Mo‘s guest review of Storm Born (Dark Swan, Book 1) by Richelle Mead
Urban fantasy released by Zebra 1 Aug 08

Eugenie, shaman and demon slayer, has always hated the Gentry (fairies). She was taught from a young age by her stepfather how to kill the Gentry, and she’s killed a lot of them by this point. When the story opens, she is exorcising a demon from a shoe. Seriously. The demon says some weird things and comes on to her, and she has no idea why he would want her sexually, or how he knew her true name.

When she meets a gorgeous man, Kiyo, at a bar, she takes him home and sleeps with him, only to be awakened by a demon in the bedroom, which she must fight off as it tries to assault her. Later she takes on the case of a man whose fifteen-year old sister is trapped in the Otherworld, and Eugenie must cross over to rescue the girl. In the meantime, she is continually fighting off hordes of demons intent on raping her because of an ancient prophesy.

She spends time in the Otherworld with one of the kings, Dorian. He helps to teach her how to control her budding powers so she can defend herself.. She also learns long-buried secrets about her life that she was never meant to find out about. Eugenie also must fight to save her life, because someone is out to assassinate her.

Storm Born was not necessarily bad, but it wasn’t great either. It was just average for me. I didn’t really care for Eugenie’s character and could not understand why she was so attached to Kiyo. I saw the “twists” coming from a mile away, and grew really tired of hearing about demons attempting to rape Eugenie. The world was interesting though, and I am somewhat curious about what will happen next, but I’m certainly not going to rush out to buy the book on its release date. In comparison to the Georgina Kincaid (succubus) series, Storm Born fails to deliver.

Grade: C

Click the here for Shannon C’s review.

Summary:
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Just typical. No love life to speak of for months, then all at once, every horny creature in the Otherworld wants to get in your pants.
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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.
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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.
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Read an excerpt.