24. Thorn Queen by Richelle Mead
Just want to say that there are Very Serious SPOILERS in this reviews. So there.
It took me a little bit to get into this book for a couple of reasons. In order to understand these reasons, I'm going to do a quick recap of the first book. Eugenie is a shaman - she hunts down Otherworld creatures who sneak into the human world and banishes them. Through a series of unfortunate events, she discovers that she's actually half-Otherworlder herself and there's a prophecy hanging over her head that her firstborn son will take back the human world. Yeah, it's rough. As a result of this discovery (sort of indirectly) she ends up killing a king and taking over his kingdom.
So, at the beginning of TTQ, Eugenie is back with Kiyo (the kitsune who knocked up another queen). I just don't like Kiyo. I find him weak and I really don't like how he kept trying to "shelter" her from the Otherworld and discourage her from gaining power or being active in her new kingdom. Basically, he just pisses me off and I don't know what she sees in him. The ending just reinforces that for me (we'll get to that in a minute).
The other thing that made it hard to get into the book was Eugenie herself. She's SO reluctant to be a queen and I found myself wanting to slap her upside the back of her head and tell her to get over it.
Luckily, she got over it quickly and then the story got good. Eugenie is forced to become involved in the lives of her new subjects because, when she took over the land, she changed it (accidentally) into a desert (think Arizona) and now the people don't know how to cope. Plus, there have been a lot of young gentry girls disappearing suspiciously. And that's not even bringing up the demon-summoning bandits. Yeah, she's got her hands full.
And then there's Dorian. I LOVE Dorian. He's the Oak King and Eugenie's former magic tutor. And he has a bondage fetish. Yeah, he's FANTASTIC. And he wants her back.
Some very serious crap happens towards the end - stuff I was totally NOT expecting. But Eugenie's worst fears come to happen. And, you know what Kiyo does when he (and Dorian and Eugenie's step-father) show up? He convinces her NOT to punish the one responsible. Yeah, I despise him.
I'm not going to say anything more about the ending, but I was crying (earning some very worried looks from the Husband) and enraged during the climax. That said, I was completely satisfied with the ending and now am annoyed that I have to wait another year (or however long) for the next one to come out. Oh well, looks like I'll have to tide myself over with Blood Promise (out in just a few weeks). 9/10
It took me a little bit to get into this book for a couple of reasons. In order to understand these reasons, I'm going to do a quick recap of the first book. Eugenie is a shaman - she hunts down Otherworld creatures who sneak into the human world and banishes them. Through a series of unfortunate events, she discovers that she's actually half-Otherworlder herself and there's a prophecy hanging over her head that her firstborn son will take back the human world. Yeah, it's rough. As a result of this discovery (sort of indirectly) she ends up killing a king and taking over his kingdom.
So, at the beginning of TTQ, Eugenie is back with Kiyo (the kitsune who knocked up another queen). I just don't like Kiyo. I find him weak and I really don't like how he kept trying to "shelter" her from the Otherworld and discourage her from gaining power or being active in her new kingdom. Basically, he just pisses me off and I don't know what she sees in him. The ending just reinforces that for me (we'll get to that in a minute).
The other thing that made it hard to get into the book was Eugenie herself. She's SO reluctant to be a queen and I found myself wanting to slap her upside the back of her head and tell her to get over it.
Luckily, she got over it quickly and then the story got good. Eugenie is forced to become involved in the lives of her new subjects because, when she took over the land, she changed it (accidentally) into a desert (think Arizona) and now the people don't know how to cope. Plus, there have been a lot of young gentry girls disappearing suspiciously. And that's not even bringing up the demon-summoning bandits. Yeah, she's got her hands full.
And then there's Dorian. I LOVE Dorian. He's the Oak King and Eugenie's former magic tutor. And he has a bondage fetish. Yeah, he's FANTASTIC. And he wants her back.
Some very serious crap happens towards the end - stuff I was totally NOT expecting. But Eugenie's worst fears come to happen. And, you know what Kiyo does when he (and Dorian and Eugenie's step-father) show up? He convinces her NOT to punish the one responsible. Yeah, I despise him.
I'm not going to say anything more about the ending, but I was crying (earning some very worried looks from the Husband) and enraged during the climax. That said, I was completely satisfied with the ending and now am annoyed that I have to wait another year (or however long) for the next one to come out. Oh well, looks like I'll have to tide myself over with Blood Promise (out in just a few weeks). 9/10