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Review: Storm Born by Richelle Mead (Dark Swan #1)

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Storm Born by Richelle Mead (Dark Swan #1)Storm Born (Dark Swan #1)
Richelle Mead
Published: 2008 (Zebra)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

I’ll come out the gate saying I love Eugenie Markham, the heroine of Richelle Mead’s Dark Swan series. This may be because I see lots of myself in her. It may be because I love strong female characters. Hell, it might be because she’s hails from the Grand Canyon State. Whatever the reason, I had a blast spending 350+ pages with her.

Eugenie is a shaman, but her style is more mercenary than sage healer. Hire her and she’ll boot the fae, spirits and otherworldly folk out of your place and back to their own plane (or the underworld if things get a little nasty). Her step-dad taught her the skills, but now she’s surpassed all others. She’s feared in the Otherworld. So, when more and more faeries (or gentry as she calls them) show up knowing her name — her real name — and making some pretty lewd propositions, Eugenie is a bit unnerved.

We won’t reveal the plot, because as this one unfolds Eugenie learns about her past, her destiny and has to face some deep-seated fears. Also, hot guys of suspicious nature abound. It’s a straight urban fantasy book, but the love drama will still get you tied up in knots. You’ll have a love/hate relationship with Eugenie’s decisions. With the guys’ choices. With, well, everything. And it will have you sprinting for the final pages.

It’s no secret Richelle Mead tops my favorite authors list. So elements of her writing that resonate with me tend to pop up in all her novels. Her descriptions are always precise, but detailed. She treads that fine line of making the scene lush without bogging us down in allegories, which is particularly impressive as the scenery in Storm Born is so very key. Once Eugenie enters the Otherworld — the land of the faeries — each realm is demarcated by a dynamic shift in the surroundings down to the season. It’s key to understanding their world, but she doesn’t let us get lost in the leaves, if you will.

Storm Born is dark, dangerous and emotionally complex. Expect lots of ass-kicking, awe-inspiring kissing and magic to overflow in this urban fantasy novel.

Sexual content: Wow kisses and sex scenes brimming with mental power struggles. Adults only.

7 Responses to “Review: Storm Born by Richelle Mead (Dark Swan #1)”

  1. sapphire says:

    I love this series!!! Great review!

  2. tori says:

    Great review. I’ve never read Rachael Mead. May have to change that.

  3. Mandy says:

    Great review! Eugenie is definitely one of my top heroines! This series is awesome!! Thanks!

  4. I’ve had this purchased and waiting for FAR too long. And after reading this review I really have to start this series up!

  5. Tee says:

    So I am really having a hard time finding “Adult” vampire/urban fantasy books..I am so glad I stumbled upon your site as well as you partners “My Bookish Ways”…that being said I am 100 pages or so from being done with Hard Bitten by Cloe Neill…I really am going to buy the series from Richelle Mead..I really hope it is worth it :)..Thanks

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