Ironside by Holly Black

"A rash declaration, an impossible quest. Kaye is forced to find the one thing she knows doesn't exist: a faerie who can tell a lie. Miserable and convinced that she belongs nowhere, Kaye is propelled back to the dangerous world of faerie. Once again, she finds herself caught up in the rivalries of the Seelie Court. In this twisted game of wits and power, can a pixie outplay a queen?"

Ironside is the follow up to Tithe in Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tale's. I liked the first book in the series, it was well paced, interesting and showed the dark side of faerie well. But I didn't love it. Despite all it's great characters and plots, I found I couldn't connect very well with those telling the story. Not enough to really get lost in it and love it. So it's taken me months to read this book, but I'm glad I finally did.

For me, this book was much easier to get in to than Tithe. I found the characters, and their motives, much easier to understand and I found myself getting in to the story more. Like Tithe it was fast paced with a good plot. You're never too sure what's real and what's not. Each twist takes you further from the truth and changes your perception of various characters, their motives and what they really feel or think.

I like Kaye just fine, but actually, I enjoyed Corny's story more. His hatred and desire for the fae battling against each other. Him trying to come to terms with what's happened to him, and his family, and what it means for the future. The side characters shone more in this book more as well I felt, fleshing it out and making it a more rounded book.

Overall I thought it was a very good book, better than Tithe, and now I'm really looking forward to reading Valiant. Which actually comes between the two, but with different characters. Some of those characters then appear in this book, so I wish I'd realised that before reading this, but oh well, too late now! lol not a mistake I make often, reading books out of order. I don't recommend it. Still, it was a great book and I'm really looking forward to Ms. Black's new series, Curse Workers (about magic users) due out in May (June in the UK) as well.

Rating: 8/10