Iced

Tl;dr summary: disappointing and gross. Now, on to the bulletpoints!

1. This is PNR, not UF.

Yes, the Fever books got pretty hot and heavy by the end, but in the Fever books Mac started with a single mission (find her sister's killer) that carried through the entire series. Barrons started with a single mission (obtain the Sinsar Dubh) that carried through the entire series. These missions, the worldbuilding, drove much of the books.

ICED is more a monster-of-the-week type book. People are dying in Dublin in a mysterious way. Our protagonists must identify and destroy the big bad before the book is over. More "epic" stuff happens in ICED than happened in the first two or three Fever books combined, but Mac and Barrons' quests felt so much show more more epic. Why? Because the plot of ICED is just a thin excuse for relationship drama.

2. Dani is charming. I loved her.

I didn't expect to, but she was great. She's an unrepentant rascal, cheery and hard-bitten, tough and wide-eyed. I loved her POV.

3. Ryoden is awful.

He is the anti-Barrons. Let's examine some differences, shall we?

Barrons waits for Mac to come to him. She's desperate and he takes advantage, but she's free to leave anytime. Ryoden makes demands of Dani that she wants to refuse but cannot, because Ryoden cages, tortures, and threatens her (and NO, none of those words are exaggerations - the first example occurs very early on in the book, when Ryoden keeps Dani manacled in a dungeon for several days without food or water). She is not free to walk away.

This is particularly bad because, as we also learn early on, Dani has a profound fear of cages and restraint. Ryoden knows this and does it anyhow.

Barrons shows his increasing admiration for Mac by making her stronger, fiercer, and more independent. By the end of DARKFEVER, Barrons has given Mac the Spear of Light - an immensely powerful weapon. Ryoden shows his interest in Dani by trying to take things away from her, trying to make her feel helpless and powerless. Prime example? When Dani loses her sword, Ryoden refuses to help her retrieve it. In fact, he makes a hands-off deal with the thief and tells Dani he'd just as soon she never gets it back.

The way Barrons treated other women never made me want to vomit. Not a huge accomplishment, I know. No gold stars for "well, I didn't want to vomit". But I thought he was upfront and fair with Fio. Ryoden, on the other hand, is vile to the women he has sex with - sleeping with his employees, discarding them like - KMM's words here! - "used condoms". The worst part, maybe the grossest thing in a book full of gross stuff, was when Ryoden starts sleeping with Dani's friend Jo. Why? To separate Dani from a friend? To hurt Dani and make her feel betrayed? Because it's the closest he can get to having sex with 14-year-old Dani?This whole scenario just made me want to shut the book and say, "Enough of you people."

4. Forget the slow build

To my mind, the thing that made Mac and Barrons' romance so epic is how long it took to develop. For the first few books, I was actively rooting for Mac and Barrons NOT to get together. It wasn't until late in the Fever series that we started getting major revelations, like the fact that Barrons can't die. These revelations cement the intimacy Mac and Barrons have developed and, because the trust between them is so hard-won, every one felt like a victory.

There's one thing that hasn't changed: I was definitely rooting for Dani and Ryoden NOT to get together in ICED. In fact, I was rooting for them NEVER to get together and for Dani to pick a different guy because, as I mentioned in #3, Ryoden is awful.

And I might have faith. I'll read the next book just because KMM has proved she can accomplish some amazing reversals. But there's no slow build here. From the beginning, Ryodan has decided that Dani is his girl. He'll wait until she's older to have sex with her, but in the meanwhile he plans to groom her into his ideal woman by subjecting her to a constant barrage of abuse and degradation.

We get some major revelations in ICED - many of them familiar from SHADOWFEVER - but there's no victory this time, no sense of a milestone having been reached. For example: Dani sees Ryoden die. At this stage, there's no trust or affection between them. When Ryodan comes back, he makes it clear that only Dani can know about his resurrection - if any other woman finds out, she'll be killed. So this huge, wonderful plot point of SHADOWFEVER is slapped down in ICED much, much too early and becomes just another example of how gross and creepy Ryodan is.

