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“Evil is a completely different creature, Mac. Evil is bad that believes it’s good.”
MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina, were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever.
Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister’s murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gifted and cursed, Mac is plunged into a secret history: an ancient conflict between humans and immortals who have lived concealed among us for thousands of years.
What follows is a shocking chain of events with devastating consequences, and now Mac struggles to cope with grief while continuing her mission to acquire and control the Sinsar Dubh—a book of dark, forbidden magic scribed by the mythical Unseelie King, containing the power to create and destroy worlds.
In an epic battle between humans and Fae, the hunter becomes the hunted when the Sinsar Dubh turns on Mac and begins mowing a deadly path through those she loves.
Who can she turn to? Who can she trust? Who is the woman haunting her dreams? More important, who is Mac herself and what is the destiny she glimpses in the black and crimson designs of an ancient tarot card?
From the luxury of the Lord Master’s penthouse to the sordid depths of an Unseelie nightclub, from the erotic bed of her lover to the terrifying bed of the Unseelie King, Mac’s journey will force her to face the truth of her exile, and to make a choice that will either save the world . . . or destroy it.
Hope strengthens. Fear kills.
Someone really smart told me that once.
Every time I think I’m getting wiser, more in control of my actions, I go slamming into a situation that makes me excruciatingly aware that all I’ve succeeded in doing is swapping one set of delusions for a more elaborate, attractive set of delusions—that’s me, the Queen of Self-Deception.
I hate myself right now. More than I’d ever have thought pos- sible.
I squat on the cliff’s edge, screaming, cursing the day I was born, wishing my biological mother had drowned me at birth. Life is too hard, too much to handle. Nobody told me there’d be days like these. How could nobody tell me there’d be days like these? How could they let me grow up like that—happy and pink and stupid?
The pain I feel is worse than anything the Sinsar Dubh has ever done to me. At least when the Book is crushing me, I know it’s not my own fault.
This moment?
Mea culpa. Beginning to end, all the way, I own this one, and there will never be any hiding from that fact.
I thought I’d lost everything.
How ignorant I was. He warned me. I had so much more to lose!
I want to die.
It’s the only way to stop the pain.
Months ago, on a hellishly long night, in a grotto beneath the Burren, I wanted to die, too, but it wasn’t the same. Mallucé was going to torture me to death, and dying was the only chance I had of denying him that twisted pleasure. My death had been inevitable. I saw little point in drawing it out.
I’d been wrong. I’d given up hope and nearly died because of it.
I would have died—if not for Jericho Barrons.
He’s the one who taught me those words.
That simple adage is master of every situation, every choice. Each morning we wake up, we get to choose between hope and fear and apply one of those emotions to everything we do. Do we greet the things that come our way with joy? Or suspicion?
Hope strengthens . . .
Not once did I permit myself to feel any hope about the person lying facedown in a pool of blood. Not once did I use it to strengthen our bond. I let the onus of our relationship rest on broader shoulders. Fear. Suspicion. Mistrust drove my every action.
And now it’s too late to take any of it back.
I stop screaming and begin to laugh. I hear the madness in it.
I don’t care.
My spear sticks up, a cruel javelin, mocking me. I remember stealing it.
For a moment, I’m back in the dark, rain-slicked Dublin streets, descending into the sewer systems with Barrons, breaking into Rocky O’Bannion’s private cache of religious artifacts. Barrons is wearing jeans and a black T-shirt. Muscles ripple in his body as he casts aside the sewer lid with the ease of a man tossing a Frisbee in the park.
He’s disturbingly sexual, to men and women alike, in a way that sets your teeth on edge. With Barrons, you aren’t sure if you’re going to get fucked or turned inside out and left a new, unrecognizable person, adrift with no moorings, on a sea with no bottom and no rules.
I was never immune to him. There were merely degrees of denial.
My respite is too brief. The memory vanishes and I am again con- fronted with the reality that threatens to shatter my hold on sanity.
Fear kills . . .
Literally.
