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Storm Born (Dark Swan #1)

by Richelle Mead (Goodreads Author)

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 15,229 ratings · 997 reviews

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 teena...more

Mass Market Paperback, 493 pages

Published August 14th 2008 by Bantam (first published August 1st 2008)

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Nov 14, 2011 Kat Kennedy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-that-deserve-painful-death, just-plain-bad, kat-s-book-reviews, kat-s-rants

Did you hear that sound? That sound, right there? Okay, well, it's either the sound of my heart forsaking Mead for all eternity, or there's a murderer whose broken into your house and is SNEAKING UP BEHIND YOU!!!!!

axe murderer

Look over your shoulder just to check that I'm wrong. You know you want to do it!

Storm Born, the tragic tale of a woman forced by cruel fate to be hit on by ALL the men. Yes. That's what this story is about. Okay, there are fairies and she has to recover some damsel in distress but bas...more

108 likes · like · see review

Jul 31, 2010 Catherine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Catherine by: Shannon Doerfler

Shelves: pick-it-for-me-challenge, contemporary, fae, fantasy-paranormal-sci-fi, magic-mystical-ability, read-2010, series, were-shifter

This was a pretty average first book in a series. It wasn't bad and it wasn't really good, it was just...there. The world building wasn't particularly developed, which was rather disappointing. Because I found Eugenie irritating and her love triangle boring, I was hoping for an intricate world to capture my attention. No such luck.

The beginning of this book seemed to crawl by. Maybe it just felt tedious as the author set up the story and world? I don't know, all I know is that it dragged until a...more

23 likes · like · see review

Aug 18, 2010 Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of female lead urban fantasy with a fair amount of sex

Shelves: urban-fantasy, uf-summer-challenge, owned-copy, part-of-a-series, asian-hero-or-heroine, latino-hero-or-love-interest, interracial-romance, faerie, djinn, shaman, the-lost-heir, love-triangle, kitsune, mythical-beasties, kickbutt-heroine, bdsm, ghost

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is one book that I have mixed feelings about. There were some aspects I really liked...and some, not so much.

I'll go into the negatives first:

Quite frankly, this book read like Eugenie's Adventures in Paranormal Dating to me. I am just not a fan of chick-lit, and that whole aspect was sort of a turn off to me. I felt that there was too much emphasis on Eugenie's sex/dating life, and her status as a highly sought-after sex partner, for whatever reason. That left me cold. In theory, it was in...more

30 likes · like · see review

Oct 14, 2009 Mel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dare I say I loved this more than the Georgina Kincaid series?
Well at least, compared to Succubus Heat, Storm Born is better written, more exciting and most of all: funnier.

Meet Eugenie Markham aka Odile Dark Swan, a powerful shaman who protects the human world from Fay, spirits and other Otherworldly creatures. Due to a series of unfortunate incidents, attacks for her life, a conspiracy and indecent proposals from just about every male Fay creature, Eugenie finds out some pretty interesting t...more

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Mar 11, 2010 Tatiana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of S&M/bondage kind of smut

Shelves: 2009, series-dropped-lost-steam, urban-fantasy

I love Mead's Vampire Academy series, like Succubus books as well; naturally I expected to enjoy Storm Born too. Unfortunately, I was wrong. In fact, I couldn't believe how bad it was. Did Richelle actually write this?

First of all, the plot itself was very weak. There was no point to the story, no climax, just a few things thrown together with no purpose. Events seemed to have been made up just to fill in the space between the sex scenes. Characters were unrelatable, unlikable, acted irrationall...more

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Mar 14, 2011 FlibBityFLooB rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2010, love-triangle, witty-i-am-not, fae-or-elves, shifters, magic, loved-the-audiobook-narration, read-more-than-once, read-in-2011, ghosts, husband-disliked-book, urban-fantasy-or-paranormal

I knew it was going to be a different sort of book when the first couple pages talked about a haunted shoe. I can’t say that I have ever read a book with haunted clothing before. One of the things I appreciate in the over-crowded world of urban fantasy is when an author makes an attempt to build a world with interesting and unique creatures. If the only thing you read about is vampires, that can be very boring. I liked Richelle Mead’s world building in this book with elementals, water spirits, g...more I knew it was going to be a different sort of book when the first couple pages talked about a haunted shoe. I can’t say that I have ever read a book with haunted clothing before. One of the things I appreciate in the over-crowded world of urban fantasy is when an author makes an attempt to build a world with interesting and unique creatures. If the only thing you read about is vampires, that can be very boring. I liked Richelle Mead’s world building in this book with elementals, water spirits, gentry, creatures that cause immense depression, “pet” foxes, etc. Good stuff.

