Shadow Heir

Yes!!!!!

"What wouldn't I do for you?" was the best phrase of the book, repeated several times by Dorian to Eugenie :) And I was right!! Dorian is the twins father!!! I'm so happy about that :) It started out pretty slow, but it built up very nicely. Eugenie had to hide for the last few months of her pregnancy, in order to keep herself and the twins alive. Kiyo continued to be a real asshat, and I can't believe I actually liked him in the first book. I wish someone would just kill him off already!

While Eugenie was away in the normal world, bad things happened in Otherworld, and as soon as she came back, she had to make things right, with Dorian's help of course. Even Kiyo showed up, and most of the people on the rescue Otherworld party wanted only to kill him. It's too bad none of them ended up doing it.

We got some extremely interesting background on Volusian, and it made him a lot easier to understand. Eugenie continued to be strong, thinking of everybody else's safety before her own. I loved how hers and Jasmine's relationship developed, they are real sisters now, and they finally love each other. Jasmine has grown a lot, and that was really good to see.

There were some truly amazing fight scenes, both with and without magic, and a really heartwrenching death. Maiwenn and Kiyo are on top of my 'Eugenie needs to kill' list, and I doubt anything will ever happen to take them off it.

Excellent book, I feel very satisfied, although I wish it was longer... that's always the problem with a great book, though. ( )

To come ( )

I liked the read--good read--but Eugenie does an awful lot of whining in this book, and an awful lot of lying by omission while taking others to task for it. I lost a bit of respect for her. If there is another book to the series, I hope Eugenie tries to mend her ways just a tad. ( )

Nice addition to the line. ( )

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/01/review-shadow-heir-dark-swan-4-by-richelle-...

Shadow Heir picks up soon after Iron Crowned left off, with Eugenie pregnant with twins and doing her best to keep away from Kiyo and Maiwenn’s assassins, who are convinced her son will fulfill a dark prophecy of his grandfather, the Storm King. She’s still smarting from Dorian’s betrayal with the Iron Crown, and in spite of his insistence that he’s there for her, it’s hard for her to trust him again. When her twins finally come, she’s forced to make a hard decision that will keep them safe. When she discovers a blight has been magically cast on many of the lands in the Otherworld, including her own, she knows she must do something to help, or risk possibly losing everything dear to her.

Shadow Heir is the final book in the Dark Swan series. The tension that made Eugenie and Dorian’s relationship so much fun is still there (he really is trying to win back her trust), and Ms. Read’s writing is top notch, as usual. Court intrigue and action abound, and I always love Eugenie’s voice. However, some of Eugenie’s decision making in this one stumped me, and there were a few things that I saw coming (and a couple that I didn’t). But, I suppose that’s one thing readers (including me) love most about Eugenie. She’s very much her own woman and strong willed enough to handle just about anything that comes her way. Aside from all that, there’s no doubt I enjoyed Shadow Heir, and while the conclusion is a little more “open” than I’d like, well, life is like that, right? Sometimes it’s fun to daydream about what’s next for our heroine, and of course, wish her and all of our other fave characters a happily ever after. I’ll miss Eugenie, but I’ll definitely look forward to what Richelle Mead has in store for us next. ( )