Iron Crowned [Mass Market Paperback]

I liked the first two books in this series, quite a lot.
I liked the main character, Eugenie, during those first two books, quite a lot. (Her name, on the other hand, I've never liked, but you can't have everything)

And then there was THIS.
After months of anticipation, I finally had the book, and....

------------------Spoilers Below-------------------------

At first all is well; our heroine is doing her thing, and being queen-like when she needs to be, and basically seems to be growing into her responsibilities quite well (while still enjoying herself on occasion).

Then, things go off the rails.
During the 'realization scene', where she suddenly has the horrible realization that ::GASP!!!:: Dorian has acting in a completely Dorian-like fashion, by manipulating her (in such a way as to make her more powerful, in such a way as to end the war--just as she wanted--, and in no way whatsoever as a betrayal of her)....
Well, that was the exact moment when the plot of the book drove into a massive hole in the road which jarred me completely out of the story.
Seriously, it seemed to me EXACTLY as if, while outlining this book in preparation for writing it, Richelle Mead had at one point written "And then, right about here, Eugenie has to do another 180 degree turn, and decide she hates Dorian, and wants Kiyo again. (don't worry about all of the very excellent reasons she left him; that was all the way in the last book, and my readers will have forgotten alllllll about that by the time they read this one).

The speed with which she decides to throw away her relationship with the man who has unfailingly supported her, in favor of the one who has NOT, is just dizzying. The speed with which she drops her pants and leaps into a session of nasty sex with Kiyo, as 'revenge' on Dorian, is sickening.
Yes, I completely and totally agree that it's her body, and her life, and she can do whatever she wants, but this turn of events read as SO irrational, and so bizarre, given what had happened up to that point, that it just made her look like a vile, sleezy, all-around beotch.

I lost a LOT of respect for Eugenie after that; to be perfectly honest, roughly 60% of my enthusiasm for reading the rest of the book vanished at that point.

As for the Pregnancy issue... again, I was very, very disappointed. She'd made her statements, over and over and over again, regarding what she would do if she were forced to deal with this situation. And yet, when the time came, her iron resolve vanishes in an instant.
This person only vaguely resembles the character I followed through the first two books, and I find I dislike this new version quite a lot.

Even leaving aside the problems with the main character, the 'Quest' she undertakes is frankly laughable. For something so awesomely powerful, the Iron Crown is 'guarded' by a set of obstacles that any competent adventurer could best in her sleep. Certainly it nearly put ME to sleep (failing mainly because it was over so quickly; I barely had time to close my eyes before it was over).

I seriously doubt that I'll buy the next book in this series, unless I find it in a bookstore and skim the first chapter to find some seriously impressive stuff to change my mind.

1 and 1/2 Stars for this one.

I liked the two previous Dark Swain novels and eagerly awaited this release. I am so disappointed in this third installment. Instead of the kick-butt shaman we saw in the prior two novels, in this installment Eugenie is spineless and borders on the too stupid to live stereotype. After the events at the end of book two, there is no way any sane women would do what Eugenie did in this book with Kiyo. No way. I understand an author wanting to put up roadblocks for her characters, but I feel like Eugenie had a lobotomy in this book. She was too way out of character for me.

SPOILER Line Don't Cross

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I am infuriated with how easily Eugenie went back to Kiyo and slept with him. He totally betrayed her in book two, but because Dorian (who has always been a liar and power hungry schemer) stayed true to form and set up Eugenie she walks away from him without a backwards glance and sleeps with Kiyo (a guy hung up on his ex and so political as to not want to take action against Eugenie's rapist). No way. The pregnancy plot made me want to vomit. I felt violated by having her carry Kiyo's kids. No self respecting woman would let him get away with the way he treats Eugenie (the animal way he takes her, the relationship with his ex, the way he is always betraying her), let alone the powerful queen shaman that she is supposed to be. I felt this installment really went in a wrong direction.

First off, I would like to state just how much anticipation I had riding on this book. I'm sourly disappointed. It's almost as if I'm waiting for Richelle to poke her head out and be like "surprise!", issuing us all a new due date for the next installment and releasing it in a months time to redeem this mess. I'm thinking we deserve it.

Spoilers
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Eugenie was the obvious issue in this book. Her original character traits seemed artificial and lacked the certified umf! she originally set out with in the first two books. I'm entirely fed up with Eugenie being torn between her human life and the gentry. In the last book we left off with a queen and then in Iron Crowned, yet again, we got the unsure irresponsible Eugenie we dealt with in the first book. In Iron Crowned, we're presented with a woman utterly controlled by both the urge to be immature and oblivious, abandoning the otherworld to pursue her life in the real world, and an "imposing" war, that isn't much of a war at all.

That was almost equally disappointing, the fact that Richelle left the other book off with seemingly an army at Eugenie's doorstep and then we didn't get to experience Eugenie in heavy combat aside from that flimsy nonsensical quest for the almighty iron crown. Total BS. However, I appreciated the time she had with Dorian, but that's where half of this goes amidst, right?

Eugenie "mentally" breaks up with him after he "betrayed" her, and then jumps in to rough disgusting sex with Kiyo to get "back at him". Was part of getting back at him dating the idiot for seven weeks? Kiyo's character is dull, and so hum drum I could hardly keep my eyes open through the drab course of Eugenie abandoning all of her responsibilities and spending her dreadful boring time with Kiyo. Oh, but, they both love to hike! That counts for something.

Did I mentioned that he tries to kill her? What happened to big tough Eugenie? Why would she let such an impostor into her life with willing arms, and then say that Dorian is the betrayer when everything he said ended up being true which ultimately lead to saving her ass? The scene in which she begged him for hospitality should have done it for everyone. There goes Eugenie, her whole tough exterior gone in a matter of minutes.

I haven't even gotten to the silver lining, though! Did I not mention that she's pregnant? The whole concept is mediocre in itself. Even though pregnancies are totally normal, used in this context I felt like I was reading a horrific scifi novel. There was nothing pleasant about the fact that Eugenie got knocked up, especially since it's Kiyo's, a half fox dude who likes to do it doggy-style and already has a few puppies of his own.

And now she has twins? I wouldn't be surprised if in the next book one twin ends up being Dorian's and the other Kiyo's, wouldn't that scar us all for life? Because I think that's what Richelle was trying to do here. I don't understand how she's going to make the next book better. If Eugenie is going to be pregnant she'll be out of commission, which leads for another boring portion of the series. When she has them, she'll probably be bent on protecting them and let Dorian do all of her dirty work as per usual, and then question his motives once more and kick him to the curb. I'm not even excited about there being little Eugenie's running around because all I can think of is who their father is.