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A review by ttmusic
Shadow Heir by Richelle Mead
3.0
3.5 stars
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!! (First paragraph spoiler-free)
I really tried to write a review of this book without spoilers, but there was too much I had to say about certain choices made by the main character. I’m not even going to write about most of the book, just the parts I really need to vent about. The first ¾ of the book was the usual combination of sexy snark that we readers have come to know from Mead, especially in this series. The Alabama twist was nice, especially with Eugenie’s comments later on that perhaps there is more truth to fairy tales than she originally thought. Admittedly, the “big bad” of the book seemed lame compared to the impending prophecy fulfillment, a villain more appropriate for earlier in a series instead of the end.
And here is where I cannot go on without spoilers. I really do try to keep spoilers out of my reviews, but I just can’t with this one. Besides, it’s the last book of the series.
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
It wasn’t exactly the satisfying end I’d hoped for, either. I am a big fan of Richelle Mead, after discovering her widely successful Vampire Academy series by chance in a Barnes & Noble shortly after it was published. I bought it on a whim, and absolutely loved it. Partway into that series I discovered her first series, the Georgina Kincaid books and fell in love with those too. I’d heard about her new Dark Swan series long before I read Storm Born, the first book, but I delayed on reading it because neither of her other series were finished yet and I didn’t want to be in the middle of three different series by the same author at the same time. Once the Vampire Academy series wrapped up, I read Storm Born and was pleasantly surprised by it. For some reason when I read about it, its premise didn’t sound super enthralling to me, I expected to read it and enjoy it, but for whatever reasons I didn’t expect the same connection to the series than I’d had with Mead’s others. I ended up being partially correct, this was always my least favorite of her book series, but I did enjoy the Dark Swan series more than I originally expected. At least until book 3. I came out of book 3, Iron Crowned, despising Eugenie, the main character. I didn’t wish death on her or anything, but I just couldn’t bring myself to root for her. In that book, I was very annoyed by her darting from one end of her love triangle to the other whenever she got into an argument. I had always leaned more towards Kiyo throughout the books, especially the first one. Dorian is a fantastic character, probably the best in this whole series, but it wasn’t until the last two books that he became my choice for Eugenie. I held out a bit of hope for some sort of redemption of Kiyo though, I was not with the masses of people that were enraged to hear the words “uneasy truce between [Eugenie] and her shape shifter ex-lover Kiyo”. There were pre-release musings on goodreads from several users hoping for Kiyo’s violent death due to his actions in Iron Crowned.
Like I said, I was kind of hoping for some small measure Kiyo redemption (like some sort of remorse on his part), but alas there was none in regards to he and Eugenie’s problems. I could not believe his revelation at the end that he wasn’t even the father of Eugenie’s twins. If she had listened to him at the end of Iron Crowned and had the babies aborted due to the risk of her son being Storm King’s human-dominating heir, then she later found out her son wouldn’t have been the firstborn grandson, AND that they weren’t Kiyo’s anyways, she probably WOULD have killed him. With her bare hands.
It was sad to see Volusian go on to the Underworld. I have liked his character throughout the whole series, and was glad to see him seem more of an ally to Eugenie for part of the book than just an unwilling slave. His threats about killing her were always somewhat humorous to me, like a sense of humor, and I was glad to see him move on a bit from that.
As far as the big paternity reveals, one felt out of nowhere and the other was out of nowhere yet fit in the story. The one that fit for me was the knowledge that Ysabel was also Storm King’s daughter, making her son Pagiel Storm King’s heir. It was previously established that Eugenie’s mother was one of many women that Storm King used in order to produce heirs, so it seemed likely that he would have more than just two children. I was almost expecting to hear of even more. Pagiel as Storm King’s heir was an interesting and clever twist, how he was fulfilling the prophecy by being a sort of Robin Hood for his kingdom. I didn’t really understand why he had to die, especially since it was unclear who killed him. If he hadn’t died, sure there would still be the prophecy to think about but then Eugenie probably would have felt better about bringing her twins to her kingdoms in the Otherworld.
I did NOT understand her logic at all at the end of the book. She just found out that her babies were not fathered by her ex-lover with whom she is not on good terms with, but the man that she would like to be with. WHY DID SHE NOT TELL HIM?!?! I understand that there’s still the prophecy to think of, that it *might* roll over from Pagiel to Isaac (Thundro ;) ) but still. She rules two kingdoms. Dorian rules one. The twins would have the protection of THREE Otherwordly kingdoms. THREE!
I guess what I’m trying to say overall is that it’s hard to feel closure in a series when I had so much emotional whiplash regarding the main character. Not to mention the fact that the author basically ends the series on a mild cliffhanger. I say mild because it seems her intention was that each reader decide for themselves what happens with Eugenie, Dorian and the twins. It definitely would have been nicer to end with some major decision. I still don’t see why she didn’t just bring them to live with her and Dorian in the Otherworld, but that’s just my opinion.