The charming character of Dorian was definitely an enigma. I loved how he both preyed on the heroine, Eugenie, and yet also tenderly cared for her. I appreciated that he had wisdom that some of the other characters, including Kiyo, didn’t seem to show. I think he was a very calculating character, thinking through things carefully with his brain instead of merely with his pants. I found it a little puzzling that Dorian was described to have both infinite patience and be subject to extreme bouts of boredom within a few pages of each other.

I suppose a lot of Dorian’s appeal to me also rested in the fish-out-of-water plotlines he provided. I loved him chewing on a milky way while drinking wine, poking at the plastic slinky because he didn’t know what it was, and being obsessed with credit cards. I loved him wanting Eugenie to take him to bars: “Take me to one of those places where human women wear revealing clothing and quickly lose their virtue through alcohol.”

Dorian really did have some of the best lines in the book. When asked about whether her magic had progressed enough, I loved his sarcastic reply to Eugenie: “You found the water. Now, you have to do something with it. Your enemies won’t be impressed when you inform them there’s a lake just over the hill.” While reading, I thought that Eugenie’s ability to sense water would certainly come in handy in the desert if she lost her camel, but I wasn’t sure what else it would be good for. Does Eugenie even have a camel? Hmmm… Another favorite line of mine, when Dorian was painting one of his armored warriors and was questioned why he painted a bow on the warrior: “It matches the chaise. I had to add it, otherwise you would have clashed.”

I became disenchanted with the character of Kiyo as the book progressed. Originally, when his character was introduced, I was very attracted to the idea of him. However, as the author revealed more about his character and his past, he lost a lot of his glamour. I don’t dislike Kiyo, though, and I do think that having him around will keep intrigue with the love triangle in future books.

******* slightly spoilerish below *******

I particularly enjoyed the submission banter and game between Dorian and Eugenie. Power was an underlying theme throughout their relationship and I thrived on it. Eugenie summed it up well by saying he was an enemy she had come to crave. Very interesting indeed. I loved how Dorian wouldn’t let Eugenie have her way in the end and made her tell him exactly what she wanted. The fact that Eugenie had to say PLEASE was very exhausting as a reader, yet very satisfying in the end. :) :) :) I am dying to know when Eugenie will bother to share her Dorian-sexcapades with Kiyo.

The most frustrating part of the entire novel for me was waiting for Eugenie to call the water to put out the fire surrounding Dorian. I wanted to grind my teeth waiting for her to actually use her noggin to realize she could use her magic to fix the situation. There was a lot of relief in her pulling the water out of her foe fairy king. *whew*

True, I will concede that the overall plot to this particular entry wasn’t *that* unique to other urban fantasy I’ve read (outcast female heir who doesn’t quite fit the fae world and everybody wants to bed or impregnate… Meredith Gentry… Mona Lisa… Fever series… etc.), but I really did like the book none-the-less because it was still able to remain its own entity apart from the others.(less)

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Aug 10, 2008 Julie (jjmachshev) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008-reads

Fascinating! I couldn't put "Storm Born" by Richelle Mead down! I read her 'succubus' series, but this is so much more. More fantasy, more characters, more worlds, and WAY hot fae, humans, and shifters (kitsune).

Eugenie, Odile, Dark Swan...she's all these, and now she's about to find out that she's also so much more she never knew. Eugenie is a powerful shaman who banishes spirits and fey out of the mortal world into either hell or back to their world, depending on their crime. She's never actua...more

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Dec 25, 2012 Book Chick City rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-list-2009, urban-fantasy

This is the first in the new Dark Swan series by Richelle Mead, author of the incredibly successful Vampire Academy and Succubus novels.

