Review - Shadowfever (Fever #5) by Karen Marie Moning

Title: Shadowfever

Author: Karen Marie Moning

Pages: 594

Series: 5th (Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever)

Published: January 18th 2011 by Delacorte Pres

ISBN: 9780385341677

Source: Library

 

Description: MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina, were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever.  Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister’s murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gifted and cursed, Mac is plunged into a secret history: an ancient conflict between humans and immortals who have lived concealed among us for thousands of years.   What follows is a shocking chain of events with devastating consequences, and now Mac struggles to cope with grief while continuing her mission to acquire and control the Sinsar Dubh—a book of dark, forbidden magic scribed by the mythical Unseelie King, containing the power to create and destroy worlds.  In an epic battle between humans and Fae, the hunter becomes the hunted when the Sinsar Dubh turns on Mac and begins mowing a deadly path through those she loves.  Who can she turn to? Who can she trust? Who is the woman haunting her dreams? More important, who is Mac herself and what is the destiny she glimpses in the black and crimson designs of an ancient tarot card?  From the luxury of the Lord Master’s penthouse to the sordid depths of an Unseelie nightclub, from the erotic bed of her lover to the terrifying bed of the Unseelie King, Mac’s journey will force her to face the truth of her exile, and to make a choice that will either save the world . . . or destroy it. 

I Give This ...

It's so hard to adequately review series books.  I often feel like I'm repeating myself when it comes to characters and events.  With this series especially, I feel like I'm way to repetitious. So what do you say about the 5th and final book in a series...I'm going to give it my best shot.

Mac was extremely interesting in this book.  Her whole demeanor changed after the events of the 4th books.  I'm glad it wasn't long lasting because I felt this character was not the answer to finding the Sinsar Subh.  Without giving away too many spoilers, things aren't always what they seem.  And I think it really shows how Mac feels about certain people.  And damn him all to hell for thinking otherwise. 

There are some events that lead to startling discoveries.   Who learn who/what Barren actually is(was).   And it's completely not what I thought.   We learn a lot about the sisterhood and maybe some truth behind it's purpose and its origin.  We also learn some really interesting things about Mac.  The story really waivers back and forth between who she might really be.  And while I never believed she was really the Seelie King, there is defiantly interesting evidence pointing otherwise.  

While there are some fast moving sections, I often wondered why this book was so long.  There seemed to be parts that really rambled on for nothing.  I think I might have enjoyed the book just a little more had it been shorter.  I'm giving the book a 4 ratings because I was satisfied with the overall ending and the journey we took to get here.  Now, I just need to decide how much the next series she's written will tie into this one!

Review - Dreamfever (Fever #4) by Karen Marie Moning

Title: Dreamfever

Author: Karen Marie Moning

Series: 4th (Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever)

Pages: 400

Published: August 18th 2009 by Delacorte Press 

ISBN:  9780385341653

Source: Library

 

Description: MacKayla Lane lies naked on the cold stone floor of a church, at the mercy of the erotic Fae master she once swore to kill. Far from home, unable to control her sexual hungers, MacKayla is now fully under the Lord Master’s spell.…The walls between human and Fae worlds have come crashing down. And as Mac fights for survival on Dublin’s battle-scarred streets, she will embark on the darkest—and most erotically charged—adventure of her life.  He has stolen her past, but MacKayla will never allow her sister’s murderer to take her future. Yet even the uniquely gifted sidhe-seer is no match for the Lord Master, who has unleashed an insatiable sexual craving that consumes Mac’s every thought—and thrusts her into the seductive realm of two very dangerous men, both of whom she desires but dares not trust.  As the enigmatic Jericho Barrons and the sensual Fae prince V’lane vie for her body and soul, as cryptic entries from her sister’s diary mysteriously appear and the power of the Dark Book weaves its annihilating path through the city, Mac’s greatest enemy delivers a final challenge.… It’s an invitation Mac cannot refuse, one that sends her racing home to Georgia, where an even darker threat awaits. With her parents missing and the lives of her loved ones under siege, Mac is about to come face-to-face with a soul-shattering truth—about herself and her sister, about Jericho Barrons…and about the world she thought she knew.