I can’t say it. I can’t think it. I can’t begin to absorb it.
I hug my knees and rock.
Jericho Barrons is dead.
He lies on his stomach, motionless. He hasn’t moved or breathed in the small eternity that I’ve been screaming. I can’t sense him in his skin. On all other occasions, I’ve been able to feel him in my vicinity: electric, larger than life, vastness crammed into a tiny container. Genie in a bottle. That’s Barrons: deadly power, stopper corking it. Barely.
I rock back and forth.
The million-dollar question: What are you, Barrons? His answer, on those rare occasions he gave one, was always the same.
The one that will never let you die.
I believed him. Damn him.
“Well, you screwed up, Barrons. I’m alone and I’m in serious trouble, so get up!”
He doesn’t move. There’s too much blood. I reach out with my sidhe-seer senses. I sense nothing on the cliff’s edge but me.
I scream.
No wonder he told me never to call the number on my cell that he had programmed as IYD—If You’re Dying—unless I really was. After a time I begin to laugh again. He’s not the one who screwed up. I am. Was I played or did I orchestrate this fiasco all by myself?
I thought Barrons was invincible.
I keep waiting for him to move. Roll over. Sit up. Magically heal. Cut me one of those hard looks and say, Get a grip, Ms. Lane. I’m the Unseelie King. I can’t die.
That was one of my biggest fears, whenever I was indulging in any of a thousand about him: that he was the one who’d created the Sinsar Dubh to begin with, dumping all his evil into it, and he wanted it back for some reason but couldn’t trap it himself. At one point or another, I’d considered everything: Fae, half Fae, werewolf, vampire, ancient cursed being from the dawn of time, perhaps the very thing he and Christian had tried to summon on Halloween at Castle Keltar—key part there being immortal, as in unkillable.
“Get up, Barrons!” I scream. “Move, damn you!”
I’m afraid to touch him. Afraid if I do, his body will be cooling noticeably. I’ll feel the fragility of his flesh, the mortality of Barrons. “Fragility,” “mortality,” and “Barrons” all packed together in the same thought feels about as blasphemous as stalking through the Vatican hammering upside-down crosses on the walls.
I squat ten paces from his body.
I stay back, because if I get close I’ll have to roll him over and look in his eyes, and what if they’re empty like Alina’s were?
Then I’ll know he’s gone, like I knew she was gone, too far beyond my reach to ever hear my voice again, to hear me say, I’m sorry, Alina, I wish I’d called more often; I wish I’d heard the truth beneath our vapid sister talk; I wish I’d come to Dublin and fought beside you, or raged at you, because you were acting from fear, too, Alina, not hope at all, or you would have trusted me to help you. Or maybe just apologize, Barrons, for being too young to have my priorities refined, like you, because I haven’t suffered whatever the hell it is you suffered, and then shove you up against a wall and kiss you until you can’t breathe, do what I wanted to do the first day I saw you there in your bloody damned bookstore. Disturb you like you disturbed me, make you see me, make you want me—pink me!—shatter your self-control, bring you crashing to your knees in front of me, even though I told myself I’d never want a man like you, that you were too old, too carnal, more animal than man, with one foot in the swamp and no desire to come all the way out, when the truth was that I was terrified by what you made me feel. It wasn’t what guys make girls feel, dreams of a future with babies and picket fences, but frantic, hard, raw loss of self, like you can’t live without that man inside you, around you, with you all the time, and it only matters what he thinks of you, the rest of the world can go to hell, and even then I knew you could change me! Who wants to be around someone that can change them? Too much power to let another person have! It was easier to fight you than admit that I had undiscovered places inside me that hungered for things that weren’t accepted in any kind of world I knew, and the worst of it is that you woke me up from my Barbie-girl world and now I’m here and I’m wide awake, you bastard, I couldn’t be more awake, and you left me—
I think I’ll scream until he gets up.
He was the one who told me not to believe anything was dead until I’d burned it, poked around in its ashes, then waited a day or two to see if anything rose from them.
Surely I’m not supposed to burn him.
