The Bookaholic Cat: Review: The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Lost Prince

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten,

book 1

Genre: YA

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Source: Review copy from publisher

Format: E-book

“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.”

The Lost Prince is the first book in the new spinoff series The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten by Julie Kagawa.

If you know me you know I adore The Iron Fey series; when I learned Mrs. Kagawa was coming out with a new spinoff series I ran to mark my calendar for the release date of The Lost Prince, the day couldn’t come fast enough for its release. I knew this new series was going to be from Meghan’s brother, Ethan’s point of view. I met Ethan in The Iron King when he was just a sweet four year old that got kidnaped as a way to lure his sister (Meghan) into the Nevernever (Fairyland). Many years have passed since that incident, he’s now seventeen and still tormented by Them (Fairies). If you can see Them they will always bother you to get your attention or to get you in trouble; Ethan knows this better than anyone, thanks to Them he is known as a bad boy and for his young age has a long criminal record. He has been labeled as a delinquent and has even spent some time in Juvie.

Ethan is ready for a new start in a new school after being blamed for setting fire to his previous school‘s library.

Ethan tries to live by his rules, which in a summary are avoid Them at all cost. He knows getting involve with Them doesn’t bring anything good to his life, but when during his first day he meets a half breed (Todd), he knows his life is going to change, trying to avoid Todd is not possible especially when some new kind of Fairies are trying to get Todd.

Even though Ethan doesn’t want to get involve he doesn’t have the heart to not do anything while he knows Todd’s life is at risk. While Ethan is dealing with Todd and the new Fairies he is also trying to avoid the school’s newspaper editor, Kenzie. She wants to interview the new bad boy of the school for the paper. Trying to get the interview only puts Kenzie at risk when these new Fairies ambush them. Ethan is forced to find help sooner and what a better place than the Nevernever, the place he vowed never to come back again; not only he is back to the place of his nightmares but he has brought Kenzie along with him.

As I said before I adore The Iron Fey series and have big expectations for this book, expectations that sadly weren’t met.

My first problem was with Ethan, he is a teenager full of angst and bitterness; his hatred doesn’t let him see things clearly, for him everything is black and white and nothing in between. He blames Meghan for his problems, he is sulky, rude and all around a very difficult character to like and to connect to.

Kenzie is a force to be reckoned with, sometimes she comes as too pushy but that’s exactly what Ethan needs to give some light to the dark hole that is his life. Kenzie has a secret, I guessed it from the very beginning, this gives her the extra incentive to live her life to the maximum and experience everything with an open mind. I liked her though I didn’t understand what she saw on Ethan.

Another character that plays an important role is Meghan and Ash’s son, Keirran, we heard about him first in The Iron Knight (Fourth book in The Iron Fey series). Sadly Keirran was also a disappointment, I was expecting a lot more from Meghan and Ash’s son, but sadly he comes as an immature and irresponsible guy. He does things without thinking of the consequences, he just thinks about himself and what he wants. Considering how Meghan and Ash are I would have thought their child would have been a better person.

Keirran love interest is the Summer Fey, Anwyln. She is a very bland character without a backbone or anything to make her interesting. She was just a pretty girl and that’s it. Why Keirran was in love with her? I don’t have a clue.

One of the things I liked about this book were the few glimpses we got from characters from The Iron Fey series. We see some of Meghan and the transformation she has go through as The Iron Queen, we also see how she has transformed her Realm. We see some of Ash, he is still the same cold prince we all love and is pretty obvious Meghan and Ash are still as in love as they were when we met them.

Puck makes a brief appearance, he still the same prankster that entertained us book after book.

Grimalkin also has an important role, same as Leanansidhe. I loved to see them again and really hope to see more of them in future books.

The villains are called The Forgotten, they are fairies people forgot about and are fading because nobody remembers them. The only way for them to survive is to absorb the glamour of other fairies. They are abducting half-breeds and stealing their glamour.

The conflict on this book was a little bit all over the place, and it wasn’t as engaging as I was expecting it to be. Mrs. Kagawa set the standard too high with her previous books and sadly in my opinion The Lost Prince didn’t meet the mark. Saying this I’m still planning to read the second book in the series, The Traitor Son (September, 2013), a title that has me on the edge especially after some of Keirran’s actions in this book.

My Verdict: 3 Paws