Review--Iron Crowned by Richelle Mead

Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham is the best at banishing entities trespassing in the mortal realm. But as the Thorn Land’s queen, she’s fast running out of ways to end the brutal war devastating her kingdom. Her only hope: the Iron Crown, a legendary object even the most powerful gentry fear…

Who Eugenie can trust is the hardest part. Fairy king Dorian has his own agenda for aiding her search. And Kiyo, her shape-shifter ex-boyfriend, has every reason to betray her along the way. To control the Crown’s ever-consuming powers, Eugenie will have to confront an unimaginable temptation--one that will put her soul and the fate of two worlds in mortal peril…

The wait has been too long for Richelle Mead's Iron Crowned! But returning back to Eugenie's world was rather easier than expected. I was back into the flow of things with relative ease. Events were summed up nicely and then we were moving along.

I was warned ahead of time about the cliffhanger ending which I suppose was a good thing for I was ready for it. And it was a doozie. Shocking and unsuspecting, but not leaving me totally agonizing over the wait til the next book which is sort of good in a way. Eugenie is sent to find the Iron Crown rather early on and for reasons to be learned when reading, Kiyo goes with her.

There is romance in the book but I won't get into it. It was sporadic at times, but seemed to fit into the story and not just be there for sex scene purposes which was nice. The pacing to the story was good, a little slow at times, but it was always building to something more, it just took awhile o get there.

I can't get into a lot of details because then I would end up getting close to spoilers. But Eugenie definitely goes through a lot of emotional turmoil in this book. It was really kind of heart wrenching with everything she had to deal with, and there was quite a bit she had to deal with. 

So I will have to cut this short because when I start talking on and on about GREAT books, I sometimes get too close to spoilers and that is something I tend to avoid. Overall this was a fabulous read and I so cannot wait to see what Eugenie will do next time around! The wait is going to be too long I'm sure.

Overall rating is 4.5/5 stars.