Eugenie Markham (aka Odile) is a head-strong and independent character who is instantly likable. The opening few pages quickly sucked me into Eugenie's life as a Shaman with humour and combat as she fights to banish a spirit from a haunted running shoe! This book is full of action and for the most part the plot is fast-paced and when one fight ends another one...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Regina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: available-at-library, urban-fantasy-uf, first-in-series, bingo-r4, audio-also-listened-to, listened-to-audio-only

This is a decent start to a series. Solid world building and interesting charcters are introduced. It is a very sexy book - shockingly sexy almost. But for me, something kept it from being great. I did not connect with the heroine and I almost didn't care what happened. I enjoyed her interactions with Kiyo and Dorian and then her interactions with her imprisoned spirits, those were the highlights for me. I listened to the audio and the narration is decent.

I may just be all Meaded out as I just f...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Lucy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ghosts, fairy-tale, fantasy, how-did-this-get-published, paranormal, romance, wasn-t-for-me, vomit-in-a-hat

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I thought about whether this was one or two stars while I was reading the last forty pages. I already knew we'd sailed right on by three stars. Even though I enjoyed Mead's YA series this book was ultimately not for me. First and foremost, I am not a big fan of fairies. Authors usually try to make these ancient myths their own and inevitably fuck it up. Mead's no exception here. It might have been passable, but the world building was half-assed. I don't think Mead really knew the rules she was t...more I thought about whether this was one or two stars while I was reading the last forty pages. I already knew we'd sailed right on by three stars. Even though I enjoyed Mead's YA series this book was ultimately not for me. First and foremost, I am not a big fan of fairies. Authors usually try to make these ancient myths their own and inevitably fuck it up. Mead's no exception here. It might have been passable, but the world building was half-assed. I don't think Mead really knew the rules she was trying to set up. I still don't get why spirits and Greek gods were involved with the fairy stuff. It makes me think that the novel started off as either a ghost-hunter novel or a fairy-whatever novel and she merged one idea with another when the world building didn't leave enough conflict for a real story.

The characters aren't particularly well-developed, especially the love interests. Kiyo is incredibly generic. He's like every shape-shifting alpha-male character in every paranormal romance ever. The things that might have made him more unique or interesting were glossed over in favor of him fighting to the death to protect Eugenie. Blah blah crap cliches and cheap insta-love galore. He gets very few actual conversations between him and Eugenie -- mostly their interactions are just summaries. I would've liked to know more about his other relationship, why he ended it and how he felt about fathering a child by someone he wasn't with. Even his human existence as a vet was more interesting than the pile of crap cliches we got.

Dorian was more of the same. Wish fulfillment over substance. Powerful king interested in Eugenie despite her lack of social skills and missing personality. His motivations and desires are tossed aside for his love of this woman he barely knows. Blah, I hope he's lying or it's just so boring.

I didn't think the romance in Mead's YA series was well developed and this book is more of the same. She seems to think it suffices to say someone's in love rather than have an emotional connection develop. It doesn't work. There's obviously something missing.

The stuff that really made this not for me though was all the rape as plot. A huge portion of the plot is driven by every fairy with a dick's desire to knock Eugenie up, willingly or unwillingly. On top of that, Eugenie never really deals with the fact that she's pretty much decided children are totally off the table for her or examines her now split loyalty between the worlds with any depth. Everything that could've been substantial was tossed aside for some bondage. Eugenie spends half the book fighting off rapists and then in this weird and truly creepy sex scene she basically requests it. It wasn't a fun little foray into the world of bondage, at least not with how mixed her feelings were about sleeping with the man in question. Part of her mind kept rejecting the idea of him, but she was still interested in the sex so she suggested he tie her up so that pesky side of her brain and personality would have less of a say. Umm what? Ew.

