The Iron Knight

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3**

Oh my god! I totally loved this book...eventually. It started off a little shaky, but ended very strong.

The shaky part? Well, Ash is on a quest (with Puck) to get a soul/mortality so that he can be with Meghan in the Iron Kingdom. Now, this is not a bad thing and I spent a long time hoping he'd get that soul. But when the seer who is supposed to guide him to the End of the World where the Testing Grounds are (the place he can earn a soul) turns out to be Ariella, the long dead love from his past, I got really confused.

Then I got angry. See, Ash made this vow that he would do anything to return to Meghan, or he'd die trying. But when Ariella is thrust back into his life, he feels conflict over his decision. Does he forsake his vow and cause his essence to unravel to be with his first love, or does he keep his word and try to get back to the love who has made him the man he is? Ariella sure doesn't make it easy. In fact, she is essentially trying to make him choose her over Meghan. I did not like her character.

I still don't and the book is over.

But Puck and Ash work past their issues, mostly because Ariella wasn't dead, so Ash doesn't have to kill Puck. Ash goes on his epic quest and deals with a lot of things from his past and in his possible future that make him wonder if Meghan is worth all this trouble.

But it ended so well that I just sat there hugging the book to my chest. Even after the little "ha ha, fooled you!" part of the book. I spent two chapters swooning just to have the rug ripped from under me. But they made up for it.

Now, there's a spin off series that follows Ethan (Meghan's little brother) as a teenager. I need to read that at some point.