Novella Review: Winter's Passage (The Iron Fey #1.5) by Julie Kagawa

Hey guys, so as part of my Iron Fey series giveaway, which you can enter on the Giveaways/Contests page, I'm reviewing all the Iron Fey Books and Novellas in order, and even though this is the last Iron Fey review for this week, I'll have two more next week! So be sure to come back for them.

Release Date: June 1, 2010
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Length: 49 pages

"Meghan Chase used to be an ordinary girl...until she discovered that she is really a faery princess. After escaping from the clutches of the deadly Iron fey, Meghan must follow through on her promise to return to the equally dangerous Winter Court with her forbidden love, Prince Ash. But first, Meghan has one request: that they visit Puck--Meghan's best friend and servant of her father, King Oberon--who was gravely injured defending Meghan from the Iron Fey.
Yet Meghan and Ash's detour does not go unnoticed. They have caught the attention of an ancient, powerful hunter--a foe that even Ash may not be able to defeat...."





Review:

Characters: Meghan return in this rather short novella which chronicles her journey to the Unseelie Court as part of her arrangement with the Winter Prince Ash. Since she goes willingly, and since Ash has feelings for her, she requests to go see her best friend Puck, who is healing from the wounds he sustained in the first book. However, while on their way they are tracked by someone only known as "The First Hunter," for most of the novella. Meghan, along with Ash and Grimalkin the smart-talking cat have to find out how to get away from this hunter before it's too late.

Romance: There is a small amount of romance in this novella, though it is very brief. Ash begins to grow colder and more introverted the closer they get to Mab's castle. This worries Meghan, as she feels it may be something she did that's triggering his emotional separation from her. There are a couple moments when Ash lets his feeling for Meghan show, however that just makes her more confused.

World-Building: Since this is only a short novella there isn't much world building, however there were a few things that I liked learning about. We got a short monologue from "The First Hunter" that detailed a bit of his backstory which was interesting and entertaining. We also got to learn a bit more about what happened to the dryad elder who sacrificed the heart of her tree so that Meghan could defeat Machina and save her brother.

Predictability: Once again, since this was only a short novella the predictability was rather non-existant since there was no foreshadowing, at least not for this novella. However, the events in this novella were fairl easy to decipher from the cover, there were a couple fun and minor twists that kept the excitement up and there were some foreshadowing elements for the next installment as well.

Ending: The ending was fairly climactic, it was a fun cliffhanger that leads the reader dying for more. Though it wasn't something such as a huge plot twist it was more or less like cutting away right before something cool or dramatic happens, which we all hate.

Overall this novella gets a full 5 out of 5 stars, it's a fun little side adventure between books and though it's probably not important to read this before the second book, it's still great adventure with a bit of action and romance thrown in.

Next week: The Iron Daughter and The Iron Queen