Book Review: Iron Crowned by Richelle Meade

Iron Crowned by Richelle Meade

Series : Dark Swan, book 3

Release Date : February 22nd, 2011

Genre: Urban Fantasy

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…

This book is the third installment in Richelle Meade's Dark Swan series. The story starts a few weeks after the 2nd book Thorn Queen left off. Gentry Queen Eugenie and her boyfriend, for the moment, King Dorian are at war with the Rowen land ( refresher for those who need it, Eugenie was raped by Lieth, the Rowan Queen's son, Dorian Killed Lieth and the Queen declared war) After much bloodshed on both sides of the battle-lines , Dorian deceivingly convinces Eugenie to go after the Iron Crown. The Iron Crown is feared by many since 1. it is made of Iron, a metal that most Gentry cannot touch, and 2. it can take land from any ruler. Eugenie hopes to get the Crown so that it will scare the Rowan queen in submission. Since the road to the crown is laced with iron, Dorian suggests Eugenie take her Half Kitsun, half Human ex-boyfriend Kiyo on the journey. Thus her long journey begins, not only to find the Iron Crown but to deal with many gut retching issues that seem to find Eugenie at every corner she turns. Between choosing who to trust as a partner, how to maintain her human life, as well as what to do with the unfolding problems that take place at the end. This book has a number of twists and turns, it is hard to pick a side when so many have wronged Eugenie. Then there is the pressure of the pesky prophecy of her unborn male heir taking over and destroying the human world.

Its predecessors were nail bitingly intriguing, action packed and fast paced. Unfortunately I found this third book to be lacking. The love triangle between Eugenie, Dorian and Kiyo is still going strong, However, the constant back and forthher two lovers is becoming overwhelming and predictable. Since both of her lovers have wronged her in their own fashion, I find myself constantly switching between the two as well, maybe this is what Ms. Meade is going for, but I find it unsettling.

For the first half of this book I had a sense of deja vu. It sounded so similar to Storm Born, book 1. Sister gets kidnapped, must find sister, finds sister and claims a new kingdom all the while hating Dorian and building a relationship with Kiyo. The human world story with the ghost, Deanna, felt rushed and under-whelming. But thankfully the twists toward the end saved this book. It was unexpected and I loved it. It left me hitting my "next page" button over and over again only to find out it was over..... well.. at least until book 4.

Overall, it's a good "filler" series to keep you occupied, but I strongly recommend reading the first two books in this series.

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