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!! (First paragraph spoiler-free)
I really tried to write a review of this book without spoilers, but there was too much I had to say about certain choices made by the main character. I’m not even going to write about most of the book, just the parts I really need to vent about. The first ¾ of the book was the usual combination of sexy snark that we readers have come to know from Mead, especially in this series. The Alabama twist was nice, especially with Eugenie’s comments later on that perhaps there is more truth to fairy tales than she originally thought. Admittedly, the “big bad” of the book seemed lame compared to the impending prophecy fulfillment, a villain more appropriate for earlier in a series instead of the end.
And here is where I cannot go on without spoilers. I really do try to keep spoilers out of my reviews, but I just can’t with this one. Besides, it’s the last book of the series.
Spoiler
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
It wasn’t exactly the satisfying end I’d hoped for, either. I am a big fan of Richelle Mead, after discovering her widely successful Vampire Academy series by chance in a Barnes & Noble shortly after it was published. I bought it on a whim, and absolutely loved it. Partway into that series I discovered her first series, the Georgina Kincaid books and fell in love with those too. I’d heard about her new Dark Swan series long before I read Storm Born, the first book, but I delayed on reading it because neither of her other series were finished yet and I didn’t want to be in the middle of three different series by the same author at the same time. Once the Vampire Academy series wrapped up, I read Storm Born and was pleasantly surprised by it. For some reason when I read about it, its premise didn’t sound super enthralling to me, I expected to read it and enjoy it, but for whatever reasons I didn’t expect the same connection to the series than I’d had with Mead’s others. I ended up being partially correct, this was always my least favorite of her book series, but I did enjoy the Dark Swan series more than I originally expected. At least until book 3. I came out of book 3, Iron Crowned, despising Eugenie, the main character. I didn’t wish death on her or anything, but I just couldn’t bring myself to root for her. In that book, I was very annoyed by her darting from one end of her love triangle to the other whenever she got into an argument. I had always leaned more towards Kiyo throughout the books, especially the first one. Dorian is a fantastic character, probably the best in this whole series, but it wasn’t until the last two books that he became my choice for Eugenie. I held out a bit of hope for some sort of redemption of Kiyo though, I was not with the masses of people that were enraged to hear the words “uneasy truce between [Eugenie] and her shape shifter ex-lover Kiyo”. There were pre-release musings on goodreads from several users hoping for Kiyo’s violent death due to his actions in Iron Crowned.
Like I said, I was kind of hoping for some small measure Kiyo redemption (like some sort of remorse on his part), but alas there was none in regards to he and Eugenie’s problems. I could not believe his revelation at the end that he wasn’t even the father of Eugenie’s twins. If she had listened to him at the end of Iron Crowned and had the babies aborted due to the risk of her son being Storm King’s human-dominating heir, then she later found out her son wouldn’t have been the firstborn grandson, AND that they weren’t Kiyo’s anyways, she probably WOULD have killed him. With her bare hands.
It was sad to see Volusian go on to the Underworld. I have liked his character throughout the whole series, and was glad to see him seem more of an ally to Eugenie for part of the book than just an unwilling slave. His threats about killing her were always somewhat humorous to me, like a sense of humor, and I was glad to see him move on a bit from that.
As far as the big paternity reveals, one felt out of nowhere and the other was out of nowhere yet fit in the story. The one that fit for me was the knowledge that Ysabel was also Storm King’s daughter, making her son Pagiel Storm King’s heir. It was previously established that Eugenie’s mother was one of many women that Storm King used in order to produce heirs, so it seemed likely that he would have more than just two children. I was almost expecting to hear of even more. Pagiel as Storm King’s heir was an interesting and clever twist, how he was fulfilling the prophecy by being a sort of Robin Hood for his kingdom. I didn’t really understand why he had to die, especially since it was unclear who killed him. If he hadn’t died, sure there would still be the prophecy to think about but then Eugenie probably would have felt better about bringing her twins to her kingdoms in the Otherworld.
I did NOT understand her logic at all at the end of the book. She just found out that her babies were not fathered by her ex-lover with whom she is not on good terms with, but the man that she would like to be with. WHY DID SHE NOT TELL HIM?!?! I understand that there’s still the prophecy to think of, that it *might* roll over from Pagiel to Isaac (Thundro ;) ) but still. She rules two kingdoms. Dorian rules one. The twins would have the protection of THREE Otherwordly kingdoms. THREE!
I guess what I’m trying to say overall is that it’s hard to feel closure in a series when I had so much emotional whiplash regarding the main character. Not to mention the fact that the author basically ends the series on a mild cliffhanger. I say mild because it seems her intention was that each reader decide for themselves what happens with Eugenie, Dorian and the twins. It definitely would have been nicer to end with some major decision. I still don’t see why she didn’t just bring them to live with her and Dorian in the Otherworld, but that’s just my opinion.