Shadowfever By Karen Marie Moning - Fever #5 Book Review

"Evil is a completely different creature, Mac. Evil is bad that believes it's good."

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.

Oh my god.

Oh.  My.  God.

Oh my god!!!!

I’m having trouble finding other words to describe this book, but we’ll start with these;

Dark
Suspenseful
Tense
Sexy
Un-freaking-believable

And the only one that really matters; BARRONS! BarronsBarronsBarronsBarrons….  Really, I could go on all day like this.

I know I’m mega-late to be jumping on the bandwagon of hype for the Fever series, but I don’t care.  I am making it my life’s mission to shove this down the throat of every dark urban fantasy reader I know who hasn’t already read this.  The days of shock over liking this series after a questionable first book are long over.  For the past four books, I’ve been gasping, grinning, panting, laughing, and tearing through pages like the obsessive bookworm that I am.

By the end of Dreamfever, I was having some serious doubts that Moning could deliver all the answers that were still barely hinted at after four books in the last one without info-dumping all over my expectations, but she delivered.  Boy oh boy oh Barrons…er, boy, did she deliver.  Throwing about a hundred and one curveballs along the way, and supplying us with one of the biggest twists I have ever read.  Ever.  Seriously.  I’m still reeling over it, and I finished the book days ago.

I can’t get into this book without calling down the wrath of the spoilers – seriously, I can’t; it was that eventful of a book – but by now we all know what this series is about; ex –preppy-girl Mac and her complicated relationship with employer Jericho Barrons, and their search for the Sinsar Dubh; a book of fae magic so evil and ancient that it took on a sinister sentience and life of its own.  At its core, that’s what the Fever series has always been about.  The mystery, the character growth, the increasingly dark tone and atmosphere, and the perfect suspense have certainly made it seem like it’s got a deeper central plot to it, though.  This proves that a talented enough author can take the most simple idea, layer it with amazing characters, sexy sexiness, agonizing mystery and a dark setting, and give us one of the most addictive reading experiences ever.

Oh, and Barrons.  Can’t forget Barrons.  I get the naughties just typing out his names.

Beneath the obvious kick-assery of Shadowfever, there were a few flaws, which I feel obligated to list even though I loved this book to an almost alarming degree.  My biggest issue with it and the only one that actively took away from my enjoyment was Barrons’ identity reveal.  We find out what he is, but it’s not as satisfying as I’d have hoped.  It works for the story and it makes sense, but my hands-down favorite character was not the cause of my biggest OMFG WTF DID MONING JUST DO TO MY HEART??? moment, and that…well, it made me sad.  Barrons is supposed to have a monopoly on OMG moments in this series, it just seems wrong for him to not own the biggest one.

Mac’s narrative is still riddled with too many questions, maybe even a little more so in Shadowfever than the previous books.  By now I’m mostly used to it, but I did notice it and even rolled my eyes at it once or twice.  I love her character development, she’s got a permanent place on my Most Kick-Ass Heroines list, but man, that girl muses a lot.  How she doesn’t have a perpetually thoughtful expression, complete with drawn brows and pursed lips, is beyond me.

But ignore those flaws because I would unhesitatingly, without a doubt recommend this series to anyone and everyone who can handle the darker side of reading.  Each one gets better than the last, and by the time you get to Shadowfever, you’ll have a treat of a book whose ending will leave you in a reading slump just because you know the next book you read can in no way compare to the thrilling ride Moning took you on with her Fever series.

 

Shadowfever - 5 out of 5 stars