Book Review: Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning (Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever)

Click picture for more details on the series

Fever Series, Books 1-4 

By Karen Marie Moning 

Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever

Series Summary:

MacKayla Lane’s is a 22-year old small town girl from Georgia who likes pink manicures, laying in the sun and dressing up.

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 V’lane–a Fae Prince who makes sex an addiction for human women–closes in on her. Pursued by Fae assassins, surrounded by mysterious figures she knows she cannot trust, Mac finds herself torn between the two deadly and irresistible men.

And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh, an ancient book of dark magic so evil, it corrupts anyone who touches it, 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. 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.

Her 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 and Jericho Barrons, 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.

Then the walls between human and Fae worlds come crashing down. MacKayla Lane finds herself at the mercy of the erotic Fae master she once swore to kill. Far from home, unable to control her sexual hungers, she is now fully under the Lord Master's spell. He has stolen her past, but Mac 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 her 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 she rallies the sidhe-seers to fight an impossible battle, 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 about the world she thought she knew.

My thoughts:

I’m going to sort of cadence my thoughts on these books because I pretty much had the same opinion on each one and it seems like I have no time this week. I was 'eh' on Darkfever and Bloodfever but funny thing is, I couldn’t put them down! I devoured all these books in a day each and I started really getting into it by Faefever and found myself staying up all night to read it and Dreamfever.

Mac tells the story of her journey in first person, but it gets carried away a bit on introspect and the series in whole has a major over abundance of world building. I skimmed over a lot of parts. I really wish we could of delved more into revealing the MC’s true feelings and some of the side characters, I just didn’t feel there was enough character depth to any of them. At the beginning you know Mac’s grief over her sister’s death but that is the extent of her character except for a bit of teenage crushing. Then as the story progresses Mac matures a bit, her grief turns to thoughts of revenge and she is constantly back and forth about everything. Make up your mind woman!

Both men, Barrons and V’lane are hot and sexy and each have their own unique appeal but…

Barrons is brutal and seems to have no feelings whatsoever and as the series continues you learn very little about him. You finally start getting glimpses of a hidden heart here and there but it's like a grain of sand, very tiny. In Dreamfever you finally get a little itsy bit more then that small grain though. =)

V’lane on the other hand I felt was decently put together (and you can take that statement a lot of ways, hehe), but you wonder about a hidden agenda with him as well. Which I know is part of the story but I would really enjoy a little tidbit every now and then to see into the character. (But shh...I'm voting for Barron at the end. Sexy, dark, mysterious, oh yes...)

The romance, heh, drove me crazy. You get a whole bunch of romantic build up, and then you’re left wanting, no end or conclusion. It’s enough to throw your book or ereader across the room. For reals. The end of Faefever and the beginning of Dreamfever have some very intense sex scenes, then the scenes transform, it’s not all roses and chocolates but still pretty hawt. And then….we’re back to to where we started.

And cliffhangers, I have never scene cliffhangers that were more evil then the ones in this series. Bad author, no cookie! And OMG, the one at the end of Dreamfever is The. Abosolute. Worst. Ever! Ahhh! So now I’m going to be stewing until January when Shadowfever is released.

On a good note, despite the lack of character depth I did find myself relating to Mac. My heart sped up with hers; my chest hurt with hers, I got angry, hurt and confused right along with her. Oh and what she says at the beginning of Darkfever, about books and reading, yep yep. My thoughts exactly! And BB&B would be an awesome place to work, I would fall in love with it as well. 

There is terrific dialogue and the story line is strong, intricate and draws you in but the plot pace is inconsistent, sometimes it moves with a fast, great flow and other times it drags.

The series is very dark and full of mystery & suspense. The action in the first two books, Darkfever and Bloodfever, is somewhat ‘eh’ but it gets better in Faefever and turns fast & intense.

Over all the series is a good read and it seems to keep getting better and better with each book, so I am looking forward to the release of Shadowfever on January 18^th.

Darkever-

Rating: 2 Wine Glasses

Bloodfever-

Rating: 2 Wine Glasses

Faefever-

Rating: 3 Wine Glasses

All of the above-

Smexy Scale: Flirty

Dreamfever   - 

Rating: 3 Wine Glasses

AND a Snack Tray

Smexy Scale: Hot!