The Iron Fey is a YA fantasy series that started in 2010. Written by Julie Kagawa, this internationally acclaimed saga is a must read for lovers of faeries. With three independent series and a grand total of 10 books and 6 novellas, its reading order can be a little overwhelming if you’re new to this series! Fortunately, we have done the job for you and listed the order in which you can read it. Continue reading for the spoiler free plot of the entire Iron Fey saga.
The Iron Fey Volume#1
Iron Fey Volume#1 is the original series with four books and three novellas.
1. The Iron King

Meghan’s life isn’t what you can call ‘extraordinary’, what with her stepfather always forgetting her, her real father having vanished at a picnic, and girls at school teasing her. Not to mention the strange events that happen when she’s around. But since her sixteenth birthday, some strange turn of events makes things even worse.
Robbie, her best friend and a notorious prankster at school, reveals himself as the Puck from the Summer Court of Fey. His archnemesis, Ash, the youngest prince of the Winter Court starts following Meghan around. What’s more, her little brother Ethan is kidnapped by someone from the fey, leaving in his place a violent changeling.
Now Meghan must journey into the Nevernever, the dangerous lands of the fey, and rescue not only her brother but also learn secrets about her identity and her missing father.
In this remarkable debut of Julie Kagawa, enter into the fascinating lands of fey with dangerous princes, a powerful heroine, and devilish villains, where Kagawa asks readers one simple question: What happens when the deathly fey become immune to the only thing they are afraid of?
1.5. Winter’s Passage
A novella from Meghan’s POV about her time with Ash when they had to travel to Tir Na Nog, the Winter Court.
2. The Iron Daughter

Ash, prince of the Winter Court and Queen Mab’s favorite son, deserts Meghan amongst the cruelty of Tir Na Nog. Meghan Chase, who thought Ash loved her, is disheartened by his cold behavior. But this would shortly become her smallest worry. Because the eldest son of Queen Mab, Prince Sage is murdered with the blame thrown wrongly at Ash.
However, Meghan fiercely believes that the Iron Fey are responsible for the savage murder, but their presence isn’t believed by any of the fae.
With no option but to escape for their lives, Meghan and Ash leave Tir Na Nog and take shelter in the human world. Soon Puck joins them.
Still, with Meghan unable to use her Summer glamor and an unknown dangerous foe marching up the ranks of Iron Fey into the Nevernever, Meghan must defeat her enemies, dealing at the same time with her heartbreak; because Ash has made sure they’d never meet again.
3. The Iron Queen

The third book of The Iron Fey series begins with Meghan and Ash, now exiled forever from the Nevernever. Trapped in the human world, Meghan learns of the tragic incident that made her real father disappear in her childhood. Soon she decides to master the art of sword fighting, for she had the fate of all the fae resting on her shoulders.
Regardless, the exile seems to be short-lived. A delegation from the Summer and Winter Courts offers Meghan, Ash, and Puck a safe return to the Nevernever on one condition that might cost them nothing short of their lives: Meghan must help the courts win a war against the Iron fey.
3.5. Summer’s Crossing
A novella from Puck’s POV about his and Ash’s adventures. Puck is offered a one-time opportunity by King Oberon of the Summer Court to betray his former best friend, now an enemy, Ash, and win over Meghan’s affection. What would he choose?
4. The Iron Knight

The Iron Knight is a very touching encounter of Ash’s adventures, when bound by an oath to never enter the Iron realm, he becomes desperate. Forbidden by Meghan to ever put his foot in her kingdom, he seeks Grimalkin, the cait sithe, and pleads for a way out of his vow.
But fae are creatures bound to live upon their vows, forever. Intent on meeting with Meghan, Ash chooses a fate none of the fey have ever accomplished in getting- journeying to the end of the world, finding a soul, and becoming human. Only then would he be able to break his vow and join Meghan in the Iron Realm.
Originally planned to be a trilogy, the fourth and final book, The Iron Knight, is an emotional conclusion to Ash and Meghan’s story. Bonus points since it has Ash’s POV.
4.5. The Iron Prophecy
What you carry will either unite the courts, or it will destroy them.
A Novella featuring Meghan’s life after the events of The Iron Knight
Iron Fey: Call of The Forgotten (vol#2)
After The Iron Fey series was applauded internationally by fantasy lovers, Julie Kagawa worte another series ‘Call of The Forgotten‘. Taking place in the same realm as the original Iron Fey Series, it is a trilogy with one spin-off. Read the no-spoiler plots of its books below.
1. The Iron Prince

