Monday, October 3, 2011

Book Review: Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning

Note:  Shadowfever is Book 5 in the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning.  Being such, there may be spoilers in this review for previous books

Plot:  
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.

“Evil is a completely different creature, Mac. Evil is bad that believes it’s good.”

Review:
I really loved this book and the entire series.  There were times that it kind of grossed me out (eating Unseelie flesh, blech), but considering that the last two book are pretty much post-apocalyptic, it didn't phase me too much.

Be warned, Mac does end up sleeping with someone, I won't say who, so for those who prefer no sex scenes, I would stay away.  But I guess if the last book didn't turn you off, then you should be ok, because the sex scenes were not explicitly graphic.

Mac finally hunts down and imprisons the Sinsar Dubh, but not without some twists and turns.  She finds out who and what exactly she is, and its not what she thought.

Ms. Moning's writing style is so fluid, that I found myself easily getting lost in the reading, without a care to what was going on around me.  Most of the loose ends were neatly tied together and topped with a bow, except for Mac and Dani's relationship.  Mac discovers something about Dani and was very nearly unable to forgive her, at which point Dani takes off and isn't seen for the rest of the book.  From what I've heard, though, there is going to be a spin-off series from Dani's point of view and it will cover them reconciling and whatnot.  We also find out who the Unseelie King is (hint:  its more than one person).

The thing about this story, is that it is not a stand-alone story.  There are some book series that you can pick up one book in the middle of the series and know everything that's going on...this is not one of those series.  You would need to start from the beginning to understand everything that's going on, otherwise you'll just be lost.

Rating:

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