Interview with Author Julie Kagawa

Filed in Interview , Julie Kagawa , The YA Lover Posted on July 7, 2010 @ 6:07 am 4 comments

We are really happy and excited to have Julie Kagawa here with us today, author of the Iron Fey series, which includes The Iron King, Winter’s Passage (read my review of it later today), and the upcoming The Iron Daughter. I was lucky enough to have already read The Iron Daughter which is going to be released July 27th, so most of the questions center around that…

The YA Lover: In The Iron Daughter, Meghan grows from what I can only call a meek, timid, shy girl willing to “go with the flow” to a strong ray of light, blinding and ever present in her resolve, love and determination; did you mirror her after anyone in your life or is she perhaps a melting pot of amazing qualities those around you possess?


JK: Meghan was actually the hardest character for me to write, as if was difficult to balance bravery and stubbornness with the fears and insecurities of a teenage girl. So often nowadays a “strong” female character often means snarky and obnoxious, and I didn’t want Meghan to be like that. She came from a melting pot of fictional heroines I admire: Buffy Summers, Yelena (Poison Study), Ziva Dahvid (NCIS), and others. And Meghan herself is still changing. She does have a few freak out moments in Faery, but she’s only sixteen, and still has plenty of room to grow.

The YA Lover: I have yet to read A Midsummer Night’s Dream, so I can’t compare The Iron Fey with it, however I do know that the trio, Meghan, Puck and Ash, were taken loosely from it. Has it been tough bordering the line from a story already told to one that’s dynamically your own? Keeping the integrity of the characters, yet leading them down different “rabbit holes,” as well as introducing little personality quirks of your own?


JK: Yes and no. It’s impossible to write a faery story with Oberon, Titania, and Puck without having it compared to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, even though the plot of AMND is completely different than Iron King’s. Oberon and Co. have been around long before Shakespeare; the Seelie and Unseelie Courts are not a new idea, and comparing every faery story to Midsummer is like comparing every vampire story to Dracula. There are similar elements in all stories about the fey, because they’re an integral part of fey society, ideas taken from legend and myth, not because it happens to be popular at the moment.
In The Iron King, I tried to keep the characters true to their legends. Puck has always been an incorrigible prankster, so he was fairly easy. As for Oberon and Titania, I wanted to keep them true to their fey nature, uncaring of human affairs and almost alien in their distantness. They’ve been around for a very long time, and the problems of the mortal world just don’t affect them all that much.

The YA Lover: The ending of The Iron Daughter, leaves us when Meghan makes a VERY large choice, one that I am sure changes things more than even she can guess. left me wondering, though I have a few idea’s, where The Iron Queen will lead us, is there anything you can tell us about book 3?


JK: In The Iron Queen, Meghan’s life gets even more complicated as she deals with the feelings of both Ash and Puck. Meanwhile, the war with the Iron Fey finally comes to a head and Meghan’s life, not to mention all of Faery, is changed forever.

The YA Lover: A few sillies –
If you could be any fictional character, whom would you be and why?



JK: Buffy Summers (for obvious reasons), or Yelena (because she gets to have Valek. Ahhh, Valek. *swoons*)

The YA Lover: What was the last book you read? Did you enjoy it?


JK: Other by Karen Kincy. It had a pooka heroine, and my favorite faery creature, a kitsune, who I fell in love with.

The YA Lover: What’s in your refrigerator right now?


JK: Lots of leftovers. Also some cheese that’s probably ready to get up and walk away. o.O

The YA Lover: Is there anything else you might like to share?


JK: Just thanks so much for the interview! J

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4 Comments

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  • tori aka ggs_closet July 7, 2010 at 9:52 am

    I am currently reading the Iron King and find myself unable to put it down. Wonderful interview. I really like the take Julie Kagawa has on the Fey and their manipulations.

  • Becky (Page Turners) July 7, 2010 at 8:54 pm

    I hear so many good reviews about these books that it was nice to hear what the author has to say. Great interview

  • JenM July 7, 2010 at 11:49 pm

    I'm another new fan of this series. I finally read The Iron King two weeks ago, then read Winter's Passage and now I can't wait for The Iron Daughter – I've got it on pre-order. Count me on Team Ash!

  • Book Crazy Jenn July 8, 2010 at 12:41 am

    Julie is such an authentic person, and her work speaks for itself I think! 🙂 Glad you all enjoyed the interview, I cant wait to see what you think of The Iron Daughter…OMG I loved it MORE than The Iron King, if that's possible! 😀

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