Review: Thorn Queen by Richelle Mead (Dark Swan #2)

Publisher - Bantam Books
Publication Date - 13th August 2009
Paperback - 480 pages
Genre - Urban Fantasy

Source - Library

Rating - 4 out of 5: I really liked it!

Book Info - Eugenie Markham is a shaman for hire, paid to bind and banish creatures from the Otherworld. But after her last battle, she’s also become queen of the Thorn Land. It’s hardly an envious life, not with her kingdom in tatters, her love life in chaos, and Eugenie eager to avoid the prophecy about her firstborn destroying mankind. And now young girls are disappearing from the Otherworld, and no one - except Eugenie - seems willing to find out why.

Eugenie has spilled plenty of fey blood in her time, but this enemy is shrewd, subtle, and nursing a very personal grudge. And the men in her life aren’t making things any easier. Her boyfriend Kiyo is preoccupied with his pregnant ex, and sexy fey king Dorian always poses a dangerous distraction. With or without their help, Eugenie must venture deep into the Otherworld and trust in an unpredictable power she can barely control. Reluctant queen or not, Eugenie has sworn to do her duty - even if it means facing the darkest - and deadliest - side of her nature...

My Thoughts - Eugenie is coming to grips with being the Thorn Queen whilst also trying to maintain her life in the human world. Watching the struggle between her human side and her gentry side certainly made for interesting reading. She has been brought up as a human shaman who has been taught that all gentry was bad and it was her job to banish any gentry who tried to enter the human world. So it is understandable that she has trouble coming to terms with the fact that she is the daughter of one of the strongest gentry monarchs that ever lived and that she is now a gentry queen in her own right. The way that the author describes Eugenie's feelings means that you can really feel the fear, indecision and loneliness that her situation brings about.

I love Eugenie's character - I love her strength, compassion and loyalty. When she finally starts taking some responsibility for her people, the compassion and care that she shows for them really endeared her to me. But Eugenie is put through some absolutely horrifying things near the end of the book that I found difficult to read because of the author's descriptions of the events and Eugenie's emotions. But these events seem to change Eugenie and she loses a lot of the qualities that I love about her. Part of me is eager to read the next book in the series because of how the story ended, but another part of me is feeling nervous about it as I don't want to start disliking a character that I have come to love so much if she continues to develop in the way that she currently is.

The love triangle between Eugenie, Kiyo and Dorian continues in this story. When reading Storm Born I prefered Dorian over Kiyo and this is even more the case after reading Thorn Queen. Dorian completely understands Eugenie and loves her for the person that she is, while Kiyo is completely selfish and asks for a lot from Eugenie whilst he causes her nothing but trouble. At times I felt a lot of frustration at Eugenie for not seeinng Kiyo for what he really is.

Summary - I just love Richelle Mead's style of writing, from her descriptions of the Otherworld, the action and pace of the story to her descriptions of the emotions that Eugenie feels. She has managed to completely absorb me into this story from the very first page of Storm Born and I am really hoping that this will still be the case with the thrid book - Iron Crowned. This series is a must-read for any Urban Fantasy fan.

Other books in the series:
1. Storm Born
2. Thorn Queen
3. Iron Crowned

Other reviews of this book:
Bitten by Books / Book Chick City / Feeling Fictional / Vampire Book Club
(If you would like your review of Thorn Queen included here, please leave a link to your review in the comments and I will be sure to add it)