Darkfever

I’m hooked. This begins with a murder: the protagonist gets the call that her sister has died in Dublin. She goes to Ireland, unsatisfied with the lack of answers… and stumbles into a huge conflict of the Fae, discovering shocking things about herself and her sister as she unwillingly takes her place in this huge otherworldly situation. She is under the guidance of Jericho Barrons, who seems to be on her side, but he’s mysterious and enigmatic. I still can’t tell. Picking up the next book immediately!

“You, Ms. Lane, are a menace to others! A walking, talking catastrophe in pink!”

I’m a huge Urban Fantasy person, but usually the fairy and fae stuff is a turn off. Even with that being a major plot point in the synopsis of the book, I was curious with the rest of the details so had to try. I’m glad I did, for the book turned out to be a fascinating introduction into a dark, bleak world where a girl who loves light, the sun, and backyard barbeques is thrust into a depressing existence while trying to solve her sister’s murder.

I loved the character of MacKayla; she’s funny, not afraid to be herself, doesn’t care if she’s different and is instead proud of that fact, loyal, determined, but not so unusual to where you feel show more isolated from her. She’s amusing in her mind, her words, and her actions – including wearing a ridiculously bright and rainbow-colored dress to a dark, formal, somber occasion. One of the biggest tragedies for her was having to dye her blonde hair dark, too cute. It may sound like she could get annoying, but she really didn’t, the author handled her well.

“Last night you said you wanted to know what to expect so you could better select your attire. I told you we were going to visit a vampire in a Goth-den tonight. Why, then, Ms. Lane, do you look like a perky rainbow?”

Mac grows into her own and shows that beneath the beauty and allure, she’s a strong woman who is determined to find out what happened to her sister. That sisterly bond and thing and all works strong. She unearths some startling revelations about her heritage and herself as well, forcing a sped up change and acceptance.

Oh, and this series also celebrates the love of books! A great bookstore is one of the main settings and Mac loves to read, enjoy when an author focuses on that.

Barrons…well, what can be said about Barrons? The man is hard to sum up in words, you need to read it to know. Cultured and sophisticated, he possesses a wit, an attitude, a dark allure that just oozes off of him with minimal effort. Vlayne is introduced as an ‘other’, a fae light prince who uses seduction as his tool. He’s as disturbing as he is fascinating. Just the characters alone made it impossible for me to put this book down.

“He didn't just occupy space; he saturated it. The room had been full of books before, now it was full of him.”

The world Ms. Moning has created is a brilliant one – taking the beautiful but rain drenched streets of Dublin, Ireland and tying them into the mystical battles of the dark and light fey. There are genuinely creepy, horrifying creatures that roam the streets, whether shadows or other monsters, all terrifying in their intensities, methods of killing people, their appearance, their cruelty. The light fey aren’t much better as death and addiction may ensue, but they are a delight on the eyes and the senses. It’s wrapped up further as all are after an ancient, powerful object that Mac’s sister was tied up in.

This book is all about the story – lots happening, great scenes, fast pacing, no romance (but some fun stuff anyway), a little humor, tons of morbid darkness and severely brutal stuff. Highly recommended for fantasy fans. show less

I love this series. It's been a while since I read it for the first time, but I come back to it in my mind all the time. There are few PNR series that can hold a candle to it, honestly, and they know who they are. There are only two series that have given me a serious reading-hangover. This is one. I couldn't pick up another book for weeks, people. Weeks.

That being said, this first book is like most beginnings to a series: meh. Compared to the rest, this is not the one that stands out. But it is where we see most of the main players take the field and events are set in motion. We see Rainbow Mac. We meet Barrons. We see Faeries. We get a glimpse of the darkness that is to come. This is not a light urban fantasy. It gets bleak at times. show more And I love it.

This really is one of those series that you need to read twice; it is written to reward multiple visits. When you first go through it, there are so many ominous allusions to future events that you just ignore them... Bad stuff happens eventually, OK, I get it. But on a second read... You see how incredibly specific some of those hints really are.

I had been wanting to re-read this series for months, but couldn't find it in myself to halt everything and devote an extended amount of time to a 5 book series. Cause let's be honest... Until I go through them all, I am not picking anything else up. So thank you Litchick for the buddy read!

TLDR: READ IT. show less

I first heard of this book because of a link to a fan trailer someone posted on Twitter. I didn't even know what I was watching (other than a collection of photos of hot guys and cool cars). It was a mindblowingly sexy trailer, though, and so I asked on Twitter if anyone liked the book.

Boy, did they! And now I know why.

Darkfever is the first of the series and I can tell you right now, I'm going to eat them like candy, one right after the other. Riotously funny in spots, non-stop action, the tease of what's to come in future books with Jericho Barrons... yep, I'm sold.

I will say that Moning has a couple writing hiccups I'm not fond of. She overuses names in dialogue (Barrons calls her Ms. Lane every other time he opens his mouth) and I show more don't care for the narrator style where she interjects lessons learned after the fact (i.e. later I'd realize that...). It pulls me out of the story and reminds me that this is just a recounting, and not happening as I read.

Still, even with those flaws, I loved the book and am rolling right on to the next one! show less

When Mac receives the phone call that her sister has been found murdered in Ireland, her blissful days of innocence come to an end. With no witnesses and no leads, the police file it away as one more cold case. But Mac is determined to find her sister's murder. Mac catches the first flight she can to Ireland to demand the police keep searching. But with nothing but a frantic voicemail left from her sister urging Mac to find the Sinsar Dubh, the police turned her away.

