They found Fenoglio there.

Ombra was mourning at the death of their ruling prince's son, Cosimo the Fair. Cosimo was killed by Firefox, a follower of the evil Capricorn.The city also under the threat from Adderhead who ruled Argenta. Adderhead's daughter, Violante is Cosimo's widow.

Dustfinger was finally reunited with his wife, Roxane. Roxane was once a minstrel woman but now is a healer. Dustfinger was surprised to know that his daughter, Brianna was now Violante's maid and hates him.

Meantime in our world, the bad Orpheus team up with the evil Capricorn's moher, Mortola and the Hench man Basta come to Elinor's house. Orpheus is to read them and Mo into Inkworld because Mortola believe that Capricorn is still alive in Inkworld .

Mortola was very angry when she discovered it is not so and she shoots and wounded Mo. In haste, Resa grabbed Mo's hand and they went into Inkworld. There she nurses Mo devotedly and kept the White Woman away. Kept them from taking Mo to Death. They met the strolling player who mistook Mo as the Bluejay(some sort of Robinhood)

In our world, Elinor and Darius was still imprisoned in her house by Orpheus. Darius was Capricorn's former reader.

In the other world, Meggie and Fenoglio combined their talent and brought Cosimo back to life again hoping that Cosimo will be the champion of his people once again. Unfortunately, Cosimo's campaign failed and lead to many death...including himself. Fenoglio was very sad and vowed never to write again.

Mo and Resa was captured. Mo and Meggie was forced to binder a book called the White Book which would make Adderhead immortal. Adderhead promised to release them in return for that. He did released them but he also set his men against their friends.

In the confusion Farid was killed. Dustfinger bargained with the White women to take Farid place in return. Farid was distraughted to find that his "sifu" had taken his place and persuaded Fenoglio to write words that bring Orpheus into Inkworld hoping that he may be able to read Dustfinger back to life again.....

That was the end of this book...left hanging. Very  exciting. The description of Inkworld was so vivid that I can see the blue fairies and glass men running around.

InkHeart By Cornelia Funke

The first time I read this book was a few years ago. Chen Chzan loan me her nephew's copy of Inkheart and told me it's a very good book. Something like Harry Potter type.

I fell in love with it. Then, not long after that I managed Inkspell from 2009 Big Bad Wolf Sale.. Thanks to Newton who informed me of hat terrific sale.

Then last November, I saw The Big Bad Wolf Sale have the whole series. I grabbed myself a set for collection.

It sure feel great to "meet" old friends once again. Love Mortimer(Mo) the bookbinder, love Meggie his daughter and even the villain, Capricorn.

In Inkheart, Mo is a bookbinder who have a lovely voice. So lovely that it could make the characters he read in a book comes alive. But there is a penalty in that. One thing come out, another thing must go in. That was was he discover to his greatest regret when he was reading InkHeart to his wife, Resa and 3 year old daughter, Meggie. He inadvertently read some characters out from the book, including the evil Capricorn and his followers. In return, Resa was sucked into the book.Since then, Mo had stopped reading out loud.

Nine years later, Dustfinger came knocking at his door. He was one of the characters that Mo read out from the Inkheart. He was desperately unhappy and wanted to go back to his own world. He came to warn Mo that Capricorn is looking for all copies of Inkheart and wants to destroy the book so that no one can come and go between the two world and that he also wanted Mo to read treasure out for him.

Dustfinger betrayed Mo and he was captured by Capricorn. Meggie and her aunt Elinor(a book collector) and the repentant Dustfinger decided to rescue Mo. But they don't have Inkheart anymore. Mo accidentally read out, Farid, from the Arabian Night and together they thought up a plan. They decided to find the author of Inkheart, Fenoglio. He should have a copy. Unfortunately his copy was stolen too.The only copy left was in the hands of Capricorn and his with-like mother Mortola

Then Fenoglio and Meggie was captured too by Capricorn and when he discovered that Meggie also have the gift of reading things out from the book, she was forced to take her father place. The evil Capricorn planned for Meggie to read a horrible creature, The Shadow, out from the book.

Fenoglio helped Meggie to write new words for the book and managed to thwart Capricorn's plan. Capricorn falls dead. His mother vowed revenge.

Unfortunately for all is that Fenoglio was sucked into Inkworld in return.

With Dustfinger's help, Meggie and her father was reunited with her mother who lost her voice when passing in between both world.

This is a really page turning book I can still recall burning midnight oil reading this book.