Review of Storm Born by Richelle Mead

Storm Born
Publisher: Zebra ( August  2008 )
Genre: UF
Format: PB (361 pages)
Source: Purchased
Series: Dark Swan #1
 
Rating 4.5/5

 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...

Review 

I have to applaud Rachelle Mead for her unique and original writing style. Her words flow smoothly and with barely Hiccup to spare.  Mead really put a great spin to her world and she owned it! She took an existing fairytale, an element that we recognize, and made it into something with superior depth.

Eugenie, though overly sexed in this book, is a true kick-ass character. I love her "I don't take crap" attitude. You can tell that Mead took the time to develop her character and truly give her a voice.  I loved her strength and courage.  There was also plenty of growth for Eugenie.  Her development over the course of the book was realistic.  She looked at her own hypocrisy and prejudice and slowly changed.  Though not so much that you couldn't believe it.

The secondary characters we're equally given their own voice. I especially liked how Dorian grew on me. He's one of those characters that you're not really sure if you're going to like him but in the end you just can't help it. Kiyo, is all animal magnetism, I was drawn to him at first but towards the end I'm still not sure whose team I'm on.

Can a girl have both? I guess I'll have to wait and see and read the next book.


Quip from the book

Still enchanted by human stuff, he wanted us to take him into the city and show him entertaining things-particularly the aforementioned woman with low inhibitions.

I worked hard to keep my face as blank as a new canvas.  You could have painted a picture on it.

After a few bullets and knife wounds, I obliterated him and sent hem on to the world of death.  God, I swear I'm not getting paid enough for this crap, you know?  Cue polite laughter.

 Xoxoxoxo