The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

So! It's July 31st, this is my last post of the month. I've decided it's high time for a book review.

Megan is a normal girl, soon to turn 16 years old. Then she finds out her best friend is the faery from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck, her little brother has been snatched and replaced with a changeling, and that her father is King Oberon, the king of faeries. In order to rescue her little brother, she must go to the faery world and save him, along the way meeting friends and enemies alike. Being half fey, she has to also learn to control her new found powers, and her crush against Puck's enemy, Prince Ash. She finds out the fey who stole her brother is one Iron King, who isn't even supposed to exist.







Characters: I liked the characters. I wouldn't have reacted the same way about the existence of faeries that Megan did, but that's pretty irrelevant. The enmity between Puck and Prince Ash was both amusing and annoying, as they make it perfectly clear, several times. Megan did seem kind of whiny, fussing about choosing between Puck and Ash and being too scared and weirded out to accept her fey side.

Plot: I also didn't mind the plot. I picked this book up in Wal-mart only because it was one of the only ones NOT about vampires. Romance isn't my kinda thing, but again, whatever. The whole Seelie court and Unseelie court monarchy was interesting. Also, the idea of Iron fey wasn't too boring.

Likes: So, I like faeries. I like the monarchy, and the writing itself was pretty good. There was one character who really stood out to me as evil, I can't remember her name but she was seriously one bad, butt kicking character. There's also a mysterious cat in it, which of course I liked.

Dislikes: Megan. She was whiny. She was protective of her little brother, but she was resisting her powers for most of the book, when I would've been like, "Oh yea!!! Super cool faery powers!!!" I also didn't like the romance of it, I thought it focused a little too much on it.

Overall, I'd give it an "Okay..."

Current Progress: Chapter 2

My book, I have decided to call 'Shades of Green' for now. I have gotten up to the beginning of chapter 2, which I am absolutely excited about. ;D I have never made it that far- I usually end up editing the first chapter to death, before deciding to start all over.

Do you want to see a cover for it? Well, I don't have one. Yet. I have a temporary one up on inkpop, not permanent.

http://www.inkpop.com/fiction/fantasy-books/shades-green

^ The unedited first chapter. It needs major work, but I'll do that later, after the second chapter at least.I'm going to focus on getting it down. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Edit. =]

Ending quote....
"No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it." -Fernando Pessoa

Interesting Facts

Some interesting things that research for my book has turned up:

1. Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, is one of the most toxic plants found in the Western hemisphere. It poses the greatest risk to children because the berries are attractive and taste sweet.

2. Tortuga in Haiti and Port Royal in Jamaica were REAL pirate havens. They provided a place without any police or law enforcement,  where pirates could get supplies or have a drink.

3. People in medieval times didn't always have a lot of clothes. I mean, nobles and kings did, but most workers would only have a couple sets of clothes. <-- This one seems pretty obvious, but it never occurred to me.

4. Chinese water torture is where you drip water onto a person's forehead in a sort of rhythm for a long time. Then you slowly increase the time between each drip. Nothing physical and not exactly spectacular, but it drives you literally insane.

5. Hitting a person on the head to knock them unconscious is likely to cause brain damage if they're out for more than a few seconds.

Quote for today:
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." -Albert Einstein

   

Lessons Learned (just not by me)

I WAS going to post a book review today, have decided otherwise. One of my family members is still going through this, and I want to let y'all know, in case you didn't already.

Have you ever dated anyone? Girlfriend, boyfriend? Personally, I never have, and so this is an objective point of view. Inexperienced or objective; I don't care how you see it.

If your Significant Other (hereby known as SI) is mean, insults you, has dumped you more than once in the past, cheated on you, and/or hurts you, then you should DUMP him/her. I can hear the complaining already; But we LOVE each other. It's not serious, just a little problem, we'll get through it. Love is only love if it is shared, and if they don't respect you, then they don't love you.

All of the problems I stated above are perfectly serious. No one has a right to hurt you, no matter who you are. If they're cheating on you, then you aren't in love; you're just one out of two. Also referred to as lust, when they don't care who it is they're loving. Insults- if they're casual, then they're treating you like a sibling or a friend. If actually meant to hurt you, then they just don't like you. Goodness knows why they're dating you if they don't like you.