I don’t think there are any circumstances under which I could do that.
I’ll squat.
I’ll scream.
He’ll get up. He hates it when I’m melodramatic.
While I wait for him to revive, I listen for sounds of scrabbling at the cliff’s edge. I half-expect Ryodan to drag his broken, bloody body up over the edge. Maybe he’s not really dead, either. After all, we’re in Faery, maybe, or at least within the Silvers—who knows what realm this is? Might the water here have rejuvenating powers? Should I try to get Barrons to it? Maybe we’re in the Dreaming and this terrible thing that has happened is a nightmare, and I’ll wake up on a couch in Barrons Books and Baubles and the illustrious, infuriating owner will raise a brow and give me that look; I’ll say something pithy, and life will be lovely, chock-full of monsters and rain again, just the way I like it.
I squat.
No scrabbling in the stones and shale.
The man with the spear in his back doesn’t move.
My heart is full of holes.
He gave his life for me. Barrons gave his life for me. My self-serving, arrogant, constant jackass was the constant rock beneath my feet, willing to die so I could live.
Why the hell would he do that?
How do I live with that?
A terrible thought occurs to me, so awful that for a few moments it eclipses my grief: I would never have killed him if Ryodan hadn’t appeared. Did Ryodan set me up? Did he come here to kill Barrons, who was never invincible, merely difficult to kill? Maybe Barrons could be killed only in his animal form, and Ryodan knew he’d have to be in it to protect me. Was this an elaborate ruse that had nothing to do with me? Was Ryodan working with the LM, and they wanted Barrons out of the way so I’d be easier to deal with, and the abduction of my parents was mere sleight of hand? Look over there while we kill the man who threatens us all. Or maybe Barrons had been cursed to live out some hellish sentence and could be slain only by someone he trusted, and he’d trusted me. Beneath all the cold arrogance, the mockery, the constant pushing, had he given over that most private part of himself to me—a confidence I’d never earned, as I couldn’t have proven any more surely than if I’d stabbed him in the back?
Oh, gee, wait, I did. On Ryodan’s word alone, I’d turned on him.
The accusation of betrayal in the beast’s gaze hadn’t been an illusion. It had been Jericho Barrons in there, staring at me from behind that prehistoric brow, baring his fangs, reproach and hatred blazing in his feral yellow eyes. I’d broken our unspoken pact. He’d been my guardian demon and I’d killed him.
Had he despised me for not seeing through the hide of the beast he’d worn to the man within?
See me. How many times had he said that to me? See me when you look at me!
When it mattered most, I’d been blind. He’d been dogging my every step, treating me with that characteristic Barrons’ combination of aggression and animal possessiveness, and I’d never once recognized him.
I’d failed him.
He’d come to me in a barbaric, inhuman form, to keep me alive. He’d set himself up as IYD regardless of what it might cost him, knowing he would be turned into a mindless, raging beast capable only of slaughtering everything in his immediate vicinity but for one thing.
Me.
God, that look!
I cover my face with my hands, but the image won’t go away: beast and Barrons, his dark skin and exotic face, its slate hide and primal features. Those ancient eyes that saw so much and asked only to be seen in return burn with scorn: Couldn’t you have trusted me just once? Couldn’t you have hoped for the best, just once? Why did you choose Ryodan over me? I was keeping you alive. I had a plan. Did I ever let you down?
“I didn’t know it was you!” I gouge my palms with my nails. They bleed for a brief moment, then heal.
But the beast/Barrons in my mind isn’t done torturing me. You should have. I took your sweater. I smelled you and granted you passage. I killed fresh, tender meat for you. I pissed around you. I showed you in this form, as in any other, that you are mine—and I take care of what is mine.
Tears blind me. I double over. It hurts so bad I can’t breathe, can’t move. I hunch over, curl in on myself, and rock.