My name is Ethan Chase. And I may not live to see my eighteenth birthday.
Ethan Chase’s rule#1 is: Never look for the fey. That’s because his time in the Nevernever, kidnapped by the malicious fey, had been terrible. He also hates them because her sister fell in love with one of them, leaving her family behind. But then he’s suddenly attacked by the ‘Forgotten’, dangerous breed of faeries. Now Ethan will have to break his rule for good, journeying into the Nevernever and save someone he never thought to fall for.
2. The Iron Traitor

When your name is Ethan Chase, you can’t pursue a normal life. Despite his hatred of fey and their land ‘Nevernever’ he finds himself smack dab in it: and twice now. But no matter how desperate he is to spend his time in the human world ignoring the fey, fate has other plans.
When Ethan’s nephew Kierran suddenly goes missing one day, he must abandon his normal life and find Kierran; who may just do be on the brink of doing something incredulous in the name of love.
The Iron Traitor is the second book of Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten. It follows Ethan Chase’s misadventures as he tries, and fails, to live a normal life.
I was immediately drawn by the plot of Iron Fey Series. The story has a magical feel to it, and Kagawa has excelled at building the world of Iron Fey, which is amazingly new yet retaining the characteristic ‘cruel’ stroke of fey stories. Iron Fey’s plot is inspired heavily from Shakespeare’s ‘A Midnight Summer’s Dream’ and many other fantasy classics, still it’s story seems fresh due to the concept of ‘Iron Fey’ in it.
3. The Iron Warrior

The Iron Warrior begins like this: the veil that separates the human world and the Nevernever is temporarily torn. And Ethan’s nephew, Kierran, is responsible. Now the human world is thrown into chaos, the fear and glamor of the Fey creating havoc all over.
To make things even worse, one of the Fey, the Forgotten Queen, is raising an army to declare war against the Summer and Winter courts. Leading the army is the Iron Prince, Kierran himself, who has betrayed his own family.
Read this marvelous urban fantasy adventure, when Ethan will once again bear the burden of a falling world and fix it once and for all.
3.5. Shadow’s Legacy
Shadow’s Legacy is a prelude to The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten. This novella pictures the splendid wedding of Meghan’s brother, Ethan Chase.
However, Ethan’s blissful day reminds Kierran too much of someone he’d loved, and lost. And when he slips away from the festivities, he’s attacked by a foe. But disagreeable as the foe is, Kierran must keep their differences apart for once to keep an unexpected malicious creature at bay: One who is threatening to bring down the peacefulness of Nevernever.

The Iron Fey: Evenfall (vol#3)
Evenfall is the newest release in the Iron Fey series. Evenfall, a trilogy, is also set in the realm of The Iron Fey. There’s good news for fans that the third and last book ‘Iron Vow’ is set to be released in May, 2023.
While it’s not necessary to read the previous two volumes of Iron Fey (the original Iron Fey series and Call of the Forgotten), it will certainly enrich the experience of reading Evenfall. Which means you can read Evenfall independently of its prequels, or in the order we have mentioned.
1. The Iron Raven

Puck, a notorious prankster, fool and King Oberon’s right hand is bad news to anybody not his friend. But when he comes one-on-one with a threatening enemy that is ‘himself’, he begins a new and outlandish adventure. Allying with friends and enemies- both new and old, he will fight a shadow looming over the land of faeries.
The Iron Raven follows Puck’s POV for the first time in The Iron Fey series, with some of its events happening many years before he first met Meghan.
2. The Iron Sword

Ash, prince of the Winter Court, has done the unimaginabe, facing adversities no fey has ever faced. And for a reason as inferior to fey as love. He has traveled to the End of the World, solving riddles and facing challenges, all to earn a soul and become human.
Now, he faces a new problem. His son, Kierran, the Iron Prince has gone missing. His absence may have a sinister reason, because something more wicked than the courts of fey is uprising.
As Evenfall grows near, the dangers seem to be escalating in Nevernever. Another book told in Ash’s POV, this gripping adventure is sure to transport you among the magical lands of the fey.
3. The Iron Vow

