Iron Kin by M. J. Scott – Book Review

Rating: 2/5

Genre: NA, Fantasy, Steampunk

First published: 2013

Author: M. J. Scott

Synopsis: Saskia lives in a city divided between the four races: humans, Blood, Beast and Fae. The treaty that keeps a fragile peace in the city is about to be re-negotiated. Saskia is human and a metalmage and her family expects her to live a safe life, befitting a noble human like her. But when Fen walks into her life along with an opportunity to do something for her City, Saskia jumps in regardless of what her family thinks. 

*This is the third book in the series. The first and second aren’t strictly necessary for understanding this one, but they are recommended. This review is spoiler free.

Book Depository | Goodreads

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The problem with this series is that it’s very repetitive. The overarching political plot is quite interesting and the reason I have read so far into the series and the reason I intend to finish it. But the individual plot of each book, is nearly identical. Especially the romance aspect of it. It’s like Scott used a stencil and just substituted the appropriate names in each novel.

The world and setting are pretty cool and, if not unique, definitely remarkable. It’s a mixture of medieval with steampunk and paranormal and fantasy. It’s an interesting combination and I really love the world and I’ve really enjoyed learning more about it throughout the series. The main plot is very political in nature and centers around the various power plays of the different species.

The first book, Shadow Kin, was my favourite in the series from every point of view. It had the best characters and the plot-line was new, so I didn’t roll my eyes as much, despite the insta-love. Which is a major element in all of them. But even the romance was the best in this one. Moving past the insta-love, or insta-super-attraction, I could really see it and I could see the characters growing together.

Iron Kin, was in my opinion, the worst in the series. The main character, Saskia was whiny and annoying and while I liked Fen, I didn’t feel like his potential was explored. At all. It also didn’t feel like much happened in this book besides the romance between Fen and Saskia. And it wasn’t even a good one. It wasn’t cute, it wasn’t sexy, I didn’t feel it at all. I didn’t like it. Everything that did happen, happened in the last third of the book and it sort of felt like the purpose of this book was to set up the events of the next one.

Still, I am curious what will happen next, as the ending of the book left a lot of questions. I didn’t really expect what happened to happen. I would say that overall, this series has a pretty interesting plot and setting, but as an individual book, Iron Kin wasn’t very good. I will still read the final book in the series, because I’m just curious what happens.

Have you read any of the books in the series? What were your thoughts?