Anonymous
Posted Wed Jan 19 00:00:00 EST 2011
I am disappointed in the final outcome of Mac's journey. I wondered if it was because we had to wait so long for Shadowfever that, naturally, I had made up a world of my own based on her clues in her other books? No. That wasn't it. KMM failed to deliver a mind blowing end that she had eluded to over time. I felt that she had a great story in the first four books of the Fever Series and even pulled in some of her Highlander Series unsolved mysteries. I was so excited that we would be getting more of the MacKeltar's and Adam Black but was left high and dry. The brief moment with Adam was pointless, why bother at all? And she seemed to belittle the Druids and their power by the dialog from Ryodan. She never answered the basic question: How did Circenn lose the Hallows to begin with? So many unanswered questions. She didn't wrap up the lose ends at all. As a few have pointed out before, there was too much useless dialog and Mac going off on a tangent that had nothing to do with the story. A lot of "fluff".
I didn't feel Mac's grief one single bit. Where was the dedication to Barrons? Yeah, she screamed and cried then took up with Darroc. COME ON! It was as if Mac had lost all that she had learned over the last 4 books. Didn't buy it at all.
I was so excited to finally find out WHAT Barron and his men were and when I got the answer I had to reread because surely I missed something BIG.. but, no, nothing. What a let down. I won't ruin any of the ending by posting spoilers but what Mac turns out to be is lame, imho. It could have been so much more. This was Karen's story to be told..not how I would have liked it to go though.
I will always love the Highlander's and look forward to Christian's story but am not planning on rereading the Fever series again.
36 out of 63 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.JenMartin1
Posted Tue Jan 18 00:00:00 EST 2011
Before I started this book, there was a big part of me that believed there was no way I could be satisfied when I was done. There were simply too many questions to be answered, too many loose ends to ever tie up in a way that both made sense and appeased my need for a happily ever after. I was wrong.
There is so much packed into these pages that when I think back to the question, "Who is the beast?" it seems like a lifetime ago. It's no wonder you don't get much information from the summary regarding what this book is about (it mostly recaps the series as a whole.) I find that even trying to talk about it in generalities reveals fantastic developments in the plot. So if you haven't read "Shadowfever" yet, I urge you to stop reading here, with my reassurance that it's a fantastic book that left me wholly satisfied and warm inside.
****PLOT/STORYLINE POINTS AHEAD****
The first chapter of this book shredded me. When Mac thought she had killed Barrons, I cried for her. I ached. Then I watched her put herself together; to take the hard lessons he taught her and live so that his death was not in vain. This is not the Mac of "Darkfever." She is powerful, but hollow. She finally gets her showdown with the Lord Master with decidedly anticlimactic results.
Mac seemed to learn so much about herself and her feelings with Barrons' death. It was disappointing to see so much of it go out of the window when they were finally reunited. She was ready to end the world for him, yet suddenly, overhearing a phone call makes her regress utterly? It was one of the few parts of the book that left me frustrated. It was hard to see the roles reverse between Barrons and Mac... to see him so vulnerable... And when she finally looked inside his mind and learned what he was feeling while she was Pri-ya... Sigh.
Without spoiling much more, I can tell you some of the questions that are finally answered: What is Mac? Who killed Alina and why? Who is the Unseelie King? Who is the King's consort? Who is the Dreamy-Eyed Guy? Who is Cruce? Who was the dying boy in Barrons' memory? What is under the garage? And perhaps the best question of all... who is the real villain in the story? The answer to that last one blew me away.
Karen Marie Moning has created a tale of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end. NO ONE should read this book without reading the other books in the series first. And after reading this fifth installment, I'm sure many fans will go back to the previous books and read the stories from a new perspective, knowing truths we never dreamed of when it all began. There are enough threads that I can easily see more books in this Fever world, but I promise there is no cliffhanger here. Just a fantastic ending to a creative and enthralling story.
I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could.
27 out of 31 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Tue Jan 11 00:00:00 EST 2011
Just finished Shadowfever! KMM has outdone herself! I came away from reading Shadowfever with a warm fuzzy happy feeling... it was wrapped up so well... but I am still so excited about the possibilities about future books set in the Fever world. I'm not ready to leave it.
