Storm Born by Richelle Mead

Rating : 2,5 / 5

Goodreads : 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...


My review : This review is really difficult to write. I don't know what to think about this book. I've got mixed feelings. I don't even know if I want to give it 2 or 3 stars. Storm Born is the first book in the Dark Swan series and it is a lot more different than the other Richelle Mead books that I've read.
I enjoyed some things in this book. I still like Richelle Mead writing. The plot is fast-paced, there is a lot of humor.I also liked discovering the life of Eugenie living in Arizona with her funny housemate Jim. What I also found interesting was learning more about shamans and their powers. The good point of this book is the world that she created around the gentry. It's very origal and unique even if it's a bit weird sometimes. I liked following Eugenie in all these different worlds.
But unfortunately there was also a lot of negative points... I wasn't really thrilled or hooked on the plot. The basis of this story is that Eugenie is the daughter of a famous and powerful gentry who died a few years earlier and she is at the center of a prophecy saying that her first son will be the heir of most of the worlds and would conquer the human world. So basically during the whole book everyone is trying to get in her pants (literally) to be the father of this son. It was starting to get repetitive through the book and I get bored. I was also bored during Eugenie's lesson with Dorian when she is trying to control her powers. I also thought that Richelle writing was weaker in this series. Sometimes I didn't like how she announced things about characters (like Eugenie's origins) it was a bit too much.
Now the characters. I wasn't attached to any characters like I was for other Richelle Mead's books. Eugenie is a kick ass like every female heroine in Richelle's books but I didn't really like her. She was getting on my nerves sometimes. And about the "romances" and male characters in Storm Born I was once again disappointed. We have Kyno and Dorian even if we know through the book that Eugenie is in love with Kyno and no one else. But I just couldn't stand this character ! He was this bad boy, always trying to protect her... a cliché character. I didn't care about their romance. I even found some scenes between the two of them really cheesy. If I had to choose I prefer Dorian. He is one of the gentry king. He reminded me a little of Puck in the Iron Fey series. He was a really interesting character.
Overall i'm disappointed because I really wanted to love this book. First because it was a gift from a really good friend : Mathilda who liked this series. And second because it's Richelle Mead ! She's one of my favorite author. Vampire Academy is my favorite YA series and I loved her other adult series about the succubus Georgina Kincaid. But Richelle is human and i'm human too so I know that maybe I won't love everything she wrote. I'm still going to read any books written by her that will be released in the future don't worry ! So I don't know if i'm going to read the rest of the series. If it wasn't Richelle Mead I wouldn't read the second book but a little part in me want to give it a try...
Anyone has read the rest of the series and can advise me?