Book Review: Shadow Heir by Richelle Mead

Shadow Heir
Dark Swan #4
Author: Richelle Mead
Reading Level: Adult
Published: December 27th 2011
Review Source: Zebra/Kensington Publishing Corp
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) #1 New York Times bestselling author Richelle Mead returns to the Otherworld, a mystic land inextricably linked to our own--and balanced precariously on one woman's desperate courage...

Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham strives to keep the mortal realm safe from trespassing entities. But as the Thorn Land's prophecy-haunted queen, there's no refuge for her and her soon-to-be-born-children when a mysterious blight begins to devastate the Otherworld...

The spell-driven source of the blight isn't the only challenge to Eugenie's instincts. Fairy king Dorian is sacrificing everything to help, but Eugenie can't trust the synergy drawing them back together. The uneasy truce between her and her shape shifter ex-lover Kiyo is endangered by secrets he can't--or won't--reveal. And as a formidable force rises to also threaten the human world, Eugenie must use her own cursed fate as a weapon--and risk the ultimate sacrifice..

Dark Swan Series – 4th & final Installment for the series.

Eugene, a half human Shaman and otherworld fairy, queen of two worlds in the Otherworld and daughter of the Storm King, had to keep running for her life and the life of her soon to be twins. This all came to be when the prophecy that the Storm King’s first grandson will invade the human world and the believe that the son she is carrying is the one. To protect her twins, painful decisions had to be made that unknowingly affecting the Otherworld Kingdoms. Immediately after the birth of her twins in her exile in the human world, she finds out that her lands and those of other kingdoms are under a terrible magic induced blight and that she is the only one that is strong enough and has a chance of saving the people from a terrible outcome. Dorian, a fairy king and her most trusted allied joins with her and other key people in the journey to gain back control and set right the Otherworld to avoid the oblivion of the worlds as they know them. Long believed forgotten feelings and love enter in the fight for trust and truth between Eugene and Dorian while they embark in a roller coaster full of up & downs with sudden twists. The story will keep you on your toes, you will see the relationship flourish and a lot of secrets are discovered to keep you wondering.

In other words the book grabs you and will not release you to the end, there is where my only disenchantment happens, the closure expected is not there. Being the final book of a series, I would have liked to feel closure, the decisions taken left a bittersweet taste and expectations for more at the very end. Don’t misunderstand me, the book is great and I would read it again and recommend it to the fans of the series.