Words can't begin to describe how fantastic this book was. You can tell KMM poured her heart into it. It was a whirlwind, fantastical, heartbreaking, heartwarming, unbelievable, and all around amazing.
The ending was the bomb! KMM delivered on her promise of Mac getting her HEA! I have always loved KMM but this book puts her in her own stratosphere. No author can even begin to compare. Now I need to go re-read everything again and bask in the glow of a fabulous book!
20 out of 25 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Tue Jan 18 00:00:00 EST 2011
I kind of still feel lost. ha ha Um, I'm a little disappointed in all honesty and feel quite mislead. Basically, don't try to figure out the mystery in the precious books leading up to Shadowfever, because her "clues" lead you absolutely nowhere. Yeah... I was so excited for this book, and I feel like I didn't get any important answers about certain characters and it felt off. I was disappointed to see what Barrons becomes after seeing him in such a powerful light. Sorry- I'm just disappointed. I had higher hopes and greater expectations and more epic main characters. I kind of felt she lead me thought wise in one direction but then in the end changed it around completely.
18 out of 33 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Tue Nov 02 00:00:00 EDT 2010
After reading another series that started out as a good read and then slowly spiraled into more sex scenes than story (and the story was good when it occured), I started looking for something else. I got this as a Friday freebie. I have not been able to put it and the subsequent books down.
There are several subplots going on that put tension on the heroine and raise the level of suspense to keep you engaged in the story. I like to read a chapter or two before I turn in for the night and found myself reading longer than that numerous times. The author does an excellent job of keeping you on the "edge of your chair" and wanting to keep reading - too eagerly!
There is sexual content and tension between the characters, but not to the point that I would feel that is trashy by any means.
I enjoy the format of first person as it involves you more in the story. The story and content is contemporary and the heroine seems very real to me and what I would imagine as someone representing her age. I highly recommend this series!
Karen, you have produced an excellent and enjoyable series and I applaud you! I can't wait for the 5th book to come out! Continued success and best wishes- Boiler up!
16 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Fri Aug 13 00:00:00 EDT 2010
I Also Recommend:
I have enjoyed this series so much! I have had so much fun discussing all the possiblities that could happen in Shadowfever with all my friends at work that have read them. We are all reading the Highlander series from Karen now and really wish I had read those books first since thay give you some clues to what is going on in the Fever series. Enjoy!!
16 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Fournier-Plante
Posted Mon Feb 07 00:00:00 EST 2011
It just goes to show that the right "Free Friday" book can be a kick start of a very good thing. After reading the first in this series, I eagerly and impatiently waited for the final book in the series after burning through the rest (not for free), and every other book I could find by Ms. Moning. Romance lovers, fantasy lovers, you will not be disappointed!
14 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The final book in the Fever Series was well worth the wait, and I'm so glad I saved it for the weekend. The previous four books read like prequels compared to this novel. Mind-blowing with its constant turns and revelations, it started out like some sort of torture. But I was soon able to sit back and trust the author not to kill me, as each revelation was more satisfying than the last. This series is so much more complex than the Highlander series. Gone are the predictable romance plots, but the romance is still satisfying as part of the larger whole. The promise that it's a story of light is more than lived up to. There's just enough hope for new storylines in the future while being a true ending to this story. I feel almost completely sated.