I Give This ...

The end of the third book left be reeling.  But, diving into the next book had to wait due to the stack of review books that I let get a little out of control.  But, when the pile dwindled down, you can bet this was one of the first book I picked up from the library.

I was curious how Mac was going to get out of the predicament that she was in.  No one has come back after being made Pri-Ya.  I didn't fully grasp what that meant, but the book when on to give up a feel for it without really making it a focal point of the story.  I was more concerned that Mac get back to her regular ass kicking self, and thankfully the book was too.  Granted, it was damn interesting how she gets herself back.  It was not what I was expecting, although I was waiting for it to happen.  

Once Mac comes back, she's on a mission.  I know she's been on one all along, but it's like a switch was flipped.  She's not going to take shit from anybody.  She wants her city back, her sister's murder avenged, her parents safe, and the naysayers to shut up.  She may be Rainbow Girl, but she's going to mix in some black while she's at it.  I loved how she recognizes that she can't do it all on her own.  She's needs help and is finally willing to bend a little to get it.

I loved the descriptions of the chaos the world is in.  The world has changed drastically while she was out of it.  Fae have openly taken over the city.  People are either dieing in drastic numbers or willing to become the Fae's prey.  But, all Mac's fighting comes to a grinding halt when the Lord Master makes good on a threat.  He kidnaps Mac's parents and she must travel through the mirrors to get them back.  Absolutely intense...and a huge cliffhanger.  

This series has been awesome so far.  Hopefully back to school won't cause me to put the next book in the series on the back burner for too long!

  

Faefever (Fever #3) by Karen Marie Moning

Title: FaeFever

Author: Karen Marie Moning

Series: #3, (DarkFever, BloodFever)

Pages: 327

Published: September 16th 2008 by Delacorte Press

ISBN: 9780385341639

Source: Library

Description: He calls me his Queen of the Night. I’d die for him. I’d kill for him, too. When MacKayla Lane receives a torn page from her dead sister’s journal, she is stunned by Alina’s desperate words. And now MacKayla knows that her sister’s killer is close. But evil is closer. And suddenly the sidhe-seer is on the hunt: For answers. For revenge. And for an ancient book of dark magic so evil, it corrupts anyone who touches it.  Mac’s quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shape-shifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious cop on her tail. Forced into a dangerous triangle of alliance with V’lane, an insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes, and Jericho Barrons, a man of primal desires and untold secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind, and soul.  As All Hallows’ Eve approaches and the city descends into chaos, as a shocking truth about the Dark Book is uncovered, not even Mac can prevent a deadly race of immortals from shattering the walls between worlds—with devastating consequences.… 

I Give This ...

This series can sometimes get a little intense at parts.  This one was no exception.  The entire ending left me reeling from what happened.   I can not imagine were this story goes next.

I think Mac really comes into her own in this book.  She refused to be pushed around.  She lays down rules when it comes to both Jericho and V'lane.  I think they both begin to respect those boundaries because they are starting to see what she is capable of.  Every book her character has progressed past the spoiled young adult she once was.  She seems to be making more decisions with actual thought behind them without rushing forward.  She wants to get to the bottom of this problem faster than she is, but she's being more careful.

I still want to know what Barrons is.  I think I have an idea, but I'm not entirely sure.  What ever it is, he has an incredible draw to him that I can feel through the pages.  I like V'lane too, but he's lost some of his edge he had in the beginning.  His interactions with Mac make me think he's infatuated with her and I didn't think that was possible.

I also learned a lot about the Fae world in this installment.  Funny how you can read different books concerning the same world and how they can be similar and yet not.  I liked learning about the Dark Book and the song of creation.  The courts and how they are structures was fascinating.  And the ending...I can't even begin to describe what was going through my head then.  Sometimes it felt like it was too much, but at the same time it was important to show how these Fae differed from the ones Mac had been interacting with.

I can't wait to read the next one! 

