Winter's Passage by Julie Kagawa

Published June 1, 2010.

Meghan Chase used to be an ordinary girl...until she discovered that she is really a faery princess. After escaping from the clutches of the deadly Iron fey, Meghan must follow through on her promise to return to the equally dangerous Winter Court with her forbidden love, Prince Ash. But first, Meghan has one request: that they visit Puck-Meghan's best friend and servant of her father, King Oberon-who was gravely injured defending Meghan from the Iron Fey.

Yet Meghan and Ash's detour does not go unnoticed. They have caught the attention of an ancient, powerful hunter-a foe that even Ash may not be able to defeat....(from betgalley.com)

I haven't actually read The Iron King but I've heard good things about it. When Winter's Passage came available, I figured I'd give it a try and see what it was all about. I thought it'd give me enough of a glimpse into the overall story to judge whether I'd like to read the greater works that bookend this novella.

Well, I read it and I thought it was okay. I wasn't floored by it. I liked that it gave me some exposition at the beginning so I wasn't totally lost in the storyline. And I liked the voice. Meghan seems like a pretty cool literary chick I wouldn't mind following around to hear her story. And Ash was definitely an intriguing character. I don't know how I like the deviation of his Fey ways (meaning he can turn the cold personality on and off) and I felt it was a little self-serving. But then I think back on books like Merlin's Harp which stuck true to the faerie lore that faeries weren't emotional and how I didn't like that and couldn't connect with it. So after gnawing on my foot a little, I came to the conclusion that Ash was compelling and I wouldn't mind finding out more about him either.

Really the novella was just a teaser, as I'm sure that's what it was meant to be. I got just little inklings of the greater plot (why was Puck sleeping in a tree?) but I'm not sure the story itself moved me enough to read more. Maybe if my TBR pile wasn't about to eat me I'd pick up a copy of The Iron King but right now I'm going to have to leave it as "if I get to it." It's intriguing but not enough to move me to immediately read more. But I can definitely see the greater aspects that people are drawn to. From just the peeks I saw, I get it.

Maybe eventually I'll get around to reading the rest.