Title: The Lost Prince

SubTitle: Call of the Forgotten – Book 1

Publisher:Harlequin

Imprint:HarlequinTEEN

Pub Date: October 30, 2012

ISBN:9780373210572

Author: Julie Kagawa

*SPOILER ALERT* DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE WHOLE IRON FEY SERIES BY JULIE KAGAWA, OR THIS BOOK ITSELF.

I’m really a huge fan of Julie Kagawa’s work. I’ve been following her work religiously, ever since her debut with the ‘Iron King’. I absolutely love the Iron Fey series, particularly ‘ The Iron Queen’ and the ‘Iron Knight’. I could feel the depth of Julie’s characters in these two books, especially the protagonists of he story, Meghan, Ash, Puck, and of course, Grimalkin. There was so much character development, unexpected twist and turns, and of course, romance in those two books. Everything written was memorable and it etch like a tattoo in my mind.

Yes, I loved the Iron Fey series and I am not ashame to admit that every now and then, I fantasize about Ash, the Prince of the Unseelie court. He was the classic bad guy who fell in love head over heels with the heroine of the series and turned good in the end. Got to love how Ms. Kagawa nurture this character. Classic, but highly original.

Frankly speaking, I was absolutely excited when I discovered that Ms. Kagawa is coming up with a spinoff of the Iron Fey series known as ‘Call of The Forgotten’.

So okay, when HarlequinTEEN Publisher approved my request for the first book in ‘The Call of The Forgotten’ series, entitled ‘The Lost Prince’. I was really excited, only to be disappointed later on, because I feel that I couldn’t really connect with any of the characters in the spinoff. Sure, I appreciate the revisit to Nevernever, but at some point, I feel that I am merely reading a fanfiction version of the Iron Fey series, where the story and the characters is created basically to feed the appetite of younger teenagers and fangirls.

Here is what I think of the characters in ‘The Lost Prince’

Ethan Chase

Like Meghan Chase, Ethan was portrayed as an awkward teenager who does not fit in very well anywhere in the society. But unlike Meghan, Ethan was probably ten times more worst. He’s not only rebellious, but bitter and broody as well as disrespectful in nature as well. He is selfish in some ways, and more often than not, thinks that his point of view is always correct. He is also inconsiderate, and have plenty of serious physiological issues Basically, I feel like slapping this feller and tell him to smell the roses. Despite of those seductive description of Ethan- shirtless, great in martial arts and whatnot, I dislike his personality greatly. He is too absorbed in his own world to my liking. Ethan also shuts everyone out of his life and refused to let anyone in or close to him. He is also rude at times, and I am not sure if I’m supposed to like that. In my humble opinion, Ethan Chase’s personality is a tad like Ash’s, only more rude. Ash kept everyone at a distant, and cold towards everyone too, but at least he was never rude and always a gentleman. Ash always gives me a chill whenever he acted cold and indifferent, but Ethan did not give me the same chill and goosebumps. I only feel annoyed whenever Ethan did that. Bottomline: I did not like Ethan Chase despite of his oozing hotness. He is a jerk and behaves like a brat in desperate need of spanking on his bottom. I hate him and he did not grow on me until nearly the end of the story, where I see he make amends with Kenzie and attempts to make peace with the heroine of the story and everyone else around him.

Kenzie St. James

The girl who actually ‘lives’ and appreciate everything and everyone around her. Her positive, can do attitude reminds me of Meghan in the first two books of the Iron Fey series. Love the girl’s attitude and perceptions towards things, and unlike Ethan, Kenzie deal with things differently. She does not reflect her hardships in her attitude, and while she have plenty of serious issues, she did not blame anyone for it. In other words, Kenzie dealt with things in a more mature and rational manner, unlike Ethan. Honestly, I don’t know what she sees in Ethan. He was not only rude to her but treated her like a nuisance in the beginning. I like Kenzie, but I am not sure what the author is trying to send across by pairing up Kenzie and Ethan together; that is is all right to persist when a guy trash you rudely? Or is she trying to tell the teenage girls not to judge a book by it’s cover? I am not really sure about that.