If they keep breaking up with you, then coming back, you should reject them. They're not healthy, like pouring sugar on Fruit Loops. If they can't make up their minds, then you can decide for them. If SI thinks that's alright or keeps saying sorry and begging for forgiveness, that's worse, in my opinion. It doesn't matter how many times you say sorry; you have to mean it. And, obviously, it's not all right to hurt someone like that. 

Which brings me to point C. If they are actually hurting you, physically or verbally, that's abuse. You need to get help, go tell a trusted person(s). I know that it's hard to get outside help, but it's not just for your benefit; it's for SI's as well. And NEVER think it's your fault. It's no one's fault, or the SI's fault. You are a victim, a sufferer, the wounded party. Well, how would you know? You can trust me on this point; I'm not a genius, I'm not stupid, but I know the victim is never at fault.

I know, I've never been in love, I don't know what it's like. But you can't move on if you don't let yourself. You have to let go of them they are no good, so you're not hurt. Seeing my family member in one of these situations kills me, so remember that your family and friends are there for you if you need it. And if you think you're completely alone, I will be here to listen. Don't let yourself be miserable because you don't think you have the strength to let go. Sometimes it's harder to keep holding on.

I end this "love hurts" lecture with a quote:
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." -Oscar Wilde

Music for the Soul ♪♫

Okay, so, I'm going to post three random songs on here. I separate my songs into three categories: sad, heavy, and smile. Sad is pretty self explanatory, and for those who can't tell, smile is happy music. :D Heavy is, like rock music, not light and airy, but... you get what I mean. If you don't, listen to the songs and you'll know. And if you do get what I mean, listen to them anyway.
They are completely appropriate, recommended by me. :P No swearing, not about parties and... *ahem* the wild things that happen when the lights go out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqGIwzMJGcc&feature=feedlik

"Designer Skyline" by Owl City- this song reminds me of Annabeth from the Percy Jackson series. It's such a pretty song. ^.^ This is definitely smile music.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlsBObg-1BQ

"Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele- I'm gonna include this with sad, because I don't know what else to refer to it. If you can think of one, comment. It's about a breakup. A torturous, beautiful kind of song.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W89a8phHuVk

"For Those Who Wait" by Fireflight- kind of heavy, it's Christian rock. But it's very inspirational; it basically says that it's okay to be lonely and sad. There's a purpose for everyone. A very comforting song for when you're down.

All of these songs you should at least give a chance. It's okay if you don't like them; after all, everyone has different tastes. You can do like I do and listen just to the beginning, and figure out from there if you want to keep listening. But I love these songs, so don't tell me they're stupid or annoying. :'( If you like them, that's awesome- I'm glad I could share them with you. =]
And so I say farewell with a quote:
"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." -Marilyn Monroe

My first Post ;D

Welcome and hello, peoples of Earth. Here is where I rant on about life.
Since my life consists mostly of music, books, writing, and my cats, there will be plenty of those. But also of random subjects I feel like grumbling about. =]
A little of me: I love smilie faces. You'll find that I do a lot of them. And when I say there's no such thing as normal, I mean it. >.< Think about it; what's your idea of normal? Seriously- if everyone is different, then there is no general normal. My normal routine is drastically different than yours, and yours is from your friend's or that person who sits next to you on the bus or in class. But never mind that. What was I going on about before? Ah yes, me.
I do not always stay on topic, a problem that shows up in my writing and I'm trying to fix. I am currently (and slowly) working on my first novel. It has no name as of yet, but it's been stuck in my head for YEARS. I cannot get on the computer often, whether it's because I'm reading a book, or my facebook addict of a sister or my video game loving brother refuses to let me on.
I often can be found on neopets.com, under the username of 'lightgirl438', or on inkpop.com, disguised as fantasy♥cat. 
This is what I type for now. Oh, and I put a quote at the end of these posts because they're awesome:
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." -Mark Twain.