5. Dani is 14.

For some reason, I didn't expect this to bother me. Maybe because I assumed the Dani books would give us another slow build, plenty of time for relationships to grow and evolve naturally, in the least-creepy way possible.

Boy was I wrong.

Here are some gross, inappropriate things that happen in ICED: Ryoden gets in Dani's bed, Dani ends up in Christian's bed, Dani strips at various points for both men, both of whom are attracted by her body, Christian uses his new death-by-sex aura on Dani, Ryoden is so overwhelmed by attraction to Dani that he has to go have sex with another woman immediately.

It's gross.

6. So why 3 stars?

Because there are new books ahead, and KMM has surprised me before. There's still some possibility that all the gross stuff in ICED is meant to be gross. If it turns out we were supposed to be revolted and offended, if we're supposed to hate Ryodan and he's going to evolve away from the person he is now, I could get back on board.

3 stars is my way of saying: I loved the Fever series enough that I still have hope. show less

Read: September 2015
Rating 3.5/5

The plot:
Iced takes place shortly after the events of Shadowfever, but this time the story is told from the perspective of Dani O'Malley, interspersed with chapters from the POV of Christian and Kat.

Dani is doing her best to survive and help others do the same in the aftermath of the crash of the boundaries between the Fae world and the human world. She is living with a teenage boy named Dancer, who has some genuis level ideas for fighting the Fae, while at the same time trying the avoid Mac after she confessed her role in the death of Mac's sister.

Dani is approached by Ryodan, one of Barrons' men, for help in solving a Fae related problem; somehow people and places are becoming 'iced' - literally frozen show more in place. It appears to be happening randomly, with no links or connections between the crime-scenes. Dani is also having to deal with her former sisters at the Abbey and the attention of the former Highlander Christian who is continuing his evolution into a full Unseelie prince.

This is such a hard book for me to rate. It kills me to only give 3 stars to a KMM book. I loved Moning's writing style, I liked Dani's voice in the story, the descriptions of the various Fae creatures, and of how the residents of the new post-apocalyptic Dublin - including Inspector Jayne - are trying to cope with, and live with, their new reality. I liked the mystery and how it was resolved. I loved scenes between Dani and Dancer, and I really enjoyed Kat's POV at the abbey.

However, I couldnt have given this book four stars or higher because there is one fact that kept stopping me in my tracks while I was reading this book and pulling me out of the story. And that is Dani's age. She is fourteen years old. She is a child. She sounds like a child in her narrative, imagining herself as a superhero named Mega as she uses her super-speed to fly around the city helping others.

But the men in the story - Ryodan and Christian - both view her in a sexual way. Ryodan's sexual behaviour was toned down - even if he was way too violent with her - and Dani didnt seem to notice the way he acted towards her, but Christian. Urgh, he turned my stomach. Every thought he has about this child is perverted. She is fourteen years old and he is twenty-four. He admires her 'woman-child' curves, undresses her while she is unconcious, tells her that he likes that she is still a virgin and that her losing her virginity will be something they discuss together. When she is on the verge of death after visiting one of the iced crime scenes Christian comments that it was a 'turn on' to see her so pale and still.

In short, the best possible outcome for Christian is for him to be castrated and then put on a register. Although being ripped apart by the Crimson Hag was also a fitting ending. I doubt he is truly dead unfortunatly.

I dont understand why Moning decided to set the book so soon after the wall crash. If she had set it a few years in the future and made Dani an adult of at least eighteen years old then I would have loved this book whole-heartedly.

I will definitly carry on with the series, I just hope that Dani ages a good few years by the next book and then I can go back to loving this series. show less

I don't know what I was thinking, grabbing the first book in a trilogy before the other two come out. I should know better. I can't wait to see where this story goes, but I'm a little weirded out that there are three grown men fighting over Dani when she's only 14. All that "I can see the woman she will become" stuff really doesn't help.

