The Iron Fey Series: Lessons in Writing and Life

The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa
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Synopsis

The Faery realms have always weathered the clash of Summer and Winter fey, the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Now a new breed of faery has emerged to challenge both... to their peril. Forged by Man's insatiable pursuit of technological superiority, the terrifying Iron fey are massing...and the fate of all faeries hangs in the balance. The greatest weapon in this epic magical war? A half-human teenage girl.

One of my favorite authors of all time is Julie Kagawa. The woman is just a writing ninja. Today, I want to talk specifically about her first books, the Iron Fey series. These books are the first I ever read in english. I’d read the blurb in spanish and I’d been dying to read them but I couldn’t find them in spanish anywhere, so I dove into the muddy waters that was english for me at that time in 2012, and a whole new world opened for me. I can’t even begin to explain how reading these books changed my life, and especially, my writing, but I’ll do my best!

Some of these things I already knew, but seeing them put to action took it to a whole new level.

The Characters

There are a lot of characters in the books, but it all boils down to Meghan, Ash, Puck and of course, Grimalkin. :3 These characters taught me how fictional characters are supposed to be read like. They must be perceived as real as people, as crazy, and magical as they might be.  Each of their personalities was distinct from one another, but still not so different that they ended up being cartoon characters.

Meghan taught me about the responsability of doing what you have to do, even when you know the consequences won’t be nice, or the path won’t be easy.

Ash taught me you can be badass, but still be the most flawed and issue-filled person in the world. He also showed me that when you want something, you must be willing to go to the end of the world to get it.

Robin Goodfellow ‘Puck’, is the living (more or less) proof that a million times better than having a goof of a character, is having a goofy character that has deep feelings of guilt and regret and that cares about a lot of things, including staying alive.

Grimalkin taught me it’s all good if you want to have a know-it-all character that is basically a sarcastic ass, and even better if it’s a cat.

 

The World-Building

I admit I hadn’t read many books about fairies before the Iron Fey series, but I haven’t read another one that resembles its immersive feel, either! The basics is that you have four fairy courts, give or take a few depending on the book. The Iron Fey works with two, but Mrs. Kagawa makes the most out of it, fleshing out, maybe not every single detail, but enough that when I read about Tir Na Nog and the Summer Court I could actually feel I was there.

Interesting places:

•  The Summer Court
• The creepy first-born bargaining Winter market
• The Between
• The Iron Court
• Mab’s creepy ice statues garden

 

Plot

It’s four books we’re talking about, so we have several mini plots, with one big one that would probably be, figure out what to do with the Iron Fey, and Meghan’s and Ash’s more personal one, to find the way to be together. I loved how the two conflicts were connected, and how even one presented a threat for the other at times. View Spoiler »If Meghan was to be queen of the Iron Fey, Ash couldn’t follow. « Hide Spoiler

This helped me better visualize the theory of having internal and external conflicts interact with one another.

Also, love triangles! At first sight, it’s the typical best friend/alluring bad boy/indecisive girl trope, but Julie Kagawa made it so much more by adding some spicy bits to the boys’ backstory.

 

For all these reasons and some, I will always treasure this series. And I’m so excited to see it to the very end in the Iron Warrior, where the epic showdown between the Forgotten, and Meghan’s brother finally happens, as well as all future works from this amazing author! You can check out my reviews of Talon, and Rogue, if you want to get a feel of them!

Honestly, now I feel nostalgic and have the urge to reread. See ya!

 

Have you read these books yet? HINT: IF YOU HAVEN’T, GO NOW. / Are there any books that have taught you important life or writing lessons?

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