 

    

Review - Bloodfever (Fever #2) by Karen Marie Moning

Title: Bloodfever

Author: Karen Marie Moning

Series: 2nd (Darkfever)

Pages: 303

Published: October 16th 2007 by Delacorte Press

ISBN: 9780385339162

Source: Library

Description: I used to be your average, everyday girl but all that changed one night in Dublin when I saw my first Fae, and got dragged into a world of deadly immortals and ancient secrets. . . .In her fight to stay alive, MacKayla must find the Sinsar Dubh—a million-year-old book of the blackest magic imaginable, which holds the key to power over the worlds of both the Fae and Man. Pursued by assassins, surrounded by mysterious figures she knows she can’t trust, Mac finds herself torn between two deadly and powerful men: V’lane, the immortal Fae Prince, and Jericho Barrons, a man as irresistible as he is dangerous.  For centuries the shadowy realm of the Fae has coexisted with that of humans. Now the walls between the two are coming down, and Mac is the only thing that stands between them.

I Give This ...

Why oh why did I wait so long to read this?   I enjoyed the first one so one would think that the next in the series would be read as soon as possible.  Such was not the case.  I'm glad to finally get to it.

With so long between books, I once again was afraid of missing information.  But, I never once felt lost with the story line.  The author does a fantastic job feeling in the gaps when bridging the two books.   The events build off what has already occurred.  Jericho covets Mac's special ability to locate objects of power.  Things that shouldn't be in human hands (and maybe not in the hand of the Fae either).  I find it interesting how these objects give off vibes that Mac can sense.  And the Sinsar Dubh give off a vibe so powerful that it knocks Mac unconscious just to be near it.  How can they every locate it if she can't get near it?  And who has it?  Those are two questions that I'm dieing to know.

Mac has changed a lot since we meet her in book one.  Gone is the carefree spoiled little girl.  She's harded a lot by the events that she has been forced to witness.  I think it's evident by the way she handles the detective (who is bound a determined to pin something on her) and the brother of a man she killed (who is determined to extract revenge on whoever was responsible for his brother's death).  Ever a surprise visit for her father doesn't crumble her determination to punish the one who caused her sisters death.  

There's less V'lane in this story.  Something I wasn't quite sure about.  He seems to be struggling with his own feelings towards Mac.  He has a hard time understanding why is advances to work on Mac the way they normally do.  And then he does something that totally surprises me.  He's definitely not your typical Seelie prince.  There is lots of Jericho in this story.  The tension between Mac and Jericho you can cut with a knife.   I'm begging to understand a little bit about him and can't wait to find out more.

A bit slower than the first book, but still an great read.  I'll have to make sure that the next one doesn't take so long to get to!

Darkfever (Fever #1) by Karen Marie Moning

Title: Darkfever

Author: Karen Marie Moning

Series: 1st in Fever series

Pages: 304

Published: August 2006 by Delcorte Press

ISBN: 9780739474235

Source: Library

 

Description: MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman. Or so she thinks…until something extraordinary happens. When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae…. As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless Vlane–an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women–closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book–because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands…. 

I Give This ...

I've had this on my to-read list for quite awhile.  But, other books kept jumping out at me.  I'm glad I finally picked it up.  It's a very interesting start to a series I think I will really enjoy.

If it weren't for the sexual aspect of this book, it could be borderline YA.  MacKayla is only 24, and still has some late teen tendencies.   She's young, naive, and somewhat unfocused.  She's content to go through life for the moment, although you get the feeling she's on the brink of being forced to grow up.  And then here sister is murdered, and she feels like she's the only one who can solve the case.  It's amazing how fast she recognizes her own shortcomings in actually accomplishing this task.  It's also amazing how fast she gets in over her head.  But, I liked her.  She had a mouth, without being vulgar.  And she knew what she wanted.

The world of the Fae is different in this one.  It's much more dark and gruesome.  Mainly because the few books I have read, don't focus so much on the Unseelie.  Vlane was interesting.  His story line alone is what pushed this book into adult paranormal (if not down right erotica for his short appearances in this book).  Maybe that's what made me think we would eventually get some release for the obvious sexual tension between Mac and Jericho (not to mention the cover of the book).  


But, why everything was there for a great book, it just felt a little slow to me.  And there was just something missing (I can't put my finger on it).  I'm greatly intrigued though and will definitely continue the series.