And why in the world did KMM write the whole book in first person using four different people? I have read a couple other books that were written that way, but the chapters were titled so that you knew whose head you were in. Several times, I read several paragraphs thinking they were in Dani's POV, only to have to go back and read them again once I realized that it was someone else. It's disorienting show more and breaks the flow of the story.

I know it doesn't sound like it, but I did enjoy this book. Now if book #2 would just hurry up and get here...

Updated after reading some other reviews and an interview by KMM: Yes, 14-year-olds have sex all the time. And Dani has had a hard life, yada, yada, yada.
But
1) She is extremely immature and childlike. Being really smart and being able to survive on her own doesn't change that. If she were to have sex with a 14 or 15yo boy, it would be more plausible, and not nearly as icky. But honestly, she's not emotionally ready for sex with ANYONE yet.
2) She has no clue. She's like the kids in Blue Lagoon. She's getting some "tingly" feelings from time to time, but she basically has no clue. And she doesn't understand any of the innuendo flying over her head, even though some of it is pretty blatant.

THIS is why people are freaking out about her being 14. There are THREE grown men fighting over a CHILD. I don't care who you are or what kind of boundaries you think you're pushing, that's just not cool. show less

I'm not really sure why the author chose the character to be this age... she's too young for a proper "romantic" component and although there is a TON of hinting around that the men will wait for her to be of legal age - it just doesn't ring true. Adult males are a) not interested in 14 year old girls or b) are interested in them but it's ridiculous to think they'd wait for them to be legal. Adults lusting after 14 year olds are in a mind-set where they're certainly not going to wait for them to "mature".

This sorta ruined the whole story - this thread (was it supposed to be angst?) permeates the entire storyline and is the motivation behind at least 2 characters' behaviors . Could I suspend disbelief? Maybe for one man controlling his show more lust (oops, I mean "love") for a child, but not for more than that. Guess I'm one of those that believe if you're a grown man and you like kids, you don't have their best interests at heart... and I can't align that with the roles these "loving men" had in this story: protecting her, saving her, cherishing her... oh, in real life isn't that what's called "grooming".

And, yes, I'm aware that the author didn't intend this to be read as a romance...

but if that were the case, why set up all this "angst" around Dani's romantic options when she's still years out from being mature enough to have a relationship with an adult?

If I could have overlooked this aspect of the story, it might have been a half-star better, but not much more than that. Nothing really happens other than a lot of "feck this" and following Dani around while she repeats the same actions, and makes the same statements (Mac hates me, I always have bruises, I hate X, etc) over and over again. I won't read more in this series, though I really enjoyed the Fever series by this same author. show less

I waited for this book, 'needed' this book for so long I was afraid to start it once I had it in my hands. I had so many expectations. I was peppered with doubts after reading some of the reviews. I know better, we can't all love the same books, it's impossible. But I hesitated and set it aside while I keep reading the reviews. Finally, I got off my, sheep herding arse and read the book ! Baaa, no more. LOL
I loved it, LOVED IT, it had all the beginnings of another edge of my seat series. I could see so many potential portals for her to jump into, the possibilities are amazing. The world has changed forever, none of the old rules stand. Life has to find a new path or extinguish.
The new Fae nasties are pure wicked, killing machines. They show more are so well written I could even smell one of them. (ICK) There are two unrelenting killers , only one will be finished and one will take more that one of the major characters lives. It's really wonderfully graphically gross !
Dani, the little red headed fire cracker is in no way a little girl. She is young in years, but aged in life lessons, her life has been brutal. She has grown up in a harsh ugly truth that horrifies the mother in me. Her past has hardened her, not blackened her heart. She cares for the ones around her, even when it's best not too. She understands the world she lives in. The Sex by Death Fae, the Unseelie, the Seelie, the beasts and their carnal desires, she knows of this part of her world. She needs to know this to survive. Her close 'friends' are not crossing the lines with her and she will not allow anyone to until she is ready. She is a character to cheer for, she is a survivor. I can't wait to see what she grows into.
The men, macho self absorbed ego driven alpha males plus ! Okay not fair, Dancer is soft, smart, beta material with the brain of a genius. Ryodan and Christian seem focused of protecting Dani from each other and the world. Christian wants her for one reason and Ryodan wants her for ? Perhaps just to be his Robin. I am sure it will become more clear as the series develops.
Short sell- Batman and Robin team up to fight Mr.Freeze.
Cliffhanger ending, muhahahahha. At least it was not a brutal one, more of a soft cliffhanger.


