The Iron Sword by Jocelyn Fox

Rating

No, Dean we aren't fighting the fairies in this one.

Synopsis The Fae must be saved, and only the bearer of the Iron Sword can do it. The Iron Sword can save and curse by the same means--iron is poison to all fae, no matter how powerful. However, there is a half mortal/half fae child bound in the mortal realm that was prophesied to bring salvation to her people. Queen Mab send a letter and a Knight to retrieve the one chosen to wield the Iron Sword. And then there is Tess O'Connor, a full mortal, who is vacationing with her friend, Molly, and her family while her beloved brother is fighting overseas. Molly ignores the letter, but when a wisp o' the willows visits Tess in her dreams. Tess urges Molly to answer the summons. Tess promises her best friend that she will be with her every step of the way. So the deal laid before the Named Knight is where Molly goes so does Tess. After almost dying on the way, Tess learns why it so important for the Sidhe to be saved. While Molly's destiny takes her down another path.

Characters The characters are realistic in their emotional reactions, even if they are alien in appearance. The introduction to the cast of characters is gradual, so that unique scenes can be created for each one. Most are likeable in their own way and all show that they are fully formed people not just character sketches.

World This book contains the best explanation of why the Fae exist that I have ever come across. The narrator wouldn't know the names of plants, but she would know how her body felt on this alien world. While not as detailed as some world masters, from the perspective of a first person narrator the world was established enough to be unique, but didn't hamper the pacing by being described down to the nth degree.

Pacing Pacing is my favorite thing to judge a book by--it's either there or it's not. Pacing turns the book into a movie in your head. The movie might be six hours or more long but with the right pacing you don't even feel it. The pacing was excellent in this book, nothing gets bogged down. The developing friendships, backstory reveals, and action are balanced and lead seamlessly into one another.

Writing The writing was detailed, but kept the story going. No time was wasted and the tension was created and maintained expertly. The history of the Fae was touched on but not fully revealed. What was used was used for a purpose and brilliantly woven into the story. Even the downtime in the plot was used to reveal character traits.

Plot The Chosen one with a twist. I shall not spoil it, but it was really well done. There was the now required love story that's in every YA, but it wasn't overly drawn out. The story was cut off before the climax of the plotline.

The GoodIt's free for Kindle on Amazon. And as I mentioned the writing, the world building, characters, pacing and the plot twist.
The Bad They chopped up the book. I'm an impatient person I want a complete plot when I open a book not a serial. So I had to give it a four star, instead of five.
Recommendations

Both my recommendations on the surface have a lot in common with The Iron Sword: they are young adult and feature the Sidhe.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

I recommend this series if for kids and adults alike. I love these books, the first is definitely the best but the way Eoin tackled the Elves is unique. The Elves live underground and, instead of a medieval society, are technologically advanced. The characters are well thought out and lovable even the antagonist.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Wicked Lovely is an older young adult novel than Artemis Fowl, but not as old as The Iron Sword. It features a love story, but my favorite part is the descriptions of the Unseelie and Seelie, very old school and very not human. They almost have an alien quality--but they aren't humans are more alien to the natural world than the Fae. The Sidhe are human looking, but are alien in other ways.

I ♥ the Tuatha da Danann, whether they are called Elves, Sidhe, Fae, Fairies, or the Fair Folk. They aren't sweetness and light in fact, they are more cautionary tales of not allowing yourself to be seduced by the pretty. I like when the old tales are given new life and introduced to a new generation, or when someone takes the mythos and turns it completely on it's head. I guarantee you will love all three of these books, at least I did. If not please tell me why?

Daugher of the Sun by Zoe Kalo

Rating

Young Adult novels have absolutely flooded the paranormal romance, fantasy, and scifi genres. So, a novel has to be innovative and outstanding to differentiate itself from the seething masses of teen angst. This one is average.

Synopsis: Trinity was an orphan or so she thought, but an enigmatic visitor arrives just before her 17th birthday to whisk her away to an exotic island and a grandmother she's never met. While she was never ordinary at the convent where she grew up she had no idea of the secrets she inherited. An occult mystery of Egyptian Gods and monsters soon places her life and the lives of her brand new family at risk. Her life is thrown into turmoil as her best friend disappears and new love blooms. Will she discover the key to her existence and figure out what she is becoming? The answers are 5,000 years in the making find out in Daughter of the Sun.

