Review : The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey : The Call of The Forgotten #1)
Author : Julie Kagawa
Publisher : Harlequin Teen
Publication Date : October 23rd 2012
Goodreads - The Book Depository

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.


Personal Thoughts

The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa was one of my favorite series ever. You can imagine by happiness and excitement when I learned that there would be a spin-off coming out written in the POV of Ethan, Meghan's baby brother. The Lost Prince, however, unlike the Iron Fey series, failed to impress me.

Ever since Ethan Chase was tortured as toddler in the Never-Never, he has vowed that he would never let the fey know that he can see them. Unfortunately for Ethan, fate has other plans. When Ethan's school mate, Todd, disappeared after complaining to Ethan that a new kind of fey is following him, Ethan decides to investigate what is really going on to figure out where Todd is. He learns that a new kind of fey population is rising while many of the exiled and half feys are disappearing. Ethan's investigation eventually leads him to the Never-Never, the one place he vowed he would never visit again.

If I have to pinpoint what exactly went wrong for me with The Lost Prince, then I'm definitely going to say the characters. They are the complete opposite of Meghan, Ash and Puck. While the previously mentioned trio were funny and exciting, Ethan and his side characters were either incredibly wish-washy or frustrating. Ethan, when he was a toddler in The Iron Fey series, was a delightlful little boy. In The Lost Prince, his character was very hard to tolerate. He was whiny, broody and way too depressed for my liking. Plus, it really annoyed me how much he blamed Meghan for abandoning him when everything Meghan did was to protect him. Regardless, I thought he would grow as a character in the book. Unfortunately for me, he never did. It got to the point where I wanted to shake the heck out of him so he could man up and be the happy little boy he used to be. Moreover, there were inconsistencies in his character. For instance, when we first meet him, he was completely against the fey and he warned Todd, the half human, half phouka to stay away from him and that he didn't want anything to do with him. Fast forward 2 days and you have Ethan risking his own life to try to find a missing Todd. Why I ask? I don't even know what convinced him to do that. Kenzie, the love interest, made me want to throw away my e-reader and pull my own hair because every single thing she did annoyed me. She was this perky, nosy and meddlesome character who couldn't mind her own business. I didn't understand her fascination with Ethan. I couldn't understand why she constantly chased the guy when he acted like a complete douche-bag with her. The other secondary characters were not very interesting either, including Kierran, Meghan and Ash's son. No matter how much I wanted to like the characters, I just could not.

On a positive note, I was happy to be back in the fascinating world of the Never-Never. It reminded me so much of The Iron Fey series. That part of the book, I was completely satisfied with. Julie Kagawa knew how to make her world seem vivid and alive with her illustrious descriptions. The setting was the only thing that kept me rooted to the book. The plot too had the possibility to be very interesting, action-packed and entertaining with the introduction of a new kind of fey. However, the plot's potential was, in a certain way, "numbed" with the childish characters who held no appeal to me. As you can probably guess, I wasn't a huge fan of the romance either, only because I didn't fully comprehend the attraction between the two characters.

Overall, I was majorly disappointed with The Lost Prince. Somehow, I'm guessing it's because I went into the book expecting something amazing. I have honestly no idea if I want to continue this series, but maybe I'll just wait for the reviews to come for the next book before I jump into it. Even if I didn't enjoy the book, it doesn't mean you wouldn't. I know a lot readers did enjoy The Lost Prince. If you're interested, definitely give it a shot!

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 1/5
Writing : 4/5

Big thank you to Harlequin Teen for an ARC of The Lost Prince