I can't wait for the next book ! show less

Let me first start by saying, I adored the Fever Series. It was a pure candy read and I gobbled it up.
That said, this book made me mad. The only reason I finished it was because I made the mistake of buying this book.
Dani, while an interesting character in the original series, is a terrible as first person narrator. She's uninteresting, unsympathetic, and lacks a consistant voice except for her usual swears.
Now, I've read plenty of books where there's a great age difference that eventually leads to romance. And the way the authors get you used to the idea is slowly introducing romance over a long period of time. There's a connection that doesn't develope into something sexual until the character is of APPROPRIATE AGE! This book has two show more grown men lusting after a fourteen year old and it doesn't come off as sweet, it comes off as creepy. The fact that this is a post apocalyptic world is a lousy excuse. Even if society has collapsed, I doubt lusting after children would be tolerated so soon.
Setting the pedophilic aspect aside, the relationship between Dani and Ryodan is just plain abusive. With Mac and Barrons, they were pretty much on even ground and even when they weren't, Mac was strong enough to stand up for herself. Ryodan just continuously bullies, enslaves, and belittles Dani to the point where you wonder if this is really a PSA for abusive relationships. You don't root for them to be together because you just want Ryodan to die and leave Dani alone.
The motivation of the main monster made me so mad when it was finally reveled, the two stars I was going to originally give this book went out the window.
On top of that, the author just got lazy with very basic details that drew me out of the story even more. Irish people don't call potatoe chips "chips", they call them "crisps", they also do not use Farenheit , they use Celsius, and finally, if Ryodan knows and can figure out everything about Dani, why on earth would he need her to solve the mystery?
This book was sloppy, inappropriate, and a complete waist of time. And that's coming from a fan. Screw this book. show less

"If you're trying to force the story to be a straight up romance, it's going to be weird for you." - Karen Marie Moning

I'd like that quote on a card that I can hand out to readers whenever Fever or Dani comes up.

Man, Moning does it right. After being on the edge of my seat, checking Amazon on a weekly basis, sniffing around for ARCs, I wolfed ICED down in one sitting. And now I'm back to ants in my pants, anxious for book two, haunting the Internet for snippets... I'm dying over here!

ICED does go a little over the top laying out Dani's romantic possibilities. I wouldn't have expected anyone to give Ryorden a run for his money, but Christian and Dancer both have potential. Moning has really gone all out to build up the chemistry while show more simultaneously put on the breaks. Ryorden has a girlfriend. Christian sometimes kills people during sex. And Dancer is not a borderline psychotic alpha male, he's just a genius teen who loves Dani. Everyone has their drawbacks...

I'm going to have to set aside some time to go back and read my favorite Mac and Barrons moments (from his death to their hook up, it slays me every time). I was a little worried about the whole WeCare subplot in ICED, and Mac's mom really creeped me out... can't wait for the next book!

2/17 - ICED totally holds up to the reread, I love Dancer and Christian and Ryorden fighting over Dani's hypothermic body. The scene where Dani's vibrating and offers to let Lor touch her shoulder is priceless, too. show less