14 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Jan 24 00:00:00 EST 2011
She didn't answer any questions! I'm a little mad. I feel like this was 500+ pages of nonsense that didn't really matter. Just talk and talk until we fill up the book and leave them hanging. I literally have an entire list of questions that I really needed answers on. We still know almost nothing. There was no epic ending, it was just... not really great. I've lost a little trust in Karen to deliver a good story. I think she built and built and then nothing happened. Seriously, though, with the unanswered questions. People have invested 5 years into this and if I would've known this was the ending, I never would have touched the book. Did she lose some notes during the writing process and forget there are about a million questions she needs to answer? Because I swear, you hardly learn what Barrons is. He ends up nameless and still shrouded in mystery. Mac I found almost annoying. I have the Shadowsong CD too, (purchased before the book came out) which came with the deleted scene, I believe that should've been the scene in the book. The deleted scene made me feel slightly, ONLY slightly better about some things. Still, unanswered questions after five years of being run around with literally no hope of figuring anything out? It's almost cruel. I would say about 95% of her clues didn't lead you in the right direction at all. If you haven't started the fever series, I would recommend you spare yourself. In the end it will only disappoint and leave you frustrated. Her Highlander series, however is very good. THAT I would recommend. ;)
14 out of 27 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Wed Jan 19 00:00:00 EST 2011
It seems like I've been waiting FOREVER for this book to come out! I wasn't disappointed!! It was exactly what I expected and then some. The twists and turns, Mac not knowing who or what she is. All I can say is WOW. I started reading at 5am and didn't stop until I was finished this evening. I'm looking forward to starting the Highlander series
14 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Jan 26 00:00:00 EST 2011
I quickly perused some of the other reviews to see if all readers of Shadowfever were in consensus. Needless to say I was surprised to find the there were some people who weren't thrilled with this book!??!
I have been waiting for this book since I read the last words in Dreamfever and anxiously awaited it's arrival from my pre-order. I am thrilled with the outcome and have to say it was worth the wait. Most questions were answered and although not all loose ends were tied up....that in no way deters from the fulfillment in reading this book and it lends itself to anticipation of those loose ends being taken care of in future books.
Like in college there are prerequisites to certain courses and you need to take those before you can take the ones you really want to take......the first 4 books need to be read before you can read this book.
If you are no stranger to the fever series and you are going to read this book.....make sure you have devoted a serious chunk of time to sit down and read this cover to cover because it sucks you in and does not let you go until the last word.
13 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Indy25
Posted Thu Jan 20 00:00:00 EST 2011
I decided not to review this series until I completed the final book. It's a disappointing end. Period. I never particularly like Mac, but she grew on me enough for me to tolerate her and her constant selfishness, cheap pop references and love/hate relationship with Barrons. I trudged through this series for Barrons. He is the grounding rock, the stable presence a plot line that just doesn't make a lot of sense. Given that Barron's mysteriousness was one of the sole reasons I spent money on these books, let me just save you the grief and your money. We get no closure. The biggest question of the series is literally ended about 3/4ths through this book when, in a single afterthought, Mac decides not to question his identity. Seriously?! I want a refund.
I feel like the author never did really figure out how to get herself out of some plot holes. Each one is cheaply patched in this book, and we're supposed to buy into it. I don't. I hate being led in one direction only to be dumped ungracefully in another. Whatever epic climax the author wanted to have.it just isn't there. I really wish it was.
Overall, I will concede that this series is entertaining in portions. But this is one reader who will surely not read another thing by Karen Marie Moning. She writes 'stay to the light.' She left her readers in darkness.
13 out of 26 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.englishnoble
Posted Sun Jan 23 00:00:00 EST 2011
If you like Twilight, you'll love the Fever Series...this is more adult which is greatly appreciated. After waiting an excruciating 3 months, the 5th book is released...and now its bittersweet because the ending satisfied but still leaves you wanting more Mac, more Jericho, more FEVER!
12 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Asausy74
Posted Sat Jan 29 00:00:00 EST 2011
All I have to say is... UnK'VruckingBelievable!!! Ok, so maybe I have a little more to express.
I am petitioning Webster Dictionary to add that as a new word as a description for Karen Marie Moning's Fever series.
The Fever series is a phenominal fantasy world with incredible and complex characters that only Karen could dream up and express in the manner she did. The finale "Shadowfever" has been long awaited by Karen's Moning Maniacs and sooooooooo worth the five year wait. Of course, for those of you who are just now hearing about this series, once you start with Darkfever, you won't be able to stop. Just save yourself the trouble and buy all the books at once.
There is truly reading experience BEFORE "Fever" and AFTER "Fever". Karen has altered my reading expectations and ruined me for all others.
