Line #62 Literature/TheIronKing


1	[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Iron_King2_6824.jpg]]
2
3	''The Iron Fey'' is a series of YoungAdult novels by Creator/JulieKagawa, dealing with the misadventures of young Meghan Chase in Faeryland.
4
5	''The Iron King'' (not to be confused with the [[Series/IronKing tokusatsu show]]) is where our story starts. Meghan finds out that her father was not the insurance salesman she thought he was, but was instead Oberon, king of the Summer Court of the Fey. She also finds out that her best friend, Robbie Goodfell, is actually Robin Goodfellow, better known as Puck. She ventures to faery lands to rescue her brother, but finds herself caught up in the politics of the world, and is forced to fight against the iron court, a brand new court formed as human dreams begin to shift toward technology. Along the way, she meets Ash, the son of the Winter queen, whom she agrees to accompany in exchange for his help dealing with the iron court.
6
7	The next part of the series is the novella "Winter's Passage", which follows Ash and Meghan as he takes her to the winter court per their agreement, but along the way they are attacked by a creature sent by Oberon to "rescue" Meghan.
8
9	''The Iron Daughter'' opens with Meghan a prisoner of the Winter Court, where she dreams of the Iron King she killed at the end of The Iron King. She feels betrayed by Ash, who must pretend not to care while they are in the court. The two are forced to leave when one of Ash's brothers steals the Scepter of the Seasons, which he intends to give to the new Iron King in exchange for power. Ash, Meghan and Puck go after it, with the help of Ironhorse, who tells them that the new king is a fraud. The group retrieve the scepter, but Ash and Meghan are banished to the Mortal realm.
10
11	Book 3, ''The Iron Queen'', picks up where ''The Iron Daughter'' left off, as Meghan and Ash approach her human home. When they arrive, they find her home being attacked by iron fey under the orders of the false king. The two decide to flee to Leanansidhe, also called the Exile Queen, for shelter. Along the way, Glitch, a former lieutenant of the Iron King and current leader of the rebels against the false king, attempts to take them into custody for Meghan's protection, fearing that all would be lost if the false king captured her. While training to go after the false king, they discover that in addition to the Summer glamour she gained from her father, Meghan also has Iron glamour gained from killing the Iron King back in book 1. The three return to faery after Meghan and Ash's banishments are lifted, and Meghan takes her rightful place.
12
13	Another novella, focusing on Ash and Puck's adventures, follows Iron Queen, titled "Summer's Crossing".
14
15	The fourth book, ''The Iron Knight'', came out in November 2011. Said book should not be confused with ''Manga/IronKnight''
16	----
17	!!This series contains examples of:
18	* AfterActionHealingDrama: When Meghan frees [[spoiler:Ash]] from Virus's bug, after he's been badly wounded.
19	* AfterActionPatchup: After the wolf attack and after the escape from the Unseelie Court
20	* AlmostDeadGuy: Meghan's knight in ''The Iron Knight''
21	* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Rampant. This ''is'' Faeryland, after all.
22	* AFriendInNeed: Meghan to Grumley -- and vice versa.
23	* AnAesop: ''The Iron King's'' Aesop seems to be "Great adversity helps make people stronger." And...well, "Don't piss off the fairies."
24	* AnIcePerson: Ash, and other members of the Winter Court.
25	* {{Animorphism}}: Puck favors the form of a crow, though he can do other animal forms. A phouka can turn into any animal they want to be.
26	* AssholeVictim: A bitchy cheerleader makes fun of Meghan after a particularly vicious school prank. Puck [[BerserkButton loses it]] and turns her nose into a pig's snout. The trope is subverted, however, when Meghan meets the same girl again later, finds that she's matured quite a bit from enduring teasing about the pig snout, and actually feels a bit sorry for her (and angry at Puck).
27	* BerserkButton: Puck. Make fun of Meghan. [[ShmuckBait We dare you]]. Ash has a soft spot for Meghan as well, but he does his best to hide it [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies so that his evil family members won't kill her to get to him.]]
28	* BettyAndVeronica: Puck, Meghan's best friend and a mostly trusted servant of her father, is the Betty while Ash, the youngest son of the enemy court, serves as the Veronica.
29	* TheBigBadWolf
30	* BlackEyesOfEvil: Queen Mab, the Iron King Machina, and many AlwaysChaoticEvil faeries have this on a day-to-day basis. Even somewhat less evil characters, like Oberon and Titania, can get this when they're significantly angered.
31	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Any time Meghan, Ash, and Puck are travelling together, they make up this trope.
32	* BrokenMasquerade: Meghan finds out what's really going on within the first five chapters of book 1.
33	* CainAndAbel: ''The Iron Daughter'', Rowan fights Ash as he tries to rescue Meghan from the court. [[spoiler:Later, they learn that Rowan let the Iron Fey into the court, where they killed the oldest brother, Sage.]]
34	* CatsAreSnarkers: Grimalkin.