Characters: It's pretty bad when the antagonist is a more complete person than either person on the protagonist side. I understand that Trinity and Ara are teenagers, but that doesn't mean they should be character sketches. Trinity has no idea what wants to do with her life, and never even wonders about it even though she's seventeen. I don't know how it works in England, but here in America wards of the state are no longer taken care of by the state after they reach 18. I was a wreck at 17 applying to colleges, and trying to do the best I could on my SAT, Standard Academic Testing, to make up for my less than stellar grades. I can't imagine adding stress of having to come up with an off campus living situation as well. Trinity is a complete and utter juvenile, immature in her actions and thoughts, and she's supposed to be the hero. I don't even buy that she's seventeen. While Ara is definitely seventeen, but suffers from being a character sketch as well. It's as Zoe decided to give her one good quality and one bad quality and call it a day. Her good quality is she's smart and has great recall, and her bad quality is she's a party girl. Neither girl has any hobbies or accomplishments. While on the other hand, Dr. Nassri can speak several languages, draws exceptionally well, is dedicated to her work and is extremely well put together. Yep, in my book the bad guy wins.

World: The world building is the only thing that gives this book a pass. The place descriptions read like a travel guide, you can definitely tell that Ms. Kalo went on a research trip. And the Egyptian mythology and research make a heck of a lot more sense than Gods of Egypt. The decision to focus on Egyptian mythology instead of the more conventional Greek or Roman was a smart one. The island of Cats and setting it off the cost of Turkey was unique. It made me want to visit. I wanted to swim in the crystal clear water, and be more of a beach bum than Seth.

Pacing: This was the worst part of the book by far. The book drifted for days on end with nothing major happening. I'm sure someone thought it was a build up to a reveal, but after the first scene I didn't care about the old woman and I really didn't need two more scenes to enhance my apathy. I could care less about Trinity's romance, I would have liked to know more about her parents romance. All the important stuff happened in the last half of the book, and it didn't have to. Her curiosity could have been alleviated the exact same way it was, but earlier. The drawing out and slowly revealing that Trinity isn't typical was unnecessary--Ara could have not believed Trinity's reveal if it needed to be reinforced, or Trinity could have stated the fact early rather than hint at her transformation over and over again. Readers don't have to spoon fed; we can take a sudden shock. In fact, we life for those sudden shocks. There was no twist, no sense of tension, and no urgency even in the scenes where urgency was key. The pacing decisions made no sense to me at all, I hate when something is just dropped in at the end, and not even introduced before the next book. This book had several of bombs that had one paragraph and then won't be addressed again till the next book.

Plot: This plot has it's own following on Tumblr, it's called the Chosen One plotline. There is absolutely nothing that makes it remotely unique or interesting. In this plot are the Sidekick, Chosen One, Love Interest, and Bad Guy. There's no giant cast of characters, no red herrings, and no spin that remakes the traditional ragged out fantasy cliché that would make it new and exciting. But the same could be said for many a Chosen One book.

Writing: There were synonyms, proper nouns for flora and fauna, explanations of a new concepts likes sponge diving and Egyptian mythology, and a glimpse into the world of an archaeologist. Better than "he made me feel like something that could fly." or "it was alive with creatures and green things." I hold writers to a higher standard my favorites are Adams, Pratchett, and Green so, when I say it lacked personality and flavor that's not saying it was boring--it just wasn't brilliant or quote worthy.

The Good: Did I mention it's free right now on Kindle at Amazon? No, well it is. Kalo paints a gorgeous picture that makes me want to jet off to Turkey for vacation. The mythology is interesting and clear.

The Bad: Characters are a complete wash, plot needed some jazzing up, and there was a majorly awesome incident that could have been introduced in the first half of this book and would have made it much more interesting reading if it had been added as a key problem instead of introducing it and then ignoring it in the last part. It could have put a new spin on "Are you my mummy?" But as they say thems the breaks.

Recommendations

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

The Chosen One plot line mixed with a little Highlander. It starts out promising, then lags in the middle and then picks up to awesomeness at the very end. Also a YA, young adult, with a love interest and uses a mythology to base the story off of except Cole uses the Major Arcana of Tarot Cards.

Marked by P. C. Cast

This one comes with a warning. Warning: contains explicit language and sex. House of Night features real teenagers being teenagers. There is cussing and sex, and I'm not recommending it for the age bracket it was supposedly written for. Also a Chosen One plotline with a predictable Bad Guy. But I copied down whole pages because the writing was so beautiful. Cast takes several mythologies and works it into a world of her own.

This Review is a part of the Blogger Outreach Program by b00k r3vi3w Tours

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