The Iron Warrior Review: Ethan

Book: The Iron Warrior

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: The Call of the Forgotten (aka The Iron Fey sequel series)

Standing: Book 3 (final book)

POV: 1st person by Ethan, past tense

Setting: Nevernever (faery world)

Genre: YA fantasy

Source: Physical copy

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 384

Release: October 28th, 2015

The Iron Prince—my nephew—betrayed us all. He killed me. Then, I woke up. Waking after a month on the brink of death, Ethan Chase is stunned to learn that the Veil that conceals the fey from human sight was temporarily torn away. Although humankind's glimpse of the world of Faery lasted just a brief moment, the human world has been cast into chaos, and the emotion and glamour produced by fear and wonder has renewed the tremendous power of the Forgotten Queen. Now, she is at the forefront of an uprising against the courts of Summer and Winter—a reckoning that will have cataclysmic effects on the Nevernever. Leading the Lady's Forgotten Army is Keirran himself: Ethan's nephew, and the traitor son of the Iron Queen, Meghan Chase.To stop Keirran, Ethan must disobey his sister once again as he and his girlfriend, Kenzie, search for answers long forgotten. In the face of unprecedented evil and unfathomable power, Ethan's enemies must become his allies, and the world of the fey will be changed forevermore.  (Goodreads)

                         ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭

It's over. Everything. Including my heart.

If you don't know, the Iron Fey is my absolute favourite series. I owe so much to it, and now it's over. Like, OVER, over. There won't be another sequel series to look forward to. It's done. *Insert sobbing* ALL MY FEELS.

Okay. Onto my actual review.

This book picks up after that horrendous ending of The Iron Traitor. We find out that the prophesied has happened: the Forgotten has banded together under the leadership of the Lady, the First Queen of the Nevernever, and she has every intention of a) conquering Nevernever b) tearing the Veil apart, which would allow humans to see the faeries. And leading the army is Kierran himself. Or, rather, not himself. Kierran has changed completely, a result of having given his soul to Annwyl in order to try to sustain her life. And now Ethan and his friends are on a quest to find a way to get Kierran's soul back before he does the unthinkable and wages war against all the courts of the Nevernever.

Ethan. How he has changed from the first book. His broodiness and sarcasm really was hilarious to read. As the final book, we get to see his character finally mature. The theme Ethan's character follows is one of family and acceptance of who they are, and becoming willing to stand up for them. He makes his peace with Meghan's decision, along with accepting Meghan's world as part of his family. He's grown so much, and is able to see the bigger picture. It's not just about him, but his family. And it's not just about his family, but the entire world.

Mackenzie remained to be downright awesome. Yes, she's Ethan's weakness and she's vulnerable, but she can bargain like any fey. She's become a master at loopholes and words, easily able to compete with any fey in their games. She's not useless, not at all. Her skills play an equally critical part in the story, and she never really becomes a complete damsel in distress; she's always thinking of something to help Ethan help her get her out of the mess. Between Ethan and Kenzie, Ethan is the muscle/can fight like a fae, and Kenzie is the brains/can barter and use words like a fey. Both make up a fantastic team, and alone, they would be screwed. There's no way Ethan would have made it out alive if it weren't for Kenzie.

Kierran. That fool. I want to hug him, but I also want to kick him for everything he's done. We definitely get to see what becomes of his character, after everything he's done. I was quite pleased by his character arc, and though his ending left me reeling, I sort of understand why it ended the way it did.
I particularly liked how we got a lot of crossovers from The Iron Knight, including characters and places. Ethan basically explores a part of the Nevernever that Meghan herself has never gone before, and thus he carves out his own legacy.

Contrary to what any others say, it wasn't Kierran's ending that got to me, but it was Ethan's. I felt that there should have been a little more for him, since he's gone through so much. I know he didn't want anything to do with Faery in the first place, but I was hoping he would at least get something out of saving it. Ethan's ending was a little too open-ended for me.
The only thing I kept noticing was that there were a lot of parallels to this book and The Iron Queen. Not that I minded, since I loved the Iron Queen, but it was just something I noticed.

All in all, an absolutely fantastic ending to a much beloved series. I'm giving this five stars, because after enduring all the emotions, I simply can't give it anything less. I'm not ready to say farewell to the world of the fae, to my love of my life Ash (ASH <3), to Puck, who always cracks me up, and to Julie Kagawa's brilliant world and plot twists/devastations. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go cry quietly in a corner as I try to mend my heart together (Cody, please join me else I'm never going to recover).

"It sucks," she admitted, her eyes going dark. "sometimes the world is like that. Sometimes we just have to play with the hand we're dealt. But let me ask you this--would you trust this to anyone else?"