Review--Thorn Queen

Eugenie Markham is a shaman for hire, paid to bind and banish creatures from the Otherworld. But after her last battle, she’s also become queen of the Thorn Land. It’s hardly an envious life, not with her kingdom in tatters, her love life in chaos, and Eugenie eager to avoid the prophecy about her firstborn destroying mankind. And now young girls are disappearing from the Otherworld, and no one—except Eugenie—seems willing to find out why.

Eugenie has spilled plenty of fey blood in her time, but this enemy is shrewd, subtle, and nursing a very personal grudge. And the men in her life aren't making things any easier. Her boyfriend, Kiyo, is preoccupied with his pregnant ex, and sexy fey king Dorian always poses a dangerous distraction. With or without their help, Eugenie must venture deep into the Otherworld and trust in an unpredictable power she can barely control. Reluctant queen or not, Eugenie has sworn to do her duty—even if it means facing the darkest—and deadliest—side of her nature…

Just finished this today. Been busy, work, school starts next week which means my reading will be slower and my posts won't be as frequent. Unless I'm posting on something else entirely! Regardless I finished Thorn Queen and it was super!

It pretty much picks up where Storm Born left off, a few months later. And chaos is about to take over Eugenie's life once again. Being a ruler of her own kingdom is hard work, especially when her boyfriend, Kiyo spends a lot of his time with his "baby mama", the Willow Queen. Then there's Dorian who still pursues Eugenie, body and soul. Of course he's not the only one. What with the prophecy, other baddies are still trying to get into her pants. But Eugenie is still channeling her powers and practicing more and more as time moves on. Although there are her loved ones who wish that she abandoned them, she feel like she must learn her powers so she can put them to good use.

But there are more problems occurring in the kingdom and Eugenie finds herself spending more time than she would like in the Otherworld. She has no choice, she grows more connected to the land every day. But girls from her world are going missing and she can't seem to figure out why. She will have to seek outside help, from her stepfather, all while trying to keep her queenliness a secret.

Mead once again writes another fabulous novel! This Otherworld is so intriguing. It's not at all what you would expect from a book regarding the fae and other creatures. It's definitely not a Disney themed world, and I know Disney! Eugenie goes through more life changing events and tragedies that effect her greatly. She will turn to the ones that she loves, but will she be able to depend on them fully?

This review might be a little more vague, since I've reviewed Mead's work already and there is only so many times I can say how much I love her work and the worlds she creates, the characters are fresh and intriguing and well-rounded, without sounding like a broken record. I also don't want to divulge too much into the storyline itself anymore than I already have, I just wanted to try to discretely add more info in without hashing out spoilers.

Basically Eugenie must get into the groove of being a queen of her own land and greeting her fellow royals. She learns she must care for her land and her people, that her people depend on her and the land. The land needs its queen in order to thrive, and the only way that can happen is if Eugenie spends more time in the Thorn Land.

The ending was phenomenal with many twists and surprises and plenty of action and build up to more action! I cannot wait to read the next one in this series! The next book is currently titled Iron Crowned and is slated for a 2010 release. No date yet as far as I know.