Review: Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning

Here's the one book that I did finish on my trip that created a lot of panic for me.  Talk about a cliffhanger!  Thankfully I'm off in the last book in the series, so as soon as my meetings are over this week I can get back to reading!

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "When the walls between Man and Fae come crashing down, freeing the insatiable, immortal Unseelie from their icy prison, MacKayla Lane is caught in a deadly trap. Captured by the Fae Lord Master, she is left with no memory of who or what she is: the only sidhe-seer alive who can track the Sinsar Dubh, a book of arcane black magic that holds the key to controlling both worlds.

Clawing her way back from oblivion is only the first step Mac must take down a perilous path, from the battle-filled streets of Dublin to the treacherous politics of an ancient, secret sect, through the tangled lies of men who claim to be her allies into the illusory world of the Fae themselves, where nothing is as it seems—and Mac is forced to face a soul-shattering truth."

Review:  While I was on vacation, I finished Dreamfever.  For anyone who has read this series, you know that book four ends with a HUGE cliffhanger!  Here I was in London, frantically trying to get wireless in my hotel so that I could see if I could download the next book from Amazon.  By the time I get on, what do I find but that it's over $20!  Yes, I was crushed.  See, I was enough of a cheapskate that I just couldn't download it when I knew the book was sitting at home on my table.  I had enough foresight to pick it up from the library before I left, but not enough to actually bring it with me!  What I didn't anticipate was the giant, gasp-worthy moment that ended Dreamfever that had me in a panic for the next book!  Ironically, the price went down after I got home.

In the fourth installment Mikayla is left picking up the pieces from a showdown with some serious bad guys who are aiming to find the powerful Sinsar Dubh to gain its power.  Just when we think that Mikayla couldn't possibly recover from the trauma and pain she has gone through, Barrons steps in to help her.  The problem is that we don't quite know who he really is, why he's helping her, or what he is to begin with.  Because of that, Mikayla remains cold and aloof from the other characters in the book, and rightfully so.  At this point, all Mikayla wants is resolution and her family kept safe from the evil that is pouring forth on the world.

Without saying anything more that could ruin this installment, I have to say that you really should have the next book handy when you finish.  Each of the books in the series has had a twist that forces you to keep reading, but this one really is painful not to know!  Mikayla has grown darker, shrewder, and tougher through her experiences.  On one hand the softer person we were introduced to feels sadly lost, but this new Mikayla seems like just the person to get the job done that she knows she has to do. 

By this point, I can't put this series down.  I thought there might have been some hype built up around these books, but have to say that I get it now!  They're neither romance nor suspense, but have both elements in them.  There's magic and seemingly paranormal creatures involved, all in a fantasy-like backdrop that takes place in Ireland.  They are both funny and tragic, scary and sweet.  It's in these dichotomies that Moning created such a consuming read.  Thankfully I have my hands on the last book so I can find out what happened after the major cliffhanger that ended this book!  All right, I'm off to keep reading.


*FTC Disclosure:  Review is based on a personal copy of the book.