Reading about multiple rape attempts and psychological confusion between rape and bondage was a stressful and annoying thing. Dominate-submissive sex can be fun, but Eugenie's conflict over it made it skeevy. Since I can't twist my brain to find Eugenie's tactics acceptable, I'll say it from the guy's point of view. I would never want to have sex with someone who needed to be tied up because they were otherwise too repulsed by me to have sex. She was perfectly capable of consensual sex with another man earlier in the book, but to overcome her discomfort with the second guy she needed part of her free will taken away. Sorry, not romantic, not sexy. Bondage is fine by me, hell, all sex games are fine by me as long as it takes places between two completely consenting adults. 75% consensual is 25% Lucy throws up in a hat. Domination is different from rape. Overall this book does people who are into bondage a disservice by lacing it up with a weird mental rape.

There were a lot of interesting things that could've been explored. The validity of the prophecy that led to all the drama, Eugenie sacrificing the possibility of children, her relationship with her parents or her exploration of her real heritage. Instead every inch of the plot went back to sex, nonconsensual, somewhat consensual, completely consensual. Listen, there's no such thing as somewhat consensual sex. You either want to or you don't. I felt skeeved that the characters thought there were shades of gray and horrified that another woman was suggesting the line was blurry. It. Is. Not. Blurry.

The rest of the plot was even more cliche. The I-have-a-secret-fairy-parent thing has been done to death. Shoot it and put it out of its misery. One star, no interest in continuing the series unless I've lost some kind of bet and it's between book two and shaving my hair.(less)

14 likes · like · see review

Jun 24, 2009 Heather rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, urban-fantasy, loathed

Good God this book was horrid!

Having read and liked Mead’s Vampire Academy and Succubus series, I find this one to be shockingly bad. I had to force myself to finish it.

The main character/narrator is personality-less. She could have died and I wouldn't have known the difference (which is saying something, as this is a first person narration) or cared for that matter. Furthermore, Eugine's world is severly underdeveloped and lacks intrigue. Wait, I take that back, if I was interesting is BSDM wit...more

8 likes · like · see review

Apr 05, 2011 jD rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1_library-yes, series_paranormal, series_fae_mythology, fantasy_urban, 2011-read

This is my first Richelle Mead book. It had been on my TBR pile for some time. I flagged it because of the fae element and hoped the rest would pull me in. Well, the story was many things before all was said and done.

Eugenie Markham, our heroine, is a powerful shaman who provides ghost busting type servies to those suffering with a wide variety of supernatural infestations. She is the first shaman I have read and liked. Most were wreckless or stupid. While working on several cases, she realizes...more This is my first Richelle Mead book. It had been on my TBR pile for some time. I flagged it because of the fae element and hoped the rest would pull me in. Well, the story was many things before all was said and done.

Eugenie Markham, our heroine, is a powerful shaman who provides ghost busting type servies to those suffering with a wide variety of supernatural infestations. She is the first shaman I have read and liked. Most were wreckless or stupid. While working on several cases, she realizes that these supernatural beings know her true name. This is a new development, it's unacceptable and dangerous. As usual, Eugenie has secrets that redefine who she thinks she is plus a nasty prophecy thrown in for good measure. She is on the run from everything that can cross over into her world. Some want her dead while most want to father a child with her with the belief it will rule the world. Yeah, right.

What's a heroine without a hero or two? Let's go with two. There is fox shifter Kiyo whom she meets first and falls in love with. I don't get the love part of that relationship but I accept it because it's where the author wants to go. Then we have Dorian, a fae king, that comes into the story as an 'friend' she doesn't want or trust. This is where the story takes me in a direction I did not like at all. Although Eugenie is not a whore-ish type, she is attracted to two men and has sex with them, separately of course. Not knowing Ms. Mead's ultimate agenda for Eugenie, I could see how this could turn into an Anita Blake or Meredith Gentry (Laurell K. Hamilton's characters)type situation. That would be a waste of a great character but it would not be the first time. I can only hope that does not happen.

The biggest pluses for this book were the humor, interesting characters, and pacing. It's all well done and fits together. It entertains. I believe I will continue the series at some point in the future if the shifter dies or is taken out of the mix.(less)

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Nov 18, 2012 Zemira Warner rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, faeries, ghosts, paranormal-romance, urban-fantasy, ahhh-my-eyes, bound-to-inflict-a-migrane, disappointed, glad-its-over, stupid-characters, triangle-of-bermuda

Eehhh. What a mess!

