Review: Ironside (Modern Tale of Faeries Series #3) by Holly Black

(this is the third in a series. beware of spoilers for the first book, Tithe)

in a sentence or so: Kaye decides to tell her mother the truth about who she is - a big green faerie. in the meantime Roiben, Kaye's kinda-sorta-boyfriend and king of the Unseelie Court, is faced with constant battle and trickery by the rival Seelie Court. let the drama of the mortal world and the faerie world unfold!

Kaye is excited, yet unsure, with Roiben's coronation as king of the Unseelie Court. it wasn't too long ago that she lost a friend to the darker creatures of the world, and now her boyfriend is going to rule over them all. to make matters worse, she gets a little too excited about the faerie wine and makes a declaration to him that has deeper implications that she is aware of.

meantime, in Ironside (the mortal world), Kaye and her trusted friend Corny get into more trouble than they know what to do with. Kaye decides to tell her mother that she isn't really her daughter, that she was switched at birth. of course, that does not go well. Corny and Kaye are then on a quest - alone - to switch back the real Kaye AND try to make good on her declaration to Roiben AND try to stay alive in the meantime.

overall, the book takes place over a few short days...but it took me a few weeks to read it. i'm not sure if it was some reader's block or if it was just lack of interest in the story - but either way, i wasn't crazy about this one. i really did enjoy Tithe, so i thought i'd enjoy this one too. it felt like more of the same, but not as great.

fave quote: "Kaye wondered if everyone felt like there was a monster underneath their skin." (264)

fix er up: this just fell flat for me. i didn't care as much about the characters this time around - too many in general which meant that they didn't feel as developed or real.

title: Ironside (Modern Tale of Faeries Series #3)
author: Holly Black
genre: Fantasy