Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Review: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning caught my attention after all the Twitter conversations I caught about the newest release, Shadowfever.  Everyone was so excited about its release and talking about it for weeks, that I went back to check out a few reviews of previous installments.  In short, I decided I'd give them a try!

Synopsis:   McKayla Lane has lived a happy, carefree life until she learned that her sister had been murdered in Ireland, where she was attending school.  Grief stricken, and led by a frightening last phone message left by her sister, McKayla left for Ireland to solve her sister's mysterious death.  Once there, she quickly found that she and her sister had strange powers that allowed her to see beyond her human world into the world of the Fae.  From there her adventure took on a whole new direction, leading her into terrifying discoveries about the magical world and a strange camaraderie with a Fae man named Jericho Barrons, who just might be as likely to kill her as to help her find her sister's killer.

Review:  This first book in the Fever series is a bit action-intense, with a lot of basic information the reader needs to really grasp the world created by Moning.  Rather than really try to sort it out, I just kept reading, hoping that sooner or later I'd get the main idea behind the "Fae" world and who was good and bad.  That might have been too simple of an approach, seeing as most of the characters could have been good and bad for all we knew.  It's that limbo as readers that left me nervous for McKayla throughout much of the book.  Jericho Barrons, the guy who takes her in, is described as some type of massive male Adonis, built to protect and defend, brooding and sulking in a very manly fashion.  The thing is, in this first installment, there is little you feel you know about him, and therefore never feel certain whether he is there to help McKayla or not. 

McKayla is a quick character to get a grasp on, but I often felt like she was in so much danger from the start, that I didn't really have a chance to like her or not.  Okay, so she's our main character and I don't want to see her die at the hands of some shadow-like creature or crazy demon, but other than that, I don't know that I get her yet.   Jericho is just the brooding male figure in the story so far, and the other peripheral characters all blend in the background of what is a fast-moving story.

My thought is that this first book must be meant to give the reader a good understanding of the Fae world that Moning has set up.  This isn't a book I'd skip to move on to later installments, as I'm already part way into the second book and can see how lost you'd be without the first.  The action is crazy at times, scary at times, and even a little sad at times, but really all intriguing.  I'm one to usually get annoyed or bored with drawn out fight scenes or Paranormals galore, but these books have me intrigued and I'm going to keep reading them.  They definitely have their own unique premise on the Paranormal world!

8 comments:

  1. I have this one waiting to be read on my Nook. It sounds like it's going to be an interesting read.

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  2. Marla--It's an interesting start into the series, but obviously not really a stand alone. At least from my opinion it's not. It's good, but it definitely takes some setting up. I can see that others down the road will get even more intense! Have fun reading it. :)

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  3. I was going to read this book but a close friend told me that it wasn't for me at all, so I decided to skip it. Maybe one day I will change my mind and see what all the fuss is about...

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  4. I absolutely love this series! I only have Shadowfever left and I'm looking forward to it. It's definitely a series to read in order though as each book builds into the next. I really like Mac - she's quite the character.

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  5. Barrons does everything in a very manly fashion. ;)

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  6. Yay! I'm so glad you're finally reading this series. I just hope you like Barrons as much as Tasha and I do! The books just get more and more intense, and none of them are stand alone books.

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  7. Thanks for the review! I haven't read this series either. It's good to know I definitely need to start from the beginning.

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  8. Kailana--I'm not sure what your type is, but they are pretty good actually. I can tell though that this first one has to be read with the others to really get going.

    Darlene--I'm glad you liked it! That will help me hand on some more. :)

    Heidenkind--LOL. Well, I'll hope so!

    A Buckeye Girl--Yes, I couldn't pass it up after all your tweets and other recommendations. :) It must be a great series for such a buzz to be going around on that last book!

    Delphyne--You'll have to check it out. These books have been getting an awful lot of buzz.

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