Thorn Queen (Dark Swan, #2) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Feb 27, 2011 Karyogini rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-on-2011

Oh wow. I already have the third book and just mastered myself to write this review before I fall into the world of Richelle Mead's Dark Swan. Almost failed. Started reading a few lines in chapter 1! Hahaha! So needless to say, I like this 2nd book!

I had the 2nd book for a while now and the truth is that I hated the 1st book, even if I gave it 3 stars. I knew the writing is good and the story is really entertaining. But Miss Dark Swan was sooo annoying. Hence, just 3 stars and I promised myself Oh wow. I already have the third book and just mastered myself to write this review before I fall into the world of Richelle Mead's Dark Swan. Almost failed. Started reading a few lines in chapter 1! Hahaha! So needless to say, I like this 2nd book!

I had the 2nd book for a while now and the truth is that I hated the 1st book, even if I gave it 3 stars. I knew the writing is good and the story is really entertaining. But Miss Dark Swan was sooo annoying. Hence, just 3 stars and I promised myself that I won't read the rest of the series... Then my friends recommended a cheesier titled series by the same author called Vampire Academy. Tsk tsk... That got me hooked and salivating till the end. Still I couldn't bring myself to read this particular series... THEN I was going through a rut and gave in... I started reading her other series, Georgina Kincaid. Got as far as the 2nd book and still loving it. SOOO... promises are meant to be broken right??? The 3rd book of this series came out and I'm damn curious specially when it's getting good reviews from this site. Since I'm not the type to skip books and would find it blasphemous to do so, I read the 2nd book... :D Hahaha I'm a wuss!

Anyway, I sort of forgot the 1st book already and just started fresh. RM did a splendid way recapping things without going back to zero. By doing so, old resentments about the 1st book surfaced but somehow Dark Swan isn't so annoying. Well the first few chapters I was totally hating her. It gets better though guys to the point that I want to bring out the 3rd book the second the last word was read. No it's not a cliff hanger. It's a good ending if you want to stop reading... There was a conclusion for the plot of this book but there is a continuing event leading to the next book.

Reading RM's Dark Swan series is like reading a good UF with a sprinkling of erotica. Yes there are very graphic moments, numerous in fact, but I wouldn't categorize this as erotica fluff. The story is captivating even without the steaminess. ...more

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Mar 04, 2011 Chelsea rated it really liked it

Shelves: uf-pnr, fantasy, fae-angels, demons, magic

This review was originally posted at Vampire Book Club.

Note: We always go for spoiler-free here, but this review will assume you’ve read the first Dark Swan novel Storm Born. If you haven’t, please check out that review instead.

In Storm Born (Dark Swan #1), Eugenie learned who she was and who some say she’s supposed to be. Thorn Queen is about her making choices and really accepting her new role as a part of the gentry world. Before her blood and her heritiage tied her to the faeries’ Otherworld This review was originally posted at Vampire Book Club.

Note: We always go for spoiler-free here, but this review will assume you’ve read the first Dark Swan novel Storm Born. If you haven’t, please check out that review instead.

In Storm Born (Dark Swan #1), Eugenie learned who she was and who some say she’s supposed to be. Thorn Queen is about her making choices and really accepting her new role as a part of the gentry world. Before her blood and her heritiage tied her to the faeries’ Otherworld, but now, she’s bound to the land as the Queen of the Thorn Land.

She would like to ignore it, but her changing of Aeson’s geography to that mirroring the Southern Arizona desert has left the people of the Thorn Land without knowledge to survive. She wants to help her people — show them how to live in the desert, find water. Plus, now a part of her being is tied there. The both she and the land suffer when apart.

It’s her drive to help the people of the Thorn Land that brings out the main investigation in Thorn Queen. She learns someone is kidnapping gentry girls, but only from her border towns. And her quest to find them and punish the culprits leads to a very dark place, broken allegiances, broken trust and a soul in need of mending. Richelle Mead has never been one to pull the emotional punches.

Some of Thorn Queen is both incredibly heavy and undeniably dark. You love Mead’s characters enough to go through the pain with them, and see brighter horizons later. (Ooo, ominous without being spoilery. Scared yet?)

We must, of course, add relationship drama on top. Kiyo continues to want her to cut ties with the gentry, the Otherworld and most of all her magic. His disapproval is all the more difficult to bear as he spends much of the time with his former lover the Willow Queen as he prepares to have his child. (Fret not, Team Dorian, he offers aid and friendship to Eugenie with plenty of innuendo.)

Dark urban fantasy fans will love the action in this one including big battles, power struggles and Eugenie brewing storms. Amid all that fighting emotions run high, and setting up a kingdom is emotionally taxing especially when your boyfriend is gone all the time.

If you liked the first book, expect to love finding out how Eugenie tries to balance her human life with the new role as queen in Thorn Queen. (And complications with Kiyo and Dorian will keep your head spinning.)

Sexual content: Sex, rape (focus is on the emotional side) ...more

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Sep 16, 2010 KarenF rated it liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, kindle

I'm really torn on these books. One the one hand, I love the world building and the magic and politics of the "otherworld". But on the other hand there's Eugenie herself. She seems immature at best and while she seems perfectly competent in her shaman job she's surprised by things that seem pretty obvious to me in both her kingdom (queendom?) and in her relationships. That said, I love Dorian to pieces and there are quite a few interesting secondary characters that make it a worthwhile read, alo ...more

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Jul 06, 2010 Monique marked it as to-read

Shelves: richelle-mead

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Aug 01, 2010 Dru rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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Sep 10, 2010 Desperado rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-and-4-star-ratings, paranormal-fiction, pnr-monthly-reads, recommended-reads

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Nov 19, 2010 Jen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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Dec 19, 2010 Rita Lo rated it did not like it

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Dec 19, 2010 Shante marked it as to-read

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Dec 21, 2010 Nici rated it really liked it

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Jan 04, 2011 Ashley ~twisted_illusions~ marked it as to-read

Shelves: 2nd-in-series, urban-fantasy, fantasy, paranormal, adult, setting-us, series-dark-swan, shamans, setting-the-otherworld, author-richelle-mead

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