Despite the pitfalls, Mac begins to retrace her sister's steps and what she finds is not the picture-perfect version of her sister she knew. Instead of going to school and working her way towards the degree she so badly wanted, Mac finds the trail of a desperate woman. One show more who became entranced by a man, and slowly let her life slip away. What Mac doesn't realize, is that she is about to fall into the same life that took her sister away. The fae do not take kindly to humans who can expose their secrets, and Mac unknowingly is the key to what they want and desire.

Mac was too bubble gum prep for me. While she's trying to survive in her new dangerous life, she's still worried about how cute she looks and how much she wishes she were blonde. People are hunting you, trying to kill you and you care about your damn fashion sense? I'd be trying to change my appearance every chance I had, thankful I could craft a disguise. And she does nothing for herself. Throughout most of the book, even though she's the main character, she's just a sidekick. And hello, the man that jacks you up against a wall and hurts you is not the one you should choose to buddy up with, let alone start thinking is attractive.

Barrons, the man of mystery, was not appealing to me at all. He's a control freak and he has no problem using anyone to accomplish his goals. Ok, so he has fancy cars and lots of money, he has no personality. He's basically a machine who just goes through the motions to track down fae artifacts. We know next to nothing about him and he refuses to answers any question Mac has.
Not to mention there wasn't much to the plot. What starts as a potential mystery about Mac's sister, turns into a hunt for a powerful fae artifact. While we know what happened to Mac's sister is tied into all this somehow, it's more background noise than anything. It's a boring slog from property to property with hardly any action. Unless you count Mac running away from every fae that comes after her until near the end of the book when she has no other choice. We never even get to hear what is going on in Mac's mind. Anytime her sister is mentioned, the author glosses over the brutal details and sidelines what Mac is actually going through with scant details.

This was the second time around for me reading Darkfever. The only thing I could remember was tapping out at book three of the series because the smut was too much for me. I'm always one to try a new spin on faeries. Some authors pull it off, some do not. This one was not a good read. I struggled through for my book club and to give it a review this time around. I won't be gracing the next two books with reviews because I have better things to read. show less

This books was recommended to me by a reader on threads. Hey Desiree, thanks for turning me onto this series.
Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning is the first book in the Fever series, an urban fantasy series that combines Celtic mythology with contemporary settings.
The story follows MacKayla Lane (Mac), an ordinary woman whose life takes an extraordinary turn when her sister is brutally murdered. Seeking answers, Mac travels to Dublin, Ireland, where she discovers a hidden world of faeries, demons, and ancient magic.
I love the way in which the story is told and Mac's inner monologues. The story unfolds in retrospect and you get all sorts of ominous foreshadowing of what's to come.
Mac's journey leads her to Jericho Barrons, a powerful and show more enigmatic figure who is both a protector and a threat. Their relationship is a complex one, filled with passion, danger, and forbidden desires.
Honestly, I can't wait to read more! show less

“You, Ms. Lane, are a menace to others! A walking, talking catastrophe in pink!”

I’m a huge Urban Fantasy person, but usually the fairy and fae stuff is a turn off. Even with that being a major plot point in the synopsis of the book, I was curious with the rest of the details so had to try. I’m glad I did, for the book turned out to be a fascinating introduction into a dark, bleak world where a girl who loves light, the sun, and backyard barbeques is thrust into a depressing existence while trying to solve her sister’s murder.

I loved the character of MacKayla; she’s funny, not afraid to be herself, doesn’t care if she’s different and is instead proud of that fact, loyal, determined, but not so unusual to where you feel show more isolated from her. She’s amusing in her mind, her words, and her actions – including wearing a ridiculously bright and rainbow-colored dress to a dark, formal, somber occasion. One of the biggest tragedies for her was having to dye her blonde hair dark, too cute. It may sound like she could get annoying, but she really didn’t, the author handled her well.

“Last night you said you wanted to know what to expect so you could better select your attire. I told you we were going to visit a vampire in a Goth-den tonight. Why, then, Ms. Lane, do you look like a perky rainbow?”

Mac grows into her own and shows that beneath the beauty and allure, she’s a strong woman who is determined to find out what happened to her sister. That sisterly bond and thing and all works strong. She unearths some startling revelations about her heritage and herself as well, forcing a sped up change and acceptance.

Oh, and this series also celebrates the love of books! A great bookstore is one of the main settings and Mac loves to read, enjoy when an author focuses on that.

Barrons…well, what can be said about Barrons? The man is hard to sum up in words, you need to read it to know. Cultured and sophisticated, he possesses a wit, an attitude, a dark allure that just oozes off of him with minimal effort. Vlayne is introduced as an ‘other’, a fae light prince who uses seduction as his tool. He’s as disturbing as he is fascinating. Just the characters alone made it impossible for me to put this book down.

“He didn't just occupy space; he saturated it. The room had been full of books before, now it was full of him.”

The world Ms. Moning has created is a brilliant one – taking the beautiful but rain drenched streets of Dublin, Ireland and tying them into the mystical battles of the dark and light fey. There are genuinely creepy, horrifying creatures that roam the streets, whether shadows or other monsters, all terrifying in their intensities, methods of killing people, their appearance, their cruelty. The light fey aren’t much better as death and addiction may ensue, but they are a delight on the eyes and the senses. It’s wrapped up further as all are after an ancient, powerful object that Mac’s sister was tied up in.

This book is all about the story – lots happening, great scenes, fast pacing, no romance (but some fun stuff anyway), a little humor, tons of morbid darkness and severely brutal stuff. Highly recommended for fantasy fans. show less