Review: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

Darkfever

Author: Karen Marie Moning
Publisher: Dell
Series: Fever #1
Pages: Mass Market Paperback, 347 pages
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: August 26th 2008

Summary:

"My name is MacKayla, Mac for short. I'm a sidhe-seer, one who sees the Fae, a fact I accepted only recently and very reluctantly.

My philosophy is pretty simple - any day nobody's trying to kill me is a good day in my book. I haven't had many good days lately. Not since the walls between Man and Fae came down. But then, there's not a sidhe-seer alive who's had a good day since then."

When MacKayla's sister was murdered, she left a single clue to her death, a cryptic message on Mac's cel phone. Journeying to Ireland in search of answers, Mac is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to master 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, mysteriou Jericho...while at the same time, the ruthless V'lane - an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women - closes in on her. As the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac's true mission becomes clear: to find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book - because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control both worlds in their hands.

Review:

Initial thoughts

I don't really know if I like it but I'm surely hooked. I don't really like Mac or Barrons or their relationship but the story has something going on for it and I wanna find out how it all goes down to hell.


Final thoughts

I wouldn’t say that this was one of a kind book on fae. I wouldn’t even say that the fae world here was very original or something I hadn’t come across before. I don’t really have many good things to say about this book, but I would tell you this. There is definitely something enticing about the plot and the storyline on a whole that has me hooked.

The main characters in this book aren’t really likable either. Mac is definitely not the type of female characters I go for. She likes too much pink, is full of bluster most of the time, is way over head at times, and is saved every.freaking.time by Barrons or sheer luck. That said, she accepts her flaws if not straightaway, at least in perspective and has some wits about her. She doesn’t get starry eyed looking at pretty boys and has a very practical way of thinking instead of the martyr thinking many female MCs possess. For those reasons, I do believe there is a lot of room for her character to grow and turn into a badass sidhe seer. I’m still a bit peeved about her ninja skills towards the end scenes but I’m hoping for an explanation in the future books.

Moving on to Barrons, he’s the quintessential bad boy girls should stay away from but don’t. Thankfully, Mac realizes that and doesn’t really fall to his dark allure. Well, she might be developing a case of Stockholm syndrome from the looks of it but I hope it doesn’t really affect the storyline majorly.

Apart from that, there wasn’t a lot of development plot-wise. We just see Mac trying to find her sister’s killer and falling too deep into a world she had no idea existed. She handles it like a normal person would IMO. The author shies away from many descriptions that I would have really liked to read about. Like all the Unseelie fae, of how grotesque they were or the fae prince, who was apparently even more beautiful than an archangel.

All in all, despite all the shortcomings of the book and things I didn’t much care about, it was a decent read and I’m definitely hooked.


Rating: 
3 i-see-you-have-potential stars