I
was afraid again…. I didn’t want to be here, in this eerie forest, with this
person I only though I knew. I wanted to go home. Only, home had become a
frightening place as well, almost as much as the Nevernever. I felt lost and
betrayed, out of place in a world that wished me harm.
Ethan,
I reminded myself. You’re doing this for Ethan. Once you get him, you can go
home and everything will go back to normal.
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| juliekagawa.com |
The Iron King is a Young Adult book that incorporates,
adventure, romance, and social commentary that has interested me into reading
the whole series. This book also combines characters and references from
stories like Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Alice in Wonderland.
Regardless of your previous knowledge of these two stories, you will still find
that this book is very unique and quite enjoyable. These additions are
entertaining because it is not a retelling of the two stories but just using
certain aspects of them, an example is Meghan the main character many times at
the beginning of the story talks of remembering Alice in Wonderland and as if she had stepped into a similar world.
What makes the story unique however, is that the author has created a world
unlike any which influence is heavily based on nature, as well as she has given
a clear imagery of that world.
On Meghan’s sixteenth birthday she finds out that the world
is not as it seems. That day when she returns from school she finds out that her
six year old brother Ethan was kidnapped by evil faeries. She is determined to
bring him back home but she needs the help of her best friend Puck/ Robin
Goodfellow to get into the magical world of the Nevernever. The Nevernever is a world of fairies and
other fantastical creatures as well, and to her it seems as if she were
dreaming when she steps in. One of the creatures we meet in this book is a cat
named Grimalkin; who is similar to the Cheshire cat of Alice in Wonderland
since he tends to disappear and appear once again when Meghan needs help. Ash
the Winter Prince also helps her with his amazing fighting skills. Through her
journey Meghan learns the truth about herself- that she is indeed a powerful
girl- and the world she thought she knew. The world around Meghan changes
further when she realizes that there are faeries everywhere in the real world
outside of the Nevernever but only those with “The Sight” or great imagination,
such as children, are able to see them. The story explains the reason for this
with a bit of social commentary on the reliance of technology that people
experience today. It explains that once we grown up we start to lose our
imagination and creative thinking by using science and technology to find the
answers for us. These booms of scientific progress that are assumed to be good
because they help make our lives easier, also begin to destroy the magical
place of the Nevernever and bring an entire new group of Faeries into it which
are a threat to everyone. Through
her adventures and the interesting creatures she meets, the story tries to
display how technological progress must be done in moderation or it will
severely affect imagination and creativity. This book was entertaining and an
amazing way to escape reality by getting sucked into this alternate one. It not
only has well developed characters and an exciting plotline, but it teaches the
reader a little about society and challenges them to question the world they
live in today.
Written by Gilma Velasquez
