This was a 2.5 star for me. I had previously read The Immortal Rules by the same author, and enjoyed it, so I had high hopes for the Iron Fey series, though I knew it was written earlier. Unfortunately, the story reads very young, as does the writing. My tastes have likely been spoiled by Holly Black's deft and dark creations, but I found this story's development of plot, character, and relationships all lacking. The protagonist is constantly having things happen TO her, rather than her choices driving the plot, she is constantly needing to be saved, and frequently passing out (fading to black...) only to wake disoriented in the next chapter (this happened at least 4-5 times). Side characters and random, unimportant scenes would pop up, make little difference to the story, then disappear again. I found myself skimming through pages much more than I would like. And her relationship with Ash felt hard to believe, with little basis for their sudden feelings. I wanted to like this, but can't say that I did. It's possible the later books in the series get better, but I am not invested enough to find out. *However, I'm not opposed to trying Kagawa's more recent books.