Here is the list of unnecessary things in this book(in no particular order):

1. Hot main character who I don't think is hot
2. Every man/faerie wants to shag her
3. Love triangle
4. Having sex with two different guys on every 70-100 pages
5. Idiotic main character
6. Having almost rape scenes at least 4 times

and so on. As you can see,my two biggest concerns were with Eugenie and her wild sex life. She jumps from Kiyo to Dorian all the freaking time. And of course everyone wants a p...more

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Dec 02, 2011 Stacia ~ Mistress of Mediocrity rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult

***Series re-read with friends in preparation for final book release - December 2011***
Original review score : 3.5 stars. I think I'll be keeping this rating.

Notes upon second read :

After having my opinions muddled by reading all 3 books and finding myself with conflicting feelings regarding all of the characters in the series, it was nice to go back to the start and relive some of the original love that I felt for Kiyo before everything started to go downhill. I found myself trying to decipher...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Angie (Mind Malfunction) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. First Read: April 7-8, 2011 / Second Read: January 14, 2011
Storm Born is book one in the Dark Swan Series by Richelle Mead. The mortal and otherworld are excellently described. The characters have depth and are delicious. There are hilarious one liners and the character of Eugenie is a great combination of hilarity, passion, and strength. I loved, loved, loved, this book. The Dark Swan Series is about Eugenie Markham; her past, her present, and what could become her future.

Eugenie grew up in Pho...more

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Jan 31, 2011 Fani rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: used-borrowed, urban-fantasy, love-triangle, heroine-i-disliked, hero-i-disliked, heroine-i-wanna-shake-or-slap, heroes-hall-of-shame

2.5 stars

I can't write a review about this but here are my thoughts:

Pros:
1. I liked the worlds Mead built in this one. Complex and simple at the same time and very intriguing.
2. It was fast paced, full of action and easy to read.
3. There was a love triangle, something I like lately.
4. There was a lot of chemistry and passion between the heroine and one of her potential love interests and I really liked them together although most readers disagree with me.
5. The second hero although bland at the...more 2.5 stars

I can't write a review about this but here are my thoughts:

Pros:
1. I liked the worlds Mead built in this one. Complex and simple at the same time and very intriguing.
2. It was fast paced, full of action and easy to read.
3. There was a love triangle, something I like lately.
4. There was a lot of chemistry and passion between the heroine and one of her potential love interests and I really liked them together although most readers disagree with me.
5. The second hero although bland at the beginning, seemed to become more and more interesting as the story progressed. By the end of the book, he definitely -and irrevocably I'm afraid- became my favorite.
6. The twists in the end of the book me completely by surprise and made me wonder if reading the second book is not such a bad idea after all.

Cons:
1. I didn't like the heroine. In fact, I hated her for half of the book. She was impetuous, ornery, prejudiced and believed that fighting is the solution to all and any problems. She calls that bravery; I call that stupidity. On the up side, she got rid of some of those characteristics in the second half.
2. Though there was chemistry between her and one of her suitors, the author decided to throw him a curveball from which I doubt he (or I) can recover. Unfortunately, the heroine seems to be set on this guy besides the huge problem still hanging between them.
3. On the other hand, the alternative does not seem good either; IMHO, there was very little chemistry between her and the second guy. This is a 'between the hammer and the anvil' situation and I can only hope Mead tackles it differently in the second book.
4. The fighting system is very complicated. Wands, hand-combat technics, guns, swords, athame, magic incantations and elemental magic, all are used simultaneously by the heroine during battles and make it hard for the reader to follow.
5. The first 200 pages are one prolonged prologue. There were tons of fights as the heroine battles with someone daily, but the story just doesn't move forward at all. It was only after the heroine learned of the prophecy and her role in it that the pace and plot picked up.