35	* CatsAreSuperior: Grimalkin certainly feels that this is true.
36	* ChangelingTale: The story really sets off when the Faeries kidnap Meghan's younger half-brother and replace him with a foul-mouthed monster brat.
37	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Of the "Unrequited Love" flavor. Puck has really fallen hard for Meghan, but, as of yet, Meghan seems to think of him as only her best friend.
38	* ColdIron: Faeries are very vulnerable to it.
39	* CommonalityConnection: When Angie drives Meghan home.
40	* CrushBlush: After a fraught moment with Ash, she thinks she must be the color of a fire engine.
41	* DancesAndBalls: Ash insists on having the dance when they meet at her father's court.
42	* DangerousSixteenthBirthday: The first novel opens the day before Meghan turns sixteen, and the plot really kicks off on her birthday.
43	* DeadGuyJunior: The catfish promises to name a grandchild after Puck if only he's let go.
44	* DefrostingIceQueen: Defrosting Ice Prince: Ash's CharacterDevelopment progresses this way.
45	* DisappearedDad: It's actually disappeared stepfather in Meghan's case. He was kidnapped by faeries around the time she was six.
46	* DoctorsOrders: The nurse gives them to Ash and Puck.
47	* DreamLand: Dream River: Ash and Puck, on their quest
48	* DuelToTheDeath: When Puck and Ash meet
49	* EnemyMine: With Ironhorse
50	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Meghan soon discovers that humans are playthings at best in the faery world. At worst, they are food. And the fact that she's half fey does not help ''at all.''
51	* EvilMatriarch: Both Faery Queens count.
52	* EvilRedhead: Well, Puck isn't ''exactly''...oh, wait. [[TheFairFolk He's Fey]]. Of course he's evil. [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Just not as evil as generally everyone else in the Nevernever]].
53	* ExactWords: Meghan uses this to escape her half of a contract.
54	* TheExile: Lots. Leanansidhe is their (self-appointed) queen).
55	* ExtraOreDinary: An ability held by some members of the Iron Court.
56	* TheFairFolk: Many of the fey shown in the series come off this way, even Puck and Ash.
57	* FieryRedhead: [[RunningGag Puck]].
58	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Titania and Mab.
59	* GreenThumb: The basic form taken by Summer Glamour.
60	* GuileHero: Par for the course in Puck's characterization, as anyone who's read ''A Midsummer's Night Dream'' will confirm.
61	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Meghan is blonde. She's also a little less naive and innocent than most heroines of this trope, but she's still described as a good-hearted, noble dreamer.
62	* HalfBreedDiscrimination: As the daughter of the Seelie king and a human mother, Meghan is despised by ''everyone,'' except Puck and ''usually'' Ash.
63	* HalfHumanHybrid: Human mother, Faery king father.
64	* HeroicBastard: Meghan.
65	* ICannotSelfTerminate: Under Virus's control.
66	* IcyBlueEyes: Ash's brother Rowan has these, as does Titania. They aren't nice people.
67	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each of the main books is "Iron Noun of Person":
68	** ''The Iron King''
69	** ''The Iron Daughter''
70	** ''The Iron Queen''
71	** ''The Iron Knight''
72	* IHaveAFamily: so pleads a catfish
73	* InnocentBlueEyes: Meghan's characterization generally favors this description of her eyes.
74	* InvisibleToAdults: Young children like Meghan's brother Ethan can see magical things. Generally they grow out of it, but artistic people like Meghan's mother sometimes retain some of this ability.
75	* InvisibleToNormals: Anything magical has this kind of power over grown humans. Even Meghan, who's only half normal, only noticed magical things out of the corner of her vision until she turned sixteen.
76	* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Or, in Ash's case, "It's not you, it's my evil [[TheFairFolk Fair Folk]] family members who will eat you alive just to annoy me."
77	* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Quintus is willing to go after Ash while he's prisoner.
78	* KnightInShiningArmor: The Iron King sends several after Ash and Meghan. They don't act up to standard.
79	* LadyAndKnight: In The Iron King, Ash swears a Knight's Oath to Meghan.
80	** It is implied that his relationship with Ariella may have incorporated a similar aspect.
81	* LandOfFaerie: Most of the story takes place in Faery, also called the Nevernever.
82	* LoveTriangle: There are three, so far.
83	** Ash and Meghan are in a relationship, but Puck has an unrequited crush on Meghan.
84	** Oberon and Meghan's mother cheated on their respective spouses to produce Meghan, but it only lasted for a one night stand.
85	* MagicallyBindingContract: To the point that one needs to be careful when saying "thank you" to anybody in the Nevernever, since those words basically mean "I owe you one." Faeries will take Meghan at her word for that, and try to call in the debt later. [[spoiler:Though the Iron Fey are not as big on this as the other types of fey]].
86	* {{Magitek}}: Used by some of the Iron Fey.
87	* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Oberon knew, but Meghan had believed her mother's husband was her father.
88	* {{Masquerade}}: One has been held around Meghan for her protection since she was an infant.
