Originally posted at Small Review 
 Oh my freaking gosh. I had so much fun reading this book! Everything I loved about the first two books was here, but better. Everything I didn't like about the previous two books was gone. Finally, finally Julie Kagawa gave me the story I was waiting for. All of my time spent on the first two books was totally worth it just to get to TIQ. 
 I love you people 
 All of the qualms I had about the characters just melted away in this book. I always felt like Julie was holding out on me and, as a character girl, I had to detract some stars from the previous books because I just never really felt the characters. Now I feel them. Now I love them. Major characters, minor characters, I am 100% sold. The characters have made the jump from people in a book to people in my heart that I will remember in years to come. 
 I was so not Team Ash for the first two books, but from page one of TIQ I was mentally printing up my Team Ash T-shirts. And not just any T-shirts, but really girly swoony T-shirts with hearts and sparkles and embarrassing phrases like "Meghan and Ash 4EVA!" You know, everything that would make Ash barf. 
 Apparently my shirt comes with gigantic shoulder pads 
 I totally get where Meghan is coming from now. TIQ-Ash struck that perfect balance of sensitive and caring, but never weak or weenie-boy. He was still sexy, capable, and masculine, but he wasn't a cold fairy with a pole up his butt anymore. His banter with Puck was equally great, hitting that mark of "brothers in arms" that I so love to read about (and watch--Dean and Sam, anyone?) 
 My other hang up with the earlier books, especially The Iron Daughter, was Meghan's suckage. She was ok in the first book, but by the second book I thought she became a total Too Stupid To Live character. She must have gotten some sense knocked into her somehow though, because by the third book she had made a complete 180 and became so incredibly kick ass. In the second book I so wouldn't have let her sit at my lunch table, but I'd totally wear friendship bracelets with The Iron Queen Meghan. She was made of win! 
 Meghan just kept pulling out the awesome. You know how a book will set up a scene and you think about what the character should do, but you don't really expect it to happen because, well, the character in question just isn't that awesome? MEGHAN DID IT! Every time. Gone was the weak-will, wacky priorities, moping and pathetic Meghan of The Iron Daughter. This Meghan knew how to take charge, make tough choices, and do what needed to be done. Armed with a steel sword, Meghan spends most of the book wearing dragon skin armor, and she needs it because this Meghan doesn't run from a fight. 
 Action! Battles! Questing! 
 Oh the fights! I was swooning like crazy over those battles. Um, maybe I should rephrase that. Remember the discussion post about book features that make me say YES PLEASE? Another feature that makes me automatically fall in love with a book is the prospect of battles. I loooove battles. The tension, the peril, the hot guys with swords! Ah, battles. Julie Kagawa combined battles and questing and I practically died from happiness. 
 Not only did Puck and Ash look completely sexy as they fought on the fairy frontlines, and then fought their way into the Iron kingdom, and then out again, and then back on the front lines again (look at all the battles and questing!!), but Meghan totally rocked, too. She didn't sit back and let the boys protect her. She was IN IT. I almost wish I read this book on some sort of e-reader because I think my white-knuckled death grip of OMGTHISISAWESOME!!! might have bent the book up a little. 
 Julie Kagawa keep me at the edge of my seat while also continuing to entertain me with her inventive take on fairies and the Iron fey. Her world building is so engrossing. I have such a crystal clear picture of what everything and everyone looks like (except, I'm sorry, but my Meghan has black hair. Why? I don't know). The more Meghan and crew journeyed into the Iron kingdom, the more unique creatures we met and the more enthralled I became. There are a bunch of new characters that, along with the old characters (Go Grimalkin!), made such a mind-blowingly awesome cast to read. 
 Tears of joy, sadness...and impatience 
 And then the end. Oh my gosh, the end! AAaah, I won't spoil anything, but that ending was just, wow. I loved it. I wasn't expecting it at all, but I am so totally happy with it! As soon as I finished reading I immediately signed into Goodreads to check when The Iron Knight will be coming out. If Goodreads was a person, I'd be gripping Goodreads by the collar and shaking them screaming, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL NOVEMBER!?!" 
 And, ok, in the world of sequels, November 2011 really isn't that long to wait, but it feels like an eternity because I need that book in my life NOW. Prior to reading The Iron Queen my thoughts on TIK were pretty much, "Meh, Ash's story?" But it's going to be so much more than Ash's story. It's going to be awesome. And if Julie Kagawa keeps this up, it will be epic. 
 Originally posted at Small Review