Thorn Queen (Dark Swan, Book 2) - Richelle Mead

Monday, April 12, 2010

Thorn Queen (Dark Swan, Book 2) - Richelle Mead

Blurb~
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...

Ok...Richelle Mead...LOVE THIS WOMAN!

In the latest Dark Swan book Eugiene is getting used to being the queen of her own land. Shes totally in between two worlds...not knowing where she fits is a big issue in this book. I love how Eugiene is totally alone yet not alone in her world. It makes for an interestingly deep read once you get past all the hubbub on the exterior! She needs to take care of her land and people yet everyone (but the tempting King Dorian that she once played in the sheets with) wants her to stay away!

Another this is her lover Kiyo is actually in the midst of having a child with his ex. How Eugiene deals with this at first is remarkable b/c I just dont know what I would do. And actually that gave me a problem in the book. I mean shes GREATLY understanding...even when he would stand her up. And that just bothers me...but in the same sense she knows and is trying and I feel that maybe RM was trying to show us a deeper hurt...and more of a numbness of the situation. REMEMBER she cant have his (or anyone else's kids) b/c she is supposed to have the child that will be like the downfall or something...bad...something bad ya thats it! lol

The first part of the book was a bit slow for me...I enjoy her growing into being a part of her world but the day to day life that was in the first half was a bit boring. Maybe thats why it took me so long to read it.

BUT this brings me to an interesting part...see girls are getting kidnapped from her world and shes made it a promise to find them and bring the kidnapper down! WELL she ends up getting taken as well...*SPOILER* and drugged and raped on a daily basis!!! Will she get away??? Who will get her out...herself...Dorian whos still after her heart...or her preoccupied lover Kiyo?

Above all this was a great little book...I think the faults and plus's kinda were evened out...was there too many faults to make me not wanna continue...HECK NO!!!! But it couldve been more polished!

PS- For the Dorian fans...*sigh you wont be disappointed!

Here is a Snippet of just why I love RM...shes so funny!

Snippet~
I’d never really been like other kids. I’d had some friends, but compared to theirs, my world had been terribly stark and terribly deadly. Their dramas and concerns had seemed so petty next to mine, and I could never fully relate. As an adult now, I still couldn’t really connect to kids because I had no shared experiences to draw on.

Which made my job today that much more difficult.

“Go ahead, Polly,” crooned the girl’s mother, smiling with over-plump lips. Too much collagen, I suspected. “Tell her about the ghost.”

Polly Hall was 13 but wore enough make-up to rival a 40-year old whore. She sat slouched against the back of a couch in her family’s perfectly decorated house, chewing gum loudly, looking everywhere but at us. The more I studied her, the more I decided she probably did have problems. I suspected they had less to do with supernatural influences and more with having a mother who had named her Polly and let her wear thongs. It was an unfortunate side effect of Polly’s low-cut jeans that I could see the aforementioned thong.

...

Monsters and gentry I tended to send back to the Otherworld, the limbo they lived in. A ghost like this needed to move on to the land of death. She disappeared.

Mrs. Hall and Polly stared at me. Suddenly, in her first show of emotion, the girl leapt up and glared at me.

“You just killed my best friend!”

I opened my mouth to respond and decided nothing I had to say would be adequate.

“Good heavens, what are you talking about?” exclaimed her mother.

Polly’s face twisted with anger, her eyes bright with tears. “Trixie. She was my best friend. We told each other everything.”

“Trixie?” Mrs. Hall and I asked in unison.

“I can’t believe you did that. She was so cool.” Polly’s voice turned a little wistful. “I just wish we could have gone shopping together, but she couldn’t leave the house. So I just had to bring her Vogue and Glamour.”

I turned to Mrs. Hall. “My original advice still stands. Therapy. Lots of it.”


I give this book a total of...