Review: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

Title: Darkfever

Author: Karen Marie Moning

Series: Fever #1

Publisher: Delacorte

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Source: Library

Summary:

After learning of her sister Alina’s mysterious murder, MacKayla Lane (better known as  just Mac) heads to Ireland determined to find out what happened and get her retribution.  At the tender age of 22, she doesn’t exactly have a plethora of survival skills but there just might be some fairly handly super-secret abilities that even she doesn’t know about.  On her quest to track down details of her sister’s sudden death, Mac teams up with an unlikely (and sometimes suspiciously nefarious) yet darkly appealing partner, Jericho Barrons.  Chaos ensues as they begin the dangerous journey to finish Alina’s final task among the unsettling Unseelie fae.

My Review:

Yes thanks to all of you guys' prodding and poking...I finally started the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. So far, I think they are enjoyable...but I haven't quite gotten the fever...forgive my pun...perhaps I have been ruined for all other sidhe books by Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series. Say what you will about Ms. Hamilton's sex scenes and her series that just won't die...but she has a way of making her world so real that you find yourself having nightmares about the monsters in her books. I didn't find Darkfever to be quite the same experience...but still, I'm only on book #1 of the Fever series, so maybe I will fall in love with Mac and Barrons as much as many of you guys have.

As of right now, I'm not sure what I feel about Mac. Her grief over Alina's death felt a little forced to me. Sure she says she feels like she's missing a part of her soul, and that she can't think about anything else...but there is almost a lack of emotion regarding it. There's no real action on her part. Mac wants revenge, but at the same time seems detached from the death, which I found a bit off-putting. I also feel like she might be a little too pinky and fluffy for me. I might enjoy wearing a hot pink or purple dress now and again if I'm going clubbing, but my day to day tends to lean more towards the dark and sleek rather than rainbows and flowers. The constant pink and sparkly references kind of made me scoff at her just a little bit.  I like clothes and shoes as much as the next girl, but Mac is a lot more girly than the typical Paranormal/Urban Fantasy protagonist. This could be a good or bad thing...but that's remaining to be seen. I did like how she used regular words for swears...I did that all the time in my teen years...I definitely said fudge-buckets a lot. It was SUCH a hard habit to break. So I definitely loved that. And if you didn't like it then y'all can kiss my petunia!! :)  

I loved how the book was set in Ireland. I recently did a post that said that I would love to see more books written about settings outside of the US. I SO want to see Ireland. I'm currently saving up for a trip to Europe for next summer, and Ireland is stop numero uno. Despite the fact that this book makes a lot of crime references to the city of Dublin, I can't help myself. I want to walk the streets around Trinity College, have a few pints and some fish and chips in the pubs. It would be awesome to find a store like Barrons Books & Baubles somewhere in the city too...complete with a hulking hottie like Barrons =] Speaking of Barrons, he was confusing too. He was SO annoying and possessive and just downright RUDE at times. And still...you kind of want to love him anyways. He takes care of Mac when she needs him, though grudgingly it seems, and definitely aids in saving her life a few times. I like that Mac keeps him on his toes though, with all of her snide remarks and comments. She tries not to let him walk all over her, even though he still does it a lot.

The concept of the Fae was cool too. I liked the hunt for the lost artifacts, weapons, and stones. I have seen the spear and the cauldron in several other fae texts and I think they are super fascinating concepts. The Unseelie= ugly/evil and Seelie= Beautiful/slightly less evil is a bit cliche, but then again I am still a little prejudiced by Merry Gentry. Still, I really enjoyed seeing all the different Unseelie monsters. The Rhino-men and especially the Grey Man were super creepy and added a lot to the story. V'lane was a really interesting addition. A death by sex doesn't seem that bad when you first think of it, but then when you really look hard at it, the inability to stop yourself from being...well to be blunt...screwed to death...it really terrifying. I feel like the Seelie sidhe are almost scarier than the ugly monsters that walk the night.  

1/2

For a rating, I'm going to give 3 1/2 Keys. It was a good beginning. I grew at least pretty interested in Mac and Barrons, though it's not a book romance quite yet. The world Moning built is pretty interesting and creative, though it took me a while to get into it. The plot turns and questions left over are what inspire me to pick up Bloodfever, and we will see where the story goes.

Well, Hope you are all having a happy Tuesday!

Later Loveys!