89	* MeaningfulName: The Leanansidhe calls all her captive men "Charles" -- or "man".
90	* MookFaceTurn: Meghan tries this on Tertius
91	* MoreHeroThanThou: Ash and Meghan dispute over her leaving him behind
92	* MysteriousPast: Meghan realizes that Puck and Ash have history when they fight.
93	* NoBodyLeftBehind: An interesting variation. When fey of any kind are killed, their bodies disappear and leave something else behind (be it a thornbush, needles, ice, branches, etc.). This, however, does not always happen instantly, the time it takes can vary.
94	* NotAGame: Puck tries this on Meghan to persuade her to go.
95	* OnlyAFleshWound: The nurse gives Puck no quarter on this.
96	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: In the battle, and in the River of Dreams
97	* OurFairiesAreDifferent: Besides the regular fey, [[spoiler:who, like all fey, are born of human dreams, there are the Iron Fey that gave the series its name, fey born of dreams of technology, science, and progress who are immune to iron]].
98	** The second series introduces a new category of fey: [[spoiler:The Forgotten, fey that have been forgotten (which would normally mean their death), but have managed to survive by using VampiricDraining to drain other fey of their glamour, killing them, and can even drain the glamour of half-fey, which, while not killing them, seems to have some negative effects (one effect that could be taken either way, depending on how the hybrid views it, is the loss of the ability to see fey)]].
99	%%* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Fey don't have them.
100	%%* ThePardon: Offered as a bribe, to escape exile.
101	%%* PlayingWithFire: An ability of some Summer Fey.
102	* PrecisionFStrike: Ethan drops one of these early in the first book, one of the [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior many signs]] that [[ChangelingTale he's not really Ethan]].
103	* PrettyButterflies: Puck assures Meghan she can have a dress of butterflies and diamonds.
104	* ThePromise: One way to draw up your Magically Binding Contract.
105	* TheQuest: Ash's , in ''The Iron Knight''
106	* RandomizedTransformation: Being in the wrong place at the wrong time can get a human turned into whichever animal strikes an angry faery's fancy. Titania even threatens to turn Meghan into a deer, and then unleash her hunting hound on her.
107	%%* RedheadInGreen: Yeah, Puck basically cleared out all of the red-head tropes. It's impressive, actually.
108	* RedOniBlueOni: Puck is the Red to Ash's Blue, just as pretty much all the Summer Fey are the Red to the Winter Fey's Blue.
109	%%* ReleasingFromThePromise: Is an insult to the fey.
110	* RewritingReality: Humanity's dreams alter Nevernever
111	* RousingSpeech: Meghan gives one to Glitch and the other resisting iron fey
112	%%* SacredHospitality: The Leanansidhe invokes this
113	%%* SculleryMaid: Titania makes Meghan this.
114	* SingleTear: Ash cries one as they escape from Virus and him.
115	* StepServant: Titania puts Meghan to work in the Seelie Court's kitchens to get back at her husband for cheating on her. It only lasts until Elysium, when Meghan's expected to look like a princess.
116	%%* SuccessionCrisis: To the throne of the Iron King
117	* ThemeNaming: Mab's three sons: Sage, Rowan, and Ash. This is also an example of FamilyThemeNaming and PlantThemeNaming.
118	* ThickerThanWater: Despite losing all memory of him, Meghan feels a strong obligation to help her "father" -- despite having learned that there is, in fact, no blood connection.
119	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: How Meghan learns that her brother has been replaced with a changeling.
120	* TrueSight: Meghan's is strong due to her father's identity, but up until the beginning of the first book it has been kept controlled by the fact that every year until her DangerousSixteenthBirthday, Robbie would dose her with Mistwine to suppress it.
121	* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Ash, Puck, and Meghan. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Grimalkin gets thrown in there too for a while]], but that does not change the team dynamics one bit.
122	* TheUsurper: The Iron King who took over from Machina, which is why Ironhouse resists
123	* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Puck uses this a lot, though he usually favors {{Animorphism}}.
124	* WeatherDissonance: While the Spectre is missing.
125	* WickedStepmother: Titania is this IN SPADES for Meghan. The girl was lucky not to be turned into a deer or something equally edible.
126	* WithAFriendAndAStranger: Meghan runs away from the Seelie court in the company of Puck, her childhood friend, and Ash, her currently unknown enemy who is only kept from killing her by virtue of a MagicallyBindingContract.
127	* AWizardDidIt: InUniverse example, every time Grimalkin does or says something unexplainable (apparently even for faery standards) his only answer is "I am a cat", Meghan even lampshades it once by [[ItMakesSenseInContext menacing to throw him out of the balcony]] if he answers her with that.
128	* WouldHitAGirl: Quintus; Ash taunts him with it.
129	* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: The power of the [[spoiler:Iron King]] goes by this.
130	* YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb: The nurse objects to young idiots who try to move about when wounded.

Context Literature / TheIronKing