I had a huge problem with the romance in this book. It went the (unfortunate) Twilight route with the 'dying unless I'm with him' route, plus added the 'my best guy friend is also in love with me but..." avenue as well. BLECH!
I wouldn't have minded so much, but also wouldn't have even started the series, if the first book had even hinted at this. And I'm really sorry, Julie Kagawa is a good writer and this world that she's created really could do and deserves better.
I'll sample the next book, but for now, this series is off my automatic buy list. ( )

In some ways The Iron Daughter suffers from being the sophomore book of a series. At the end of The Iron King, Meghan had defeated Machina, lost Puck (for an indefinite amount of time), brought her little brother home and than returned with Ash to Winter as per their agreement. In my Iron King review I spoke about the Iron Fey and their origins as vaguely as possible, since I think Kagawa does a wonderful job explaining their existence, but I find them wildly interesting so I'll go more into depth with this second book review.

We see a return of Tertias (Ash's Iron Fey clone/counterpart, who may or may not be a pretty decent guy all things considered), Iron Horse (who I loved more this time around) and lots of those little crawlies. Plus Virus! Apparently cold-blooded mercenary tactics aren't limited to those with actual blood! The more we saw of the Iron Fey the more they seemed to evolve; for instance Iron Horse was apparently able to change shape and Virus has a nasty little bug that could control folks. Rather disturbing was the Winter Faeries' belief that they could become immune to Iron--and as such wore iron rings that blackened their hands as they rotted.

Interestingly was watching how everyone reacted to the threat of the Iron Fey. Mab outright called Meghan a liar, a cheat and barely tolerable. Oberon, other than a couple attempts to steal Meghan back, didn't seem inclined to believe her either. With Ash's loyalty and trust compromised by his fixation with her, Puck MIA and Grim being...well...Grim, there is no one to back her up. I think that Sage may have come around, eventually (he didn't seem quite as...brutal as Rowan), and Rowan...well Rowan didn't paint himself in a brilliant light let's just say.

The fate of Puck is revealed and its not surprising, but what is surprising is how little explanation is given. Its brushed off as 'it couldn't be but this way', but I would really like to know how it came about. Maybe that will be another novella (like Winter's Passage), but it kind of nagged at me throughout the rest of the book.

More of Meghan's exact connection to the Iron Fey is revealed and leads to some disturbing developments. I admit to confusion in this regard. I think I understand where Kagawa is likely going, or at least I am taking the hints, but on the other hand I can't figure out why exactly. So much of the book is spent between Meghan worrying about Ash's feelings for her, Meghan worried about Puck, Meghan trying to convince others to help her against the Iron Fey...it felt at times she kept going in circles.

The Iron Queen is due out in February 2011 and I sincerely hope that Meghan exact relation to the Iron Fey is revealed. I think Iron Horse's last comment and Virus' sudden epiphany are both indicators, but I'd like a more concrete statement. The Iron Fey are still Fey after all and anything they say can be an overstatement of the truth. ( )

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa was a good book, but definitely not as good as the first in the series. I was hoping for lots of action, romance and adventure like the first book brought, but it fell flat for me.

This book feels a strain between Ash and Meghan, and Puck seems to be missing for half the book and randomly shows up. Because of the strain, Ash is not there for some of the book and Puck shows up at the opposite time. I much preferred seeing the odd relationship between Ash and Puck when they were together with Meghan, they proved to become an interesting plot device in the first bok. Also, a lot of the plot seems to happen at just the right time, like Puck appearing randomly out of nowhere.

Overall, the plot itself was a grande idea, but there was so much potential that didn't happen. I did like the book and I will continue the series, but this book was a let down of a sequel in my opinion.

Four out of five stars. ( )

though not as well descripted as the first Iron Daughter is a good second book to the Iron Fae Series.

Like the first book I got the feeling that Kagawa got her ideas from snippets of different movies such as Labyrinth, Narnia and The Snow Queen. But regardless where her inspiration comes from she has certainly captured me into her world of Faery ( )

March 2017, 4th read, 3 stars:
Just finished reading this for the fourth time (sometimes I get a sudden urge to revisit a book, this time I didn't even bother with the first book in the series-- just jumped into this one-- I think I wanted to re-read the parts at the Winter Court when Ash is being a total jerk lol), and it is still as entertaining as ever! At this point, there's nothing new to discover, the book being a really straightforward YA fantasy, but I enjoyed revisiting the Nevernever and seeing all the characters again.

Meghan has grown on me a lot since I first picked up the series and maybe it's due to me being older too but I think her character is pretty spot-on for an average teenage girl. Maybe not the most likeable or memorable teenage girl, but realistic nonetheless. While I do think some of her reactions and decisions could be better, I don't really find them frustrating as I have done upon previous reads; I just kind of take it for what it is. These are the decisions she makes, using the experiences she's had in life up to now. (And ok, maybe I'm softer on her now that I have more distance from my own teenage self-- I still think her waffling between Ash and Puck is really silly, but I actually experienced this exact thing when I was 17-- haha!-- and to my embarrassment now, I wasn't decisive about it either.)

I really liked Puck more than Ash this time around too (well, not that it's hard when Ash is being cold and aloof for most of this book). He's super fun and always has a snarky comment or two, and it really makes me feel bad for him that he kind of gets the shaft. I mean c'mon, no one really buys the love triangle, right? No matter what the narrative says, I'm not convinced that Meghan actually develops real romantic feelings for him; Puck only becomes an option when Ash stops being one.

Anyway, the story is a fun romp through fairyland and parts of the real world, and I always enjoy seeing Julie Kagawa's inventive ways of blending traditional fairy lore with modern society. This book moves at a fairly steady pace and is a nice mix of adventure, action and fantasy. And there's some lovely romantic moments too-- no matter which guy you're rooting for!

Older review below:

June 2012, 2nd read, 3 stars:
Torn between giving this a 3 or 4. On one hand, I really liked this one. There was action, adventure, romance, a cast of memorable characters.. It was very entertaining! On the other hand, some of the plot events were stupid and unnecessary and Meghan's character was totally inconsistent-- she becomes smart, stupid, strong, or weak, depending on what is necessary to move the plot forward. There is a little too much reliance on Grimalkin to save the gang every time something goes wrong or when they can't figure out the problem in front of them. Despite all these flaws, I still really enjoyed this book. It was non-stop action, never boring, and although I still don't quite understand the romance between Ash and Meghan, they have great chemistry together. The obligatory love triangle rears its head in this one, but it doesn't feel forced (although I do wonder what the guys see in Megan-- she's not a horrible character by any means, but she's not particularly memorable either; she's just a normal, somewhat immature, human girl). I like that the book doesn't spend that much time focusing on the love triangle; Meghan has bigger problems than which boy she chooses. Again, the book wraps things up at the end, and there's no horrible cliffhanger, but there are enough questions to intrigue you to read the next one. Which I will definitely be doing! ( )