Had not all readers tried to convince me that the second book is much much better than this one, the series would have ended here for me. As things stand, I still might give the second book a chance in the future but not with any enthusiasm.
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Jan 01, 2011 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: richelle-mead, 2011-reads

Concept: “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 o ruin her appetite. Hired to find a teenager who has been taken to the Otherworld, Eugenie come 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...more Concept: “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 o ruin her appetite. Hired to find a teenager who has been taken to the Otherworld, Eugenie come 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 Otherworldly 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…”

Review: Richelle Mead is the author of one of my favorite series, The Vampire Academy. The main problem (and maybe the ONLY problem) I had with that series was just not enough romance for me. Well she certainly fixed that here. I’m starting out this review by saying, hold on to your hats girls! because there is some hot luvin’ ahead. Okay, perhaps not BDB hot, or Demonica hot, but I really thought this book smoked. Another correlation to VA was the main character Eugenie to VA’s Rose: they are both strong, thinking women as well as having a striking resemblance to me. ::winking::

So we start out the story learning about Eugenie’s determination to do her job and send all those wayward spirits onto their appropriate worlds. Sort of like a softer Anita Blake. One night at a bar, she hooks up with a delicious and of course, mysterious man (the pick-up conversation dialogue was mucho calliente as well as intelligent). She is hired to locate a wayward teenager who is supposedly being held against her will by a fairy king and is probably being raped and abused (as was Eugenie’s mother and in fact, Eugenie herself was a result of the rape her mother endured). With mysterious man’s help, and the help a few spirit guide/friends, she is introduced into um, shall we call it “fairy world?” One of the characters she meets, another fairy king (a good king, not the bad-raping king), helps her learn magic that Eugenie discovers she has and helps her come to terms with a parenting revelation that Eugenie learns as well. Mysterious man turns out to be part of the fairy world in the role of a shape-shifter. He helps Eugenie along the way as well. Part of the parenting revelation that Eugenie discovers has a prophecy built into it and has every male fairy in fairy world wanting to boff Eugenie into pregnancy because having a child with Eugenie would mean major job perks for the poppa to be. So there’s a few aspects to the story going down. Oh wait, I have to mention that inbetween all this, various supernatural creatures are attempting to either rape (for reasons I explained above) or even kill poor Eugenie. She definitely has her hands full.

What I liked: I loved the sense of humor. I found myself chuckling several times throughout the book. I loved the characters (Tim, Eugenie’s roommate and her spirit guides especially), I loved the sexy, sexy banter between Eugenie and Dorian and Eugenie and Kiyo, oh such hot stuff! I loved the setting (Arizona). I loved the story line-mystery involved.

What I disliked: At the end, there was a scene where Eugenie travels over to the “death” world to try and save Kiyo. She has a scene with her father and some other characters (I don’t want to give anything away here) that I found kind of weird. Like I needed to be smoking peyote or something to get it. It was a little strange for me. But, it was only a few pages of the story and I loved so much of everything else, that I’m forgiving it.

If you are a paranormal romance lover, you will love this, the first book in the Dark Swan series. If you really love Vampire Academy, you will love this book. If you love Anita Blake but wished she were a little softer, you will love this book. If you are a stickler for realism, run far away. If romance and escapism are what you are looking for, well then, stop here and crack open a spine.
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Feb 03, 2011 Suz rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

I thought this was kind of slow starting. It was obvious that she was setting up the lore for a series, although the book is self contained. It didn't truly begin to get interesting to me until the last third or so of the book. Predictably, it made me want to pick up the next book right away.

The world building is quite good, as is typical of Richelle Mead. The lore and background stories of the characters is engaging.

However, also typical of Richelle Mead, I find that her heroine is unwittingly...more

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Mar 24, 2011 MISS VAIN rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to MISS VAIN by: Cat Russell (Addicted2Heroines)

Shelves: richelle-mead, series-that-i-m-obsessed-with

This series is very different from Richelle Mead's usually series but very good! The heroine is Eugenie Markham a powerful shaman who banishes spirits, who cross into the mortal world. She's extrememly prejudiced in this books in favor of her own race but along the way she learns more about herself and her character grows in this first book of the series.
Ok so there is a love triangle in this book. who doesn't love those? Its between a hot shapeshifter and super hot fey king. The shapeshifter i...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Stephanie Judice rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After reading this book a second time, I'd like to amend my original review. This is an excellent romantic paranormal. I use the term "romantic" loosely as it's more sexual than romantic. However, Eugenie is a very cool, bad-ass heroine with genuine flaws, which makes her relatable to the reader.

