Book thirty-nine: Ironside

Ironside* (2007)
Holly Black

Rating: 4.5/5

Really interesting plot, great characters and excellent writing as always.

In the realm of Faerie, the time has come for Roiben’s coronation. Uneasy in the midst of the malevolent Unseelie Court, pixie Kaye is sure only of one thing--her love for Roiben. But when Kaye, drunk on faerie wine, declares herself to him, he sends her on a seemingly impossible quest. Now Kaye can’t see or speak with Roiben unless she can find the one thing she knows doesn’t exist: a faerie who can tell a lie.

Miserable and convinced she belongs nowhere, Kaye decides to tell her mother the truth—that she is a changeling left in place of the human daughter stolen long ago. Her mother’s shock and horror sends Kaye back to the world of Faerie to find her human counterpart and return her to Ironside. But once back in the faerie courts, Kaye finds herself a pawn in the games of Silarial, queen of the Seelie Court. Silarial wants Roiben’s throne, and she will use Kaye, and any means necessary, to get it. In this game of wits and weapons, can a pixie outplay a queen?

I was very wary of the start of this book, I was worried that it was going to make one of the most common mistakes of sequels of separating all the main characters just to separate them. But, I should have known better.

The thing I liked most about this book was how it bought together characters from Tithe and Valiant and continued on with their stories rather than repeating them.

I wonder if there is going to be more? I hope so!

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* Finished: 2/5