Early Review – The Iron Traitor (Call of the Forgotten, Book 2) by Julie Kagawa (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: October 29, 2013
ISBN: 978-0373210916
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Call of the Forgotten series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

This is the second book in the Call of the Forgotten series by Kagawa. This series takes place after The Iron Fey series and features Megan’s brother Ethan. It was an okay book in this series, I haven’t enjoyed this series as much as the Iron Fey series.

Ethan is trying to live a normal life with his family and girlfriend Kenzie. Then rumors start circulating through the Fey that his nephew Keirran has gone missing. When Keirran’s girlfriend comes to visit, very upset at Keirran’s absence, Ethan has to make a choice. Will he get involved with the Fey again and prevent Keirran from making a horrible choice or will he continue to try and ignore the Fey?

I am still not a huge Ethan Chase fan, but these books are well written and I do enjoy reading more about the Fey kingdoms Kagawa has created. Ethan is just too abrasive and spends too much time trying to avoid situations where he could be helpful. I guess maybe he is just stereotypical bad-boy for me.

The other character that this book focuses on a lot is Keirran. If anyone should understand the consequences of rash actions of love it should be him. But he acts blissfully ignorant and eagerly makes the same mistakes his parents made…only a lot worse. I don’t like him as a character all that much either, most of the time I just want to slap him.

Kenzie is fiery but her illness makes her vulnerable. She is constantly pushing herself too hard and ends up collapsing from exhaustion in dire situations. I understand that she wants to live life to the fullest, but she needs to do it in a way that doesn’t put her loved ones in danger. Again, not a huge fan of her as a character.

So…uh…yeah I guess I am not a big fan of any of the characters here. However Puck and Grimalkin are in the story some and I loved reading about them. Megan and Ash are also in the story a bit and I enjoy reading about them as well.

The book is well written and engaging. However, I thought this installment was very, very predictable. You pretty much know how this story is going to end right from the beginning. Also I miss the humor. Ethan and Keirran are so serious. There is no humor here until Puck and Grimalkin enter the story. It just makes for a story that takes itself too seriously. I also miss the edginess, there isn’t a lot of that here. We see some dark parts of faerie but it is no where near as dangerous and dark as The Iron Fey series was.

Overall this is an okay installment in this series. I love the Iron Fey world and think the story is engaging. However I do not enjoy any of these characters, they are too stereotypical and take themselves way too seriously. I miss the humor and the grittiness that was present in the Iron Fey series. I also felt that this was a very predictable book. I guess if you are a huge fan of this series go ahead and read this book. These are decent urban fantasy young adult books, I just feel like they are way more watered down than The Iron Fey series and not nearly as good.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge
– 150+ Reading Challenge