Karen Marie Moning

Mackayla Lane (Fever) — (2006-2010) Publisher: MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman. Or so she thinks… until something extraordinary happens. When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death — a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone — Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle 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, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless Vlane — an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women — closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: 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 of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands…

Darkfever

Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series can usually be found on the romance shelves, but having just finished reading the first installment, Darkfever, I’m more inclined to classify it as urban fantasy. While there are a couple of men foreshadowed as possible love interests for the heroine, and while there is some sexual content (most stemming from the mind-control powers possessed by some of the fae), the primary focus is on a murder mystery and on the magical goings-on in Moning’s Dublin. The series also follows urban fantasy tropes in another significant way: it is written in first person and follows one heroine, Mackayla (“Mac”) Lane, throughout its five books rather than featuring a different heroine and hero in each volume.

Mac is normal. Painfully so. She’s smart but unambitious, content to while away her days painting her nails and getting a tan. That is, until the day she learns her beloved sister has been murdered in Dublin. The police and her parents seem content to chalk it up to random violence, but Mac isn’t satisfied with that, and goes to Dublin to do some investigating of her own. There, she learns that her sister was mixed up in the dangerous world of the fae. She also meets the enigmatic Byronic bookstore owner Jericho Barrons, who warns her that she will share her sister’s fate if she doesn’t learn the ropes quickly.

Making Mac ubernormal was a brilliant decision on Moning’s part. Mac is probably more “mainstream” than most of Darkfever’s readers; if a fantasy fan found herself in this situation, she’d at least have “genre savvy” to help her navigate the dangers. Mac doesn’t. She’s suddenly thrust into a world full of horrible creatures she never even imagined. She’s scared witless. Because we see through Mac’s eyes, we’re scared too. And the fact that she’s willing to stand up to the fae, even though she knows she’s a pampered Yorkie snarling at wolves, makes her easy to admire. (I love some of the more seasoned, tough heroines too, but I worry less about whether they’ll make it out in one piece, which decreases the tension in the story somewhat.)

And there’s plenty to be scared of. Moning’s fae are terrifying, both the hideous monsters and the beautiful creatures whose monstrousness lurks under the surface. For me the most chilling element is the Dark Zone: taken over by devouring shadow creatures, this part of the city is simply forgotten by the human inhabitants. This works into the plot in ways that sent shivers down my spine.

Moning’s prose is transparent; it stays out of the way of the story and propels the reader quickly through the plot. You probably won’t stop reading to gawk at a stunningly poetic turn of phrase, but neither will you trip over any awkwardnesses.

Most importantly, if you’re anything like me, you’ll reach the end and think “MUST. HAVE. BOOK. TWO. NOW.” Darkfever is compulsively readable and leaves readers salivating for the next installment, Bloodfever. —Kelly Lasiter

Darkfever

I am embarrassed to admit that for years I have judged Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series by its covers (and even by the covers of Moning’s other books), dismissing it every time I saw it. Then Kelly, whose opinion I esteem, recommended the Fever series and, simultaneously, Brilliance Audio sent me the last volume to review. So I decided to get the first book, Darkfever on audio, and give it a try.

MacKayla (Mac) Lane is a delightfully shallow Southern girl who we meet as she’s tanning herself by the pool in her pink bikini. She works as a bartender, takes some college classes, loves her parents, eats a lot, and adores her Juicy Couture purse. The biggest stressor in Mac’s life is her fear that Revlon might discontinue her favorite pink nail polish.

But reality hits when Mac finds out that her big sister, who’s also her best friend, has been murdered in an alley in Dublin. Devastated by her loss, frustrated by the lack of closure offered by the Dublin police, and spurred on by a cryptic clue on her voicemail, Mac sets off for Dublin to get some answers. She leaves behind her grieving and panicked parents.

When Mac arrives in Dublin, her pink princess life suddenly turns into a dark underground world of deadly shades, life-sucking faeries, dangerous black-market relics, and powerful magic. When she meets Jericho Barrons, a wealthy and mysterious bookstore owner, he warns her to leave, but Mac is determined to get answers and the more she learns, the scarier it gets.

I was immediately drawn to Mac, understanding the culture she comes from and being completely convinced of her authenticity. Mac is charming and funny, is concerned about maintaining decorum, and expects to receive Southern Hospitality wherever she goes. Her