I'm actually quite torn on how to rate this one. 
 On one hand, I enjoyed the world of Nevernever that the author envisioned. It is very much a huge character in and of itself in the story. It was not hard to see it in my head while reading. The author has a way of describing each image so it is vivid and alive in your mind without going overboard. I'm not much of a fan of lots of description, but I didn't mind this at all. 
 The Iron King starts off with a great likeness to Alice in Wonderland, which I don't think I would have minded much were it not for the talking cat. Subtle similarities would be fine, but at first it just seemed to be too much and started to annoy me. 
 Also in the beginning, the main character, Megan, was extremely weak and one of those girls that needed to be rescued time and time again. I don't mind a few times but this was constant. If it wasn't her best friend Robbie saving her, it was Grim or Ash. I kept thinking: "For crying out loud, girl, quit being such a baby and fight!" Luckily, toward the end she seemed to grow a backbone and some courage. I was happy to see her fight to protect herself and her friends. Also, in the beginning, I was afraid Meg was going to to out to be one of those "too stupid to live characters". No matter how many times she was warned to not go off on her own or make deals with faeries, she did anyway. Time and time again. To a reader, this kind of stupidity is just annoying. But, again, she seemed to grow toward the end. One other small thing that annoyed me: I don't think we ever got even the slightest description of what Meghan looked like. I spent the entire book without a clue what color hair she had... 
 Robbie/Robin/Puck is a fun character. I enjoyed his page time quite a bit. Unfortunately, he wasn't there for most of the novel, which was sad because he provided the much needed comedic relief. The banter he kept up with both Meghan and Ash was really entertaining. I hope he's in the later novels more. 
 Ash. Hmmm. I'm not quite sure what I think about Ash. I like him, I'm just not in love with him. I always enjoy the dark, handsome, broody boy, and he definitely has that going for him. I just don't like the insta-love that was thrust on us by the author. There really was no build up, so it rang very false to me. I really wish the author would have taken the time to warm these two to each other. Since this is a series, she didn't need to have them "in love" in the first book. The kissing was fine. Attraction is perfectly understandable. Even a crush is fine! But calling them "beloved" and having everyone know they're "in love" was too much and unbelievable. I *know* readers like to read about the love and writers like writing it (I'm a writer, so I *know*). But it has to be done right if you want the feelings to ring true. It just does. 
 I know it seems like I'm just picking out the bad things, but that doesn't mean I didn't like this, I did. The setting was highly inventive and the plot with the iron king was different and interesting. I'm looking forward to reading more, and maybe the things I didn't care for in the first book will get better over the course of the next three. 
 All in all, 3/5 stars for this one.