The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication date: October 23rd 2012
Source: NetGalley
My rating: 2.5 stars
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 was an entertaining adventure, a story that
any fan of Kagawa’s Fey series will enjoy.
When we last left off, Ethan Chase was the toddler/younger
brother of Meghan Chase, one who also had “The Sight,” in other words, he could
see faeries. He has nothing but contempt
for the Fey. In his mind they took his sister and have made his everyday life a
nightmare. Now at sixteen, Ethan tries
to stay out of trouble but with the Fey in his life, this is impossible. He keeps every one at a distance for fear of
bringing his problems onto to them as well.
After getting kicked out of this last school for starting a library fire,
during a Fey altercation, Ethan is plopped into the middle of the school year
and has to deal with fitting in and the rumors of his delinquency that follow
him. Enter Mackenzie St. James, the
fearless girl-reporter that won’t take “no” for an answer. She’s determined to get to the bottom of the
mysterious “bad-boy” Ethan, and what makes him tick. Unfortunately for her, this propels her
straight into trouble, because wherever Ethan is, the Fey are sure to be
nearby.
I must admit, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kagawa’s Fey
series. I didn’t dislike the series, but
I wasn’t blown away by it. There are
legions of fans that have a completely different opinion, so I may not be the
best judge for this story. Detailed and
descriptive world-building usually leaves me yawning, and Kagawa is the queen
of world-building. I had fun reading this but it didn’t knock my
socks off. I felt like both Ethan and
Kenzie’s voices were very young, so I had a hard time connecting to either one
of them. I’m big on character development, and I feel these stories are more world-building
and plot driven. With that said, the
plot wasn’t something surprising or out of the ordinary, and I guessed a couple
of the twists without much thought.
18 comments:
While I'm a massive fan of The Iron Fey series, I disliked The Iron Prince. Like you, i couldn've connect with any of the characters, and the whole story just felt bland to me. I'm sorry you'll be quitting this series, but at least you still like Julie's other series! heheeee Great review, Rachel :)
I wasn't a big fan of the Fey series either. It was this-is-so-not-for-me at first sight and even after reading a few chapters. I loved The Immortal Rules too :o)
I read this series, somewhat backwards to everyone else. I read this book first before The Iron Fey series, and I did thoroughly enjoy it.I still yet to read the Iron Fey series, so I'm forward to seeing Puck and and Ash in action. :) I have recently bought The Immortal Rules and I have heard brilliant review for it! I do understand where you are coming from Rachel. Lovely Review and I'll look forward to your review of The Eternity Cure.
I did like the Iron Fey, because the books are so easy and fun. I was more blown away by her Immortal rules, so I agree with that. Her world-building is fantastic and I love Grimalkin and Puck :p The plot wasn't surprising, but I still liked it. I can't wait to see where she is going with this series. Nice review :)
Mel@thedailyprophecy.
I did enjoy the Iron Fey series, that had a lot to do with Ash lol, but I'm halfway through Iron's Prophecy and have no interest whatsoever in going any further, and I think even less interest in picking this one up. Like you, I probably shouldn't have requested a copy because it didn't sound that appealing and I'm not always a fan of spin offs. I'am also really looking forward to The Eternity Cure though, but I prefer vampires to faeries. Great review as usual hun :)
Haha I'm the opposite of you, I absolutely love The Iron Fey books but I had a hard time getting into The Immortal Rules! Great review and sorry you didnt like this series more =[
Teresa @ Readers Live A Thousand Lives
Oh, Rachel. Sorry you didn't end up liking this that much. I loved this book although I have to admit that I do find Kagawa's world-building too pretty descriptive and too much. Still, in the end it worked for me. Haha! Anyhoo, thanks for the lovely and honest review. It's good to hear a different opinion from time to time. I'm glad that you liked The Immortal Rules though and I'm excited for the next book too. :)
It took me a while to get into the Iron Fey series too Rachel, you're not alone. Once I got toward the end of book two I was sold, but they're definitely not books that will appeal to everyone. This first book I enjoyed, but I agree with you that it was difficult to really connect to either Ethan or Kenzie. I think I ended up rating this one on my hopes for future books rather than the actual story itself, because I figure there's some family drama to be worked out with Ethan and Meghan and I'm thinking that's going to be something that really draws me in:)
I was a big fan of The Iron Fey series, and was initially a fan of The Lost Prince. Looking back, I think I let excitement abs hype get to me, b/c I completely agree w/your review. I didn't connect w/the characters at all. In fact, they annoyed me. The only times I was truly happy was when characters fromThe Irin Fey series showed up, which probably defeats the purpose of a new series.
Great review, Rachel!
*sigh* I was so excited about this spin-off, but these bad (or lukewarm at best) reviews completely changed my mind. IT makes me so sad, I enjoyed the original series, though I didn't exactly love it, and I expected this to be just as fun.
Ah, well, they can't all be good. GReat review, Rachel!
I must admit I was a little shocked when I first started reading The Lost Prince - where is the little sweet Ethan in The Iron King that I adore? I can totally understand that the story is not for everyone. Kenzie's voice seems young but given the protective environment that she grows up in, I think a younger voice would sound more fitting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us :)
I read this without reading the iron fey series first. I thought it was okay but i wasn't blown away by it either. Thanks for an honest review :)
Compared to the Iron Fey series, this book wasn't quite as great for me, but I did still enjoy it overall. I'm sorry it didn't work for you as much as The Immortal Rules, but I'm glad to hear your thoughts. A wonderul and fair review, Rachel! :)
I'm so sorry this fell flat for you Rachel, but I understand. I wasn't a huge fan of The Iron Fey Series either (couldn't finish Book 2) and I wasn't planning to pick this up, but it's nice to know that it isn't as perfect as the hype made it seem - because there was a LOT of hype. Wonderful review, dear!(:
Yeah, I'm also not a big fan of her Fey series and only finished that series reluctantly (because I had requested the LAST one on Netgalley and hadn't even picked up book one yet. Yes, I learned my lesson). I actually read that little mini-story... can't remember the name. It has a snake on the cover. Anyways, I read that and was ALMOST intrigued enough to pick this one up but am ultimately glad I didn't. Great review though. :)
I'm with you, Rach! I didn't really like TIF, the world was a good idea, but the rest was meh. This book was also really disappointing, I really did not like Ethan at all!
great, balanced review, hun!
Hmm, I wasn't a huge fan of Julia Kagawa's Iron Fey series either. Some sort of book/reader incompatibility, I reckon. So, you're not alone, and honestly I'm glad to finally see some constructive critism for this book. Anyhow, your review is wonderful as always, Rachel dear!
Surprisingly, I only read book 1 of the Iron Fey. I enjoyed it a lot but I ended up never finishing the series. I'm sad that this one didn't work out for you! I do like good characters and connecting with them in incredibly important for me.
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