While the world-building and characters lure the reader in, I found some of the plot aspects not-so-believable. *SPOILER* For example, the fact that Kiyo is in love with Eugenie and vice-versa. I just do...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Judithe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2011, uf, pn-various-supes, pn-ghosts, pn-fae, pn-shifter, first-in-series, wrote-review, e-book, e-book-kindle

Eugenie Markham is a shaman and a mercenary, but that's not all she is. In the first of the Dark Swan series, she finds out more about her origins and begins a journey to fulfill, or not, her destiny. Kiyo Marquez, a kitsune (fox) shifter, and Dorian, a fae king, play pivotal rolls in her adventures.

I enjoyed her sass and the fast paced story. However, (view spoiler)...more

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Jan 17, 2011 d.blue rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First I want to voice that I do not like the progression of the rating system. 4 stars "really liked", 5 stars should be "Loved it" "It was amazing" is reserved for very few books - in my opinion. I am not saying that there are not amazing books out there but the sentiment is too gushy for me.

OK that said - I loved this book. I had not read this series because I had issues with the Succubus series. This book has enough humor to work through the darker points. I enjoyed the world building and the...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Kimberly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, 2011, bingo-2011

I really liked this and I'm not sure I can say precisely why I did.
It could be that I read this immediately after Vampire Academy and I had a hard time getting through that book? Possibly.
A lot happened to keep me going to the end where I didn't feel like I was bored with the storyline. I never catch on to the aspect of love triangles. I liked both Kiyo and Dorian and could have cared less who she chose. I just knew there would be ramifications of choosing one over the other and she would have...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Jenn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

It took me awhile to get into the story but once I was in, I couldn't put it down for long.

I'm usually a sucker for the hero and if there are two, I'm always picking a favourite. This time I'm not too sure either one are up to any good. Although Dorian the ~~bondage~~ Oak King is quite sexy and that one scene melted my pedicure. Let's face it, I think any book with a hot sexy bondage scene is going to rock.

Eugenie Markham is my kind of heroine. She really is. She has no idea what she's doing but she...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, contemporary-fantasy, faeries, fantasy, low-fantasy, magic, read-in-2013, romance, sexy-times

This book didn't take long to get right into the sex, and thereafter you basically find out it's about sex sex rapity rape pregnancy. It reminded me a little bit of the Meredith Gentry series by Laurel K Hamilton, except that Merry likes to bang all those people that want to bang her and enjoys doing it as it is her nature. I also get the feeling that with the magic power, this series is going to have a lot more addiction stuff along with all those people wanting to bang and rape and impregnate...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Sinn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've wanted to read the Georgia Kincaid series for awhile; however, this book ended up in my hands first. Having no experience with Mead before this, I cannot compare Storm Born to the other series. A lot of reviews online say that something was lost between the Kincaid series and this one. Unfortunately, I cannot address that. That being said, I did enjoy this book.

Even though the plot was an old tried-and-true storyline, I felt that Mead was able to give it her own voice. The land of the Other...more I've wanted to read the Georgia Kincaid series for awhile; however, this book ended up in my hands first. Having no experience with Mead before this, I cannot compare Storm Born to the other series. A lot of reviews online say that something was lost between the Kincaid series and this one. Unfortunately, I cannot address that. That being said, I did enjoy this book.

Even though the plot was an old tried-and-true storyline, I felt that Mead was able to give it her own voice. The land of the Otherworld being a living thing and choosing the ruler reminded me of older myths. Calling on that gave the story a little more authority. Further, it was an interesting idea to have the gentry/fairies have their own unique powers and not just the ambiguous magic. Even though Dorian was strong, he could only control things related to earth. The same went for Aeson and the other gentry Eugenie dealt with.

To me, little character quirks really flesh out a character. Eugenie's obsession with puzzles made her more real and down to earth. It made her not too big and too bad. It reminded me of Anita Blake's her love for penguins and crazy coffee mugs.

The character development felt a little uneven. Mead did a good job with Eugenie and an excellent job with Dorian. However, she didn't spend anytime with Kiyo. For a guy who was Eugenie's final choice, it would have made sense for Mead to spend a lot of time on him. Further, if Kiyo loved her as much as he professed, why did he never spend time wooing her? Dorian, while well within his rights to refuse her requests, moved heaven and earth (literally earth) for her. Yet, through all of that, she still decided to distrust him. In the end, Kiyo ended up getting on my nerves and pissing me off.

I loved how Mead wrote Dorian. In his behavior and moods, he seemed to really exemplify the playful and mischievous nature of the sidhe in Celtic myth. I am very curious to see him in later books.

The whole rape storyline pissed me off. Even though Mead explained the reason behind it, I felt it was weak. In addition, it felt as though she should be honored that she was so desired for her bloodline and her womb. At what point should a woman feel honored because people want to rape her? That is ludicrous!

Eugenie (despite the awful name) is a powerful heroine; however, I am afraid that her connection with Kiyo will just weaken her. It will be interesting to see how the following books show her progression in magic and her new role.(less)

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Jan 16, 2013 Alice rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: smexy-smex-smex

For once, could it be possible to have a female lead NOT afraid of her own power?? I get it. Eugenie has been raised to hate the Shining Ones and anything related to them. But still. I would have liked to have read about a woman discovering her power and using it for HER benefit- not become power-hungry and horrible mind you, but enjoy her power. sigh. I doubt i shall ever read such a book. HOWEVER if anyone knows of any let me knoww yess?

Anyways back to my review. SO Eugenie kills the Gentr...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Svenja rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-sterne

Nachdem ich ja von der Vampire-Academy-Reihe so begeistert war, musste ich noch andere Bücher von Richelle Mead lesen. Und so bin ich auf die Dark-Swan-Reihe gestoßen. Ich habe ein Buch erwartet, das im Stil von Vampire Academy geschrieben wurde. Ich musste dann aber feststelle, dass Richelle Mead diesmal an ihre erwachsenen Fans gedacht hat.

Ich muss gestehen, dass ich auf den ersten Seiten Eugenie immer noch mit der sehr charismatischen Rose aus der Vampire-Academy-Reihe verglichen habe, aber z...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Indiana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: suburban, fantasty, 2010

[Re the first two books in the series] Enjoyed them! Okay first of all, I'm not sure how to categorize these books. I don't think they qualify as Paranormal Romance because this series isn't yet about the heroine's relationship with one other being. And I hesitate to call them Urban Fantasy because they are in a more suburban setting, not in a city. So is there such a thing as Suburban Fantasy? LOL! In any case, this is a third series by Richelle Mead. I didn't quite get into the first book the...more

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Jun 08, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Because I have enjoyed Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy books so much, I thought I would give the Dark Swan series a try, as well. With Storm Born, I loved some aspects and really didn't care for others.

I should have realized when I bought this book that it would probably be more sexually graphic than I cared to read. Somehow that point went right over my head, though. I opted to skip over those parts and focus on the meat of the story, which is more interesting in its own right, anyway. In readi...more

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Urban Fantasy ser...: April BOTM: STORM BORN by Richelle Mead	10	43	Apr 22, 2013 06:23pm
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About Richelle Mead

Scorpio Richelle Mead is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of urban fantasy books for both adults and teens. Originally from Michigan, Richelle now lives in Seattle, Washington where she works on her three series full-time: Georgina Kincaid, Dark Swan, and Vampire Academy.

A life-long reader, Richelle has always loved mythology and folklore. When she can actually tear herself away f...more

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“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.” — 736 people liked it

“I tentatively attempted to make contact with the muscles in my body. They told me to leave them the fuck alone.” — 111 people liked it

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Storm Born (Dark Swan #1)

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