Review: Storm Born by Richelle Mead

Storm Born (Dark Swan #1) by Richelle Mead
Publication Date: August 1, 2008
Publisher: Zebra
Number of Pages: 361
Format: Paperback
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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. . .
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...

I know a few fans of Richelle Mead didn't like this series, and while trying to persuade a friend to give the first book another shot, in almost reverse it made me want to re read the series.

Meet Eugenie Markham, shaman that goes by the name Odile. She's was raised by her mom and her step father, and was taught that everything Otherworldy is evil and to hate everything.  The book starts off with a scene with a haunted shoe. Yes a shoe. I knew right from the beginning I would fall in love with this series, we see the same humor we've come to love and expect in a Mead book. All of a sudden the Otherwordly creatures knows Eugenie identity and are trying to get into her pants. Odd, but Eugenie ignores it for moment. Then Eugenie meets Kiyo, whom she believe is human. But after one night together she realizes he's much more than that. It's not long until she realizes he's half kitsune, giving him the ability to shift into a fox.

When Eugenie takes on a job to find a 15 year old girl, who has been kidnapped by a fey King, she ventures into the Otherworld with her body for the first time. There she meets King Dorian, who tells her a story about the Storm King. It's not long till Eugenie uncovers that not only is really half fey, but she's the Storm King's daughter. And there's a prophecy that says her first born will continue where Storm King left off and conquer the human world.

I think this is the first book, where who I ended up shifting took me by surprised. I didn't trust Kiyo from the first moment. There was just something untrustworthy about him, and you could tell he was hiding things from Eugenie. I just wished that she gave Dorian more of a chance in this book. All of the characters are awesome. Especially Volusian, even though he does want to kill Eugenie.

A few awesome quotes:

 “Yeah? What'd you name all those cats?"

Death, Famine, Pestilence, War, and Mr. Whiskers."

You named your cats after the riders of the apocal--wait. Mr. Whiskers?"

Well, there are only four horsemen.”

 “Oh, God. I’m trapped in the fucking Chronicles of Narnia."
"I’m sure that would be an amusing reference, if I understood it.”

 “You used your power to toss one rock at me?" he exclaimed, an almost comic note of incredulity in his voice.
"On the contrary," I heard Dorian say pleasantly. "I didn't use magic for that. I just threw it.”

 “I looked around at us all: me in my nightgown, Kiyo bare-chested, Dorian in his extravagant robes, and Tim in his Native getup. God, I muttered, standing up, we all look like the village people.”

 “Is he having a party?" "Dorian is a sociable king. He likes keeping people around him, mostly so he can mock them.”

 “Hey, Volusian, you haven't been checking me out, have you?"

He gave me his trademark bland stare. "I assure you, mistress, the only allure your bare flesh has for me is to remind me how easy it will be to slice open."

I laughed. If not for the fact he was actually serious, he'd be so much fun.”

 Honestly, I don't see how any fan of Mead could not love this series. It is an adult series, but the subject of rape is brought home numerous times. I know I've seen reviews where they say rape isn't handled right in the book. It's the eye of the beholder. You have to remember this is a different world than ours. And what Eugenie does, she knows that rape is a big possibility for her.

Rating: 5/5