Keirran

Keirran is first seen as a foreshadow in ‘The Iron Knight’. He is the son of Ash and Meghan, and is the prince in the Iron Court. He is supposed to be a powerful fey as he wielded the glamours of all courts. He could use winter glamour like his father, and could use summer glamour and iron glamour just like his mother. And because of the human blood that he got from. Meghan, he is also immune to iron. He is seen as a threat by all courts, from the way I see it, but I doubt that the boy is aware of it or care about it. He is very impulsive and not quite sensitive towards people around him. He acts before he thinks and tends to put people in the path of danger with his action( or the lack of it). In some ways, I feel that his relationship with his parents is somewhat complex and Meghan did not spend enough time with him and merely let him grow up on his own (probably for a reason, I could see Ms. Kagawa is trying to make this character an antagonist some point in the future installment). Seeing what Ms. Kagawa wrote about Kierran’s relationship with his parents reminds me of Ash’s relationship with Queen Mab, the winter Queen of the Unseelie court of the Iron Fey series. He did as he pleased, and unlike Ash, I did not think that his actions is quite justified.

He is not what I expect… I couldn’t see Ash and Meghan in him, but at the end of ‘The Lost Prince’, I could foresee that Keirran will have conflict with everyone else in the story, and his existence is probably a great tragedy to all courts alike, the Seelie, Unseelie and the Iron Court.

Anwyln

She’s Keirran’s love interest. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t connect with her. She had no personality and I feel that there is no character’s development on her part. She is beautiful and all that, but I don’t see why Keirran fell in love with this summer fey. I simply cannot feel the chemistry between them even though the author made it clear that Keirran and  Anwyln is romantically involved. Hopefully the author will justify that in the next book, and hopefully, both of them is not just a re-creation of Ash and Meghan’s forbidden love and romance.

Grimalkin

The mysterious, know it all fey-feline who appeared in all of Iron Fey series. Got to love this character. He is one of the saving grace in this story. Love his sarcastic humour and loved how he interacted with other characters in the story. In some ways, I feel that Grimalkin is the incarnation of the author herself doing some meddling when the plot and the characters gets out of hand.

The Original Trio- Meghan, Ash and Puck

They are the saving grace of this story, however, I could see the author’s disinterest in showing these characters anymore than necessary in ‘The Lost Prince- Call of the Forgotten’. I can understand the author’s intention as these trio have a strong impact on those who loved the original Iron Fey series. They could easily overshadow the newer characters with their charms, personality and the chemistry that they have with each other.

I’m not sure if I’m right, but it seems that Ms. Kagawa is trying to erase the trio’s influence in this story. I could see that Meghan has changed to be more more imposing and powerful. She is still pretty much in love with Ash and has become a friendlier and civil version of her biological father, Oberon after several years ruling as a monarch in the Iron Realm. I could only thank God that Ms. Kagawa did not exactly turn her to be as shrewed as Titania and as ruthless as Mab when it comes to dealing with this.

Ash is still protective of Meghan despite the fact that she is much powerful than before, and cares for Meghan’s feelings alot. Loved to see that there is not much changes in that, and glad that Ms. Kagawa lets them live happily ever after…for now, that is.

Puck is as cheeky and as carefree as usual, but his appearance is not that much either, so I’m not going to say much about him. I wish there will be more of him in this series though it is unlikely.

Lisansidhe

The exiled Muse who became the Queen of the Between. I felt nothing for her back then, but I like her now, as she is probably one of the person who cares most about everyone’s well being despite of her misgivings. She accommodate almost everyone’s needs at a price, of course, but I am okay with that.

The Mysterious Queen of the Forgotten

The mystery character who is indirectly responsible for Ethan and Kenzie’s journey to Nevernever. Not quite sure what to feel about her. So far I don’t see any character’s development on her side, and I have no idea why Kierran thinks what she is doing is somewhat justified. Sucking other fairy’s and half breed’s glamour and leave them to die or glamourless just because she and her entire forgotten race needs to exists is all right? Err…something is either seriously wrong with the Iron Prince or he is simply inhumane and lacks empathy towards the victims.

Overall, all I can say about ‘The Lost Prince’ is that it has good plot, even though it starts off painfully familiar like ‘The Iron King’, where someone gets kidnaps/disappeared and needs to be rescued by the main character by going back to Nevernever. Yes, great plot, but with under-develop characters and kinda repetitive. I could see that the story is created in the image of the original Iron Fey series. I would appreciate more chemistry between the characters, and less teenage angst and monologue on Ethan’s part. It would please me greatly if there is more humour in this series. The story gets predictable at some point too but I suppose, it is forgivable as the author is paving ways for the next installment of the series.

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. I received an ARC of this book from HarlequinTEEN via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review for this book and I was not compensated in any ways for writing this review.