Review: Filling in the Gaps
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 21, 2011
**NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN INCLUDE SPOILERS**To be honest you could probably enjoy the Iron Fey Series and understand what's going on without ever reading this Novella, especially since some of the scenes within are recapped in the Iron Daughter.  However if you enjoyed reading Meghan's story, you wouldn't want to miss even one leg of it and you'll find the short novella worth your time.  If you don't have a kindle and therefore don't need the story in a kindle format Kagawa offers a free PDF download of the story on her website considering that, it would be just silly to miss part of Meghan's epic story even if you don't need that portion to understand what's going on.The importance of this story is mostly the dynamics between Meghan and Ash.  Even with his promise to his queen and the contract to bring Meghan to the Winter Court he allows her to sort of sever the ties with her old life, by first saying goodbye to her family and then despite the dangers saying goodbye to Puck who at this point still exists inside a tree healing from the bullet wound.  It's like he knows that being within the Winter Kingdom is going to be one of the hardest things she's ever had to do and he doesn't want her worrying about the people she left behind while she's there.  Seeing this and the fact that he chastises her for not leaving him to die and returning to the summer kingdom when she had the chance helps with your view on Ash's character when you see him later in the Winter Court during Iron Daughter.Without reading Winter's Passage you really want to hate Ash for his behavior at the beginning of Iron Daughter, but after having read this you can almost understand that the only way he can protect her within the Winter Kingdom is to treat her like crap and keep her at a distance.The dangers they face in the novella also give a lot to the character of Oberon, showing just how far he's willing to go to protect his daughter even if he hasn't really made her feel welcome or made any effort to get to know her.  Combining what you read in this novella with what you see in the Iron Daughter also shows how little the fae really communicate with each other or make an effort to understand each other.Being so short it doesn't give a ton of depth and does leave you wanting more to flesh out the story, however that's normally the case with a novella if you're used to reading longer fleshier novels.  It is however an enjoyable story that is worth reading.