Iron Vow will be the epic conclusion of Evenfall, and the whole Iron Fey Series. Readers’ hopes are up that Julie Kagawa will be featuring Meghan’s POV in The Iron Vow! Here’s a short synopsis released by Julie Kagawa on Iron Vow:
After leaping through the portal to Evenfall, Meghan and her companions find themselves in a terrifying new world where Nightmares roam and glamour is nearly nonexistent. As their magic wanes and the creatures of Evenfall rise against them, the race to find the Nightmare King grows ever more desperate. But what they discover– about Evenfall, about the Nightmare King, about themselves –will shake everything they thought they knew to the core.
The Nightmare King stirs. A world hangs in the balance. And as twilight descends upon all the realms of Faery, Meghan and her allies must make one more impossible choice.
My Take On The Iron Fey Series
If you love books about faeries, look no further because this intricate work of fantasy has it all– superb world-building, hellish wars between Fey courts, and gray characters, which you will definitely fall in love with.
The Plot
I was immediately drawn by the plot of Iron Fey Series. The story has a magical feel to it, and Kagawa has excelled at building the world of Iron Fey, which is amazingly new yet retaining the characteristic ‘cruel’ stroke of fey stories. Iron Fey’s plot is inspired heavily from Shakespeare’s ‘A Midnight Summer’s Dream‘ and many other fantasy classics, still it’s story seems fresh due to the concept of iron-resistant fey in it.
The Writing
Julie Kagawa’s writing doesn’t disappoint! Iron Fey is told in first-person narratives, mostly of Meghan, and the writing is elaborate enough to paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind. There are plenty of action scenes and those are described well too.
The Characters
Meghan
Meghan seems shallow and immature at the start of the series, but quickly switches into the role of a responsible sister when Ethan is kidnapped. Later on, she disguised her fear of Ash and the dangerous fey well enough. But her real growth arc appears in Book#3 when she had to face the war between the iron fey and the regular fey courts. That’s when I started to like her, a prudent and brave Meghan marching straight into the lands of her enemies and keeping nothing at bay, not even her life.
Ash
Ash was a marvelous sword-fighter but he had a shady personality in book#1. Fortunately for Ash, this didn’t stop me from liking him. Often regarded as the ‘cold’, ‘dark’ prince, sometimes he overstepped from his cold demeanor to become downright threatening– cautioning Meghan to stay away from him or else he would kill her– at which point Meghan’s yearning for him became annoying. His character seemed to be inspired by ‘Edward Cullen’ of the Twilight Saga.
Nevertheless, his emotional numbness was a by-product of his time spent among the cruel Fey of the Unseelie (Winter) Court, and he got a lot better by book 2. Regardless, he has become my favorite character in the series now!
Puck
Now the funniest character of The Iron Fey series, Puck! Puck, loyal friend of Ash and Meghan, went to great lengths to help them out, often ending up in the bad books of the other Fey. But did he care? No!
However, Puck too had a dark side which was featured in Evenfall (book#1). From the start of Iron Fey, I was curious about Puck’s fate. Since he was part of the love triangle of Ash and Meghan, I knew something heartbreaking would ultimately occur, but it didn’t stop me from guessing.
Aside from these characters, in Call of the Forgotten, Kierran was a totally messed up person and I desperately wanted him to make the right choices. I won’t reveal to you if he did make them or not due to spoiler concerns, but suffice it to say that he was a dynamic character, and I loved reading about him.
Among the sidekicks, I liked Grimalkin, the cait sith, and Iron Horse. If you’re planning on reading The Iron Fey, prepare to meet a great cast of characters!
However, The Iron Fey had some repetitive parts where the story was dragged for no reason. Those scenes weren’t really my cup of tea.
Content Triggers
The Iron Fey has mild violence but no curse words. Some explicit content is present but there’s nothing not present in the regular YA. The Iron Fey is recommended for ages 12 and up.
More Books Like The Iron Fey Series
If you loved Iron Fey and want to read more like this, worry not because there is more to this series! If you’re not satiated even after three series (we readers can never be satiated), you can read the following:
- Elfhame: Folk of the Air Series, by Holly Black
- Winternight trilogy, by Katherine Arden
- Secrets: Mysteries of the Sid by Maria M. Lacroix
- Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
- An Enchantment of Ravens, by Margaret Rogerson
Loved Iron fey? Share your experience of reading the enchanting series with us in the comments below!