Releas date: December 27th 2011
Publisher: Zebra
Series: Dark Swan #4
Goodread | Book Depository | Amazon
My rating: 4/5 stars
From Goodreads: "Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham strives to keep the mortal realm safe from trespassing entities. But as the Thorn Land's prophecy-haunted queen, there's no refuge for her and her soon-to-be-born-children when a mysterious blight begins to devastate the Otherworld...
The spell-driven source of the blight isn't the only challenge to Eugenie's instincts. Fairy king Dorian is sacrificing everything to help, but Eugenie can't trust the synergy drawing them back together. The uneasy truce between her and her shape shifter ex-lover Kiyo is endangered by secrets he can't--or won't--reveal. And as a formidable force rises to also threaten the human world, Eugenie must use her own cursed fate as a weapon--and risk the ultimate sacrifice... "
Let me start by saying that I have loved every book of Richelle Mead's so far. The Vampire Academy and the Dark Swan series are the only two I have read though I would like to read the Succubus series soon. Shadow Heir is the fourth book in the Dark Swan series and I have to say that it wasn't my favourite, but it was still really good.
If you haven't read the first 3 books in this series please do not read this review as there will be spoilers. If your one of those people who likes spoilers, then feel free to continue reading!
Like the other Dark Swan books, Shadow Heir follows the story of Eugenie, the main character. I have to say Richelle Mead has a knack for creating strong female lead characters, and I like it! Eugenie is a kick your otherwordly ass kind of woman. She was brought up to be a Shaman. She banishes ghosts and deals with other supernatural creatures. She is a tough cookie (though calling her a tough 'cookie' doesn't sound very tough) and I love that about her. However in this book, she does show some weakens, which really made me connect to her even more (I will go into more detail later).
So we found out at the end of book 3 that Eugenie is pregnant. Now for any normal woman that wouldn't be so bad. But for Eugenie? Let's just say that her dad 'Storm King' (a macho macho man) who before he was killed wanted to take control of the human world as well as the otherworld. Storm King had great great power, and if you didn't catch it by his name he can control the weather, in a grave way. He passed this trait down to Eugenie and along the way she has learnt to control it. HOWEVER, she finds out that there is a prophecy that goes a little something like this: "Storm Kings first born nephew will be the destroyer of worlds." So you can imagine that there are many people who don't want to see Eugenie mother a boy. Eugenie goes to find out whether she will be having a boy or a girl. Deciding that if she has a boy she will abort the pregnancy and if she has a girl, she won't. So when she finds out she is having twins, a boy AND a girl, she can't bring herself to abort them. Nor can she let anyone hurt her or her unborn children, and boy do they try!
That is pretty much where book 3 ends and book 4 is a couple months down the track. Eugenie is now a couple months further along in her pregnancy and all is going fairly well, she has managed to hide from those who wish her and her children dead. Eugenie delivers her twins early and though they need to be hooked up to many machines in the first couple months of their lives they are healthy little babies. As much as it pains Eugenie, there is trouble in the otherworld and she has to leave her twins to help save her kingdoms.
Now for the characters. Eugenie, now that she is a mother and has to think of more than just herself when it comes to saving the day, she has started to show weakness, but in a good way. She finds it hard to leave her twins to save the otherworld. She is more emotional throughout the book because of this, but she is still the toughest woman out, she just has a new side to her!
Dorian. Oh Dorian... What can I say about him? In the first couple of books I despised him. I couldn't understand at all why Eugenie even went there. But as their story continued, I grew to LOVE Dorian. He is just so.. so.. *sigh* there really aren't any words to describe him. He is arrogant and selfish but when it comes to Eugenie he will do anything for her.
Then there is Kiyo. Dislike dislike dislike! I liked Kiyo int he first couple of books but now I'm a Dorian fan all the way. Especially with the events that occur as a result of her pregnancy.
If you're still reading this and haven't read this series, I HIGHLY recommend it. If you want a lead character who can seriously kick some otherworldy behind, and some pretty intense shall we say 'romance' scenes, who am I kidding, romance? Sex scenes, intense sex scenes. Then this series is for you!
Update: Just found out that this is the last book in the series. Though it was still really good I felt there was one major thing left a bit to open for my liking. Really want to know what happened! I hope this isn't the last one and what I heard is wrong!If you have read this series, what did you think?
Happy reading!
- Amy
