Shannon C.’s review of Storm Born (Dark Swan, Book 1) by Richelle Mead
Urban fantasy released by Zebra 1 Aug 08

I’m afraid that, if readers of this blog weren’t already familiar with the fact that I’m such a huge geek, this will convince them. Because I was excited to read Storm Born for two major reasons. The first is that I became aware of Richelle Mead on the forums for a perfume company that we both shop at. And the second was that reviews for this book hinted at the presence of a kitsune character. Call me weird, but I think fox-men can be sexy, and I was ready for a book with characters who don’t always take themselves seriously.

I wasn’t disappointed by this book. The premise is what Merry Gentry would have been if Laurell K. Hamilton had maybe not been smoking crack when she wrote it. Eugenie Markham, called “Odile Dark Swan,” is a kick-ass exterminator of things that pop in from the Otherworld — the land of the Faeries. After a rescue mission goes terribly awry, she comes to realize she must embrace her own birthright, all the while dealing with Gentry — what she calls Faeries in this book — who want to get her pregnant and see that a prophecy comes to fruition.

There’s a lot here that feels familiar, and that’s why I can’t quite say this is a keeper book for me. The faerie mythology has been used before, and the love triangle (which I still hate every time it pops up) rears its head here, too. But I like Eugenie. She’s charming, and she doesn’t really strike me as the “I kick ass and don’t need a man dammit!” archetypal bad-ass heroine. She’s fairly relate-able, even if she does a few things in the course of the story that irritated me. But I thought the journey she begins at the beginning was fascinating, and I am hooked enough now that I really do want to know what will happen to her.

I liked her two men, too. Kiyo, the kitsune, was intense and very sexy, but Dorian, a king in the Otherworld, is much more of a cypher and much more fascinating of a character. Honestly, I don’t prefer one of them over the other, so it’ll be great with me whoever Eugenie picks.

The storytelling here is intense, and I was drawn in immediately. The world Ms. Mead has created is a fascinating place, even if a few elements are ones I’ve seen before. The characters are people I want to read about, and this book definitely has convinced me to try out Ms. Mead’s backlist.

Grade: B+

Summary:

Just typical. No love life to speak of for months, then all at once, every creature in the Otherworld wants to get in your pants…

Eugenie Markham is a powerful shaman who does a brisk trade banishing spirits and fey who cross into the mortal world. Mercenary, yes, but a girl’s got to eat. Her most recent case, however, is enough to ruin her appetite. Hired to find a teenager who has been taken to the Otherworld, Eugenie comes face to face with a startling prophecy–one that uncovers dark secrets about her past and claims that Eugenie’s first-born will threaten the future of the world as she knows it.

Now Eugenie is a hot target for every ambitious demon and Otherworldy ne’er-do-well, and the ones who don’t want to knock her up want her dead. Eugenie handles a Glock as smoothly as she wields a wand, but she needs some formidable allies for a job like this. She finds them in Dorian, a seductive fairy king with a taste for bondage, and Kiyo, a gorgeous shape-shifter who redefines animal attraction. But with enemies growing bolder and time running out, Eugenie realizes that the greatest danger is yet to come, and it lies in the dark powers that are stirring to life within her…

Read an excerpt.