All Things Halloween DNF Review - The Iron Queen

The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, # 3)

By: Julie Kagawa

Published: January 25th 2011 by Harlequin Teen

384 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Fairies, Magic, Urban Fantasy

Source: Personal Kindle Library

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Goodreads description--The New York Times Bestseller

My name is Meghan Chase.

I thought it was over. That my time with the fey, the impossible choices I had to make, the sacrifices of those I loved, was behind me. But a storm is approaching, an army of Iron fey that will drag me back, kicking and screaming. Drag me away from the banished prince who's sworn to stand by my side. Drag me into the core of conflict so powerful, I'm not sure anyone can survive it.

This time, there will be no turning back.

I guess Julie Kagawa and I just aren’t meant to mesh. And this is a shame because I really love the covers and idea behind her newest series Talon. I’ve read 4 previous books by her and while there wasn’t much wrong with them, I just didn’t find myself hooked into them either. I read The Iron King and The Iron Daughter. I was interested in and enjoyed The Iron King, but The Iron Daughter felt like it would take FOREVER for me to get through. At the end of The Iron Daughter I really felt apathetic toward the series. I mean it wasn’t awful, but I just found myself in a place where I didn’t really care much about the characters or what happens one way or the other. At this point, I’m halfway through the series and I own the final two books. I feel a deep desire to at least try to complete the series. Yet The Iron Queen wasn’t calling to me at all. My friend Paula finished the series and said that she felt like The Iron Queen was the best of the series. So I figured I just needed to press on.

I’ve found that some books that I don’t enjoy spending my limited reading time on are much more enjoyable to me in audiobook versions where I can multitask and therefore not really feel like I’m “wasting” valuable reading time because this time would be spent doing some chore or other and now I’m killing two birds with one stone. Often times, books that seem to dddddddddddddrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggg in print form really pick up pace in the audio medium. So I went in search of The Iron Queen on audiobook. Of course, the library didn’t have it, but I did find on YouTube (although I can't find it now when I'd like to link to it) a random (to me) girl reading The Iron Queen. She’s obviously not a professional and this was not a professional quality video, but it served my purposes. Unfortunately, it cuts off around the 55% mark (I believe). Since I do own the kindle version of this book, I said “well I can finish reading it from here.” But no. No I can’t. I made it an extra 9% to a whopping 64% total completed, and I had to put it down again.

Like I said, I can’t really pinpoint that there’s anything wrong with this book or the series or even Julie Kagawa’s writing except that I find myself disconnected from the characters and disconnected from the story. I find that I don’t care what happens, how things end, or that all of the characters survive or end up with their happy endings. I just…don’t…care. At all. I really did have all the intentions in the world of picking this book back up since I’ve read 64%, but after months and months of putting it off, considering picking it back up, and coming back to the conclusion that I’m perfectly okay with not knowing how things end, I decided to finally officially mark The Iron Queen as a DNF.

Have you read The Iron Queen? What did you think? Let me know!

This review is part of my All Things Halloween event--a month of paranormal, supernatural, mystery/thriller, etc reviews and books.

Top Ten Books I've Had the Longest & Have Never Read

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten Books I've Had the Longest & Have Never Read.

1. Prince of Wolves (The Grey Wolves, # 1) by Quinn Lofis – My friend Paula did a guest review on my blog for it. And even though she enjoyed it, this has just not been a priority for me.
2. The Fallen Star (Fallen Star, # 1) by Jessica Sorensen – I’ve pretty much enjoyed all of the Jessica Sorensen books that I’ve read, and with this being a paranormal book, I’m excited to get around to it….eventually. But again, this isn’t a priority for me right now.
3. A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, # 5) by George R R Martin – I’m actually reading this one now. I’m only 30% into it, but I’d love to finish before the next season starts.
4. Open Minds (Mindjack Trilogy, # 1) by Susan Kay Quinn – There are no excuses. I’ve had this one for years and just not picked it up—even though I’ve heard that it’s good.
5. Starflower (Tales of the Goldstone, # 4) by Anne Elisabeth Stengle – I’m awful. I got this for review more than 2 years ago. I’ve put off reading it because it’s the 4th in a series and I’ve only read the 1st. BUT I’ve been told that it’s okay to read as a standalone, so I hope to just break down and read it soon.
6. Untraceable (Nature of Grace, # 1) by S R Johannes – This was a freebie I got a while back that I’m not even sure I’m still interested in. Has anyone read this? Is it good?
7. Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey – I got this as a birthday present about 2 years ago. I do still want to read it, but my head’s just not there yet.
8. Praying the Names of God by Ann Spangler – This is another book that I’m slowly making my progress through. I’m actually using this book as a rough guide for the kids’ Bible class that I teach so I’m not racing to just mark it off my list, but boy will it feel good to finally say I finished it.
9. The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, # 3) by Julie Kagawa – This is another one that I’ve had over 2 years. I was enjoying the series but so much time has gone by since I read the previous books that I just don’t feel the pull of this one—even though I’ve heard it’s the best in the series.
10. Lullaby (Watersong, # 2) by Amanda Hocking – My friend Paula got me a signed copy of this book for Christmas about 2 years ago, but I haven’t read it because it’s book 2 in a series and I haven’t read book 1. I’ll get to it eventually.

Which books have been in your possession the longest that you still haven’t read yet? Let me know!