P.S. This series IS NOT a romance. If you are a hard core romance reader and not really into fantasy, paranormal or other possibilities than your potential human reality, this series IS NOT for you.
11 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sat Jan 22 00:00:00 EST 2011
I have followed this writer from the beginning, & this last installment in the series is a disappointment . Did she just loose her enthusiasm? I found this to be a difficult read, with endless rambling about mostly nothing. She has lost me as an avid fan. Too bad. Wait for your local library to get it.
Disappointed in San Diego
11 out of 20 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Fri Jan 21 00:00:00 EST 2011
I have loved Karen Moning's books. Have recommended them to others because I felt she was such an excellent author. One of the reasons I enjoyed her writing so much was because she always
"finished" the story, each book could stand on its own but flowed into a new one. Yes, The Fever Series is just that, a series. However, an author can still stay true to their storyline and complete the sub plots. This is certainly not the case in The Fever Series.
As the story moves forward through the series, Ms. Moning becomes more and more pretentious with her writing. Shadowfever is a painful & slow journey through the psycho philosophical. Tedious, ad nauseum. Four books have led the reader up to a point, then low & behold the rug is pulled out. Questions are not answered and/ or, worst, totally ignored as part of the original storyline. Ms Moning drifts away from the story's' integrity by introducing conclusions that are quite frankly out of left field - just to tie up a loose end. There are also Twilight rip-offs that really got to me. "Karen, you are better than that". The story doesn't truly have an ending (tickler to the upcoming new series, perhaps? LOL BUT Of Course! This is Ms. Monings' new style).
I am not only disappointed by Shadowfever AND the entire series but in Ms. Moning herself. This series screams of "Sell Out". There is nothing wrong with making money but when you do it at the cost of your integrity you should be ashamed. This series had fabulous potential. In my opinion, far beyond that of the Twilight Series. Unfortunately, because of the success of Twilight, a "Hollywood" was pulled here and that formula overshadowed Ms. Monings' work. If this is the result of advice from a publisher, get a new publisher.
One last comment, the fact that people had written reviews prior to the release of this book is shameful & a bit sick.
11 out of 22 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Jan 19 00:00:00 EST 2011
The book has about 200 (or more) pages of useless dialog by the lead character. When faced with a pivotal moment or action in the book, the author hits the "pause button" and has the character Mac start these useless musings of past moments in her life that was EXTREMELY frustrating! It got to the point where when that happened, I just flipped through those tedious and boring pages until the present action or moment picked back up. Also, the charater Mac became whiny and downright slutty. When Mac thought she'd lost Jericho, she should have been alot more grateful when she realized he was alive but all she did was whine, whine, whine and whine somemore about his treatment of her. After all of the up/down, trials and tribulations between Mac and Jericho in the first 4 installments, it would have been a much better read if their romantic relationship was solified at the beginning of the book. Wish I hadn't bothered.
11 out of 22 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.IntoFantasy
Posted Tue Feb 08 00:00:00 EST 2011
Some people say this book is boring and dull, but nothing is ever dull or boring with Jericho Barrons. Can't get enough of him. I do thing the book had a lot of confusion and mixed up thoughts going on, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it mirrored what the world is like. Overall, a good book, and I do hope to see more of Mac and Barrons in Moning's upcoming series. Hopefully, we will also get to see Dani grow up and get her own story(with Ry-O?) That'll be something. Overall, it was a good book and I liked the way it ended. It's the Beginning of a new End!
10 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.not normally my type of read but I loved it! I just this minute finished the book and I already miss makayla and jericho! I am hoping the end is just an illusion and there is another book coming........ I can hope can't I?
10 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.What a wrapup to the storyline. I was not looking forward to the fact that this would be the last book in the series. But Moning came through with an excellent book. I can see why the books was split into parts, it kept the pieces of the story in line. I am looking forward to the trilogy based on the Fever series.
10 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Overview
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Evil is a completely different creature, Mac. Evil is bad that believes it’s good.”
MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina, were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever.
Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister’s murderer. But after ...