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Feb 01, 2011

Catherine rated it:

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 More...

68 comments like (22 people liked it)

Aug 18, 2010

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" rated it:

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24 comments like (31 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2011

Mel rated it:

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 pr More...

16 comments like (12 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2011

Tatiana rated it:

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 More...

9 comments like (20 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2011

FlibBityFLooB rated it:

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 spi More...

33 comments like (16 people liked it)

Aug 10, 2008

Julie (jjmachshev) rated it:

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 thei More...

3 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jun 04, 2011

Lucy rated it:

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22 comments like (10 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Book Chick City rated it:

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 More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 26, 2010

Heather rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2011

jD rated it:

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 c More...

27 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 02, 2011

Stacia ~ platonic rated it:

***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 m More...

27 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2012

Angie (Mind Malfunction) rated it:

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3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2012

Grace rated it:

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2011

Fani rated it:

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 w More...

70 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2011

Kelly rated it:

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.

N More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2011

Suz rated it:

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 th More...

7 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2011

MISS VAIN rated it:

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 shapeshi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 16, 2011

Judithe rated it:

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, <spoiler>her attraction/relationship/feelings toward Kiyo seemed too fast for me. One night, and she's gone for him--though s More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 31, 2011

Deborah rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 07, 2011

Kimberly rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 12, 2011

Jenn rated it:

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...

0 comments like

Feb 20, 2012

Cbackson rated it:

One thing I really appreciate about Richelle Mead: the humor. NK Jemisin referred to this genre of paranormal romance as "disaffected chicks with swords," and it's too often true. Listen, Protagonist: if you're some dead sexy, leather-pants-wearing, sword-wielding, shapeshifter-boyfriends-juggling temptress, I don't want to hear you whinging on and on about the burdens of your High and Holy Destiny. Tell it to someone who doesn't work 80 hours a week at a soul-destroying job.
More...

0 comments like

Feb 04, 2012

Erika rated it:

I picked this paperback up in a thrift store for 35 cents, after reading the blurb. I almost never do this, because the blurbs can be well written, and the books hilariously, well, not.

This one was! Well-written, I mean. Granted, I don't like Tucson, AZ very much (I'm from a desert and they are awful places to be) and it is a paranormal romance (I think?) which is not my thing, usually, but I like it. It was fresh, and the shaman bit was pretty cool.

The whole thing smacked More...

0 comments like

Jan 31, 2012

Lisa rated it:

‘Dark Swan’ is the new graphic novel serial from Sea Lion Books, based on the series by urban fantasy author Richelle Mead.

I was lucky enough to get the chance to review Richelle Mead's DARK SWAN only days after reading the print book. I’ll admit, I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I’ve always considered graphic novels to be only a step above a comic book ( sorry, hanging my head shamefully). I never realized that they could add so much to a story.

Really,tho More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2011

Kayla rated it:

As a fan of Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy and Georgina Kincaid series, I figured it was about time to check out the Dark Swan series. At first I wasn’t sure if it would be my cup of tea, but after a couple of chapters I was completely drawn in. I actually ended up kicking myself for not buying the 3 pack deal Sony Reader Library was offering for my book reader.

Storm Born follows the adventures of shaman, Eugenie Markham. She was trained by her stepfather to take over the ‘family busi More...

0 comments like

Dec 29, 2011

Alice rated it:

I just devoured all four books in this series and ended up really invested in it, so I'm glad I made it through the first in this series. This reminded me a great deal of the Grave Dance series, but that's not Mead's fault since those were written after this (hello, Kalayna Price, I'm watching you!). There's a similar conceit: main character is a freelance spirit-banisher with connections to the faery/fairy/gentry world, caught between two hot guys. But where I found Alex Craft weak and annoying More...

0 comments like

Nov 14, 2011

Kat rated it:

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 sh More...

26 comments like (45 people liked it)

Sep 17, 2011

Novels On The Run rated it:

MICHELLE'S REVIEW:

RATING: 4.5 UBER SMEXI KIYO STARS WITH A SIDE ORDER OF DORIAN!

When a book starts off with a possessed Nike shoe, you just want to keep turning those pages. I loved ‘Storm Born’. The title is perfect for the story.

Eugenie Markham is a Tuscan 26yr old Shaman, who loves Milky Way chocolate bars. She wears the tattoos of violets and leaves spread across her lower back. Her eyes are violet. On her right upper arm she has the tattoo of a snake, H More...

0 comments like

Jun 01, 2011

Alexandra rated it:

I have decided that urban fantasy isn't for me after all. (Not that I can't tell that just by looking at the cover/format of the book. I guess I have this sense of judging a book by its cover?) I'd been reluctant to read this and only did because I mistakenly bought the third book in the series thinking it was the beginning of a new series by Richelle Mead (that one's cover was slyly more YA-looking), but eventually I powered through it especially since I'd already bought it.

Anyway, More...

0 comments like

May 26, 2011

L rated it:

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

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