Dark Swan Pt. 1

               It has been a while since I’ve posted much and that is very bad of me but I have found myself stuck in a rut so to speak.  Not much happening or inspiring me to write so I was bad and watched the wonderfully funny and witty show White Collar from start to current in the last week.

                Aside from my TV marathon I have also in the last couple of days read the first 2 of the Dark Swan books, Storm Born and Thorn Queen.  They are a break from the YA books I normally read however I enjoyed Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series and the current Bloodlines series I had to check these out. 

                I am only half way through as I still have 2 more books to read in my kindle but I also have some other stories to read first.  I have enjoyed the world of Eugenie Markham.  She is a tough as nails heroine who has shamanic powers and works to keep her section of the world safe from creatures of the Otherworld by banishing them away.  Eugenie has been raised by her mother and step father Roland, who is a retired shaman, and trained in the family business.  The gentry, creatures of the Otherworld, are evil and need to be banished, simple as that. 

                Throughout the story she finds herself spending time in the Otherworld with gentry and seeing not all of them are like the evil creatures she thought.  Conflicting sides of her mind spin as she comes to terms with what she knows and who she is in a way that as a reader I felt drawn in by. 

                Now this story isn’t for the faint of heart there is quite a bit of steamy love scene and adult scenes with lots of language, talk of death in graphic imagery, and even talk of rape.  Still the first book is wonderful to me in that it took me into the world of Tucson or the Otherworld itself.  The different types of gentry and their magic as well as the characters.  From King Dorian who is dark, devious, yet sexy; to Kiyo mysterious and sexy but also something more, to her roommate Tim who always has something to say and the demon minions who have a mind of their own and even in talk of death made me giggle.  I found the first book a quick read unable to put down for too long and ready to pick up the second.

                Not much can be said about the 2^nd book without giving away the end of the first book so I’ll keep it simple in that I enjoyed it just as much and am eager to finish reading books 3 and 4.  However as before same thing still applies, there is the bad stuff in this however more so.  Not for the faint of heart.  I never have a hard time reading things but even I felt myself react to this, the horrible nature of a couple of chapters I couldn’t believe but couldn’t stop reading all the same.  Very powerful.

                So that is all I have for now.  I will post more reviews as I continue to read.  So to any readers out there I’ll end this with a question to you.  I realize these books aren’t considered YA, but in that respect what do you think is too far or too much in YA?  What crosses the line from YA to Adult?  Is it the age of the character or the detail and graphic nature of the material?  Can’t wait to read your thoughts.