Review: Iron Crowned

Iron Crowned

By Richelle Mead

• Publisher: Kensington Publishing
• Published: 22 February 2011
• Format: Paperback 352 pages
• ISBN 13: 9781420111798 ISBN 10: 1420111795

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…


I'm not entirely sure where to start with this review. Be it because I haven't done one in such a long time, or it could also have something to do with the fact that I didn't enjoy this one as much as I anticipated I would.

I am a HUUUUGE fan of the Dark Swan books, but this one failed to keep me as entertained as the first two in the series. Don't get me wrong there are some good twists and turns here and there but it just felt like it fell short of the mark I subconsciously set for it.


With everything that was going on in the main part of the story it seemed the relationships between characters missed a bit of the depth I thought they had in previous books. In Thorn Queen you could feel the attraction between Dorian and Eugenie jump off the pages. Very quickly into Iron Crowned it seemed that relationship was muted. It was very two dimensional and made it a little hard for me to continue on.

Once I did get past that, I found quite a bit of the story was easily predicted. Plot twists that I knew should be shocking and clever just seemed a little lame and due to clues earlier on the book really did come across as predictable. I had a few "Ahhh, they finally spit it out" moments.


I hate reviews that spoil the plot for those who haven't read the book yet, so I will leave it at that for now because things change pretty early in the story and frankly it's been so long since I wrote a review I don't want you guys to get bored of my inane dribble just yet :)

All in all I actually still give this one a 4/5. But that is purely because of my love of the books and because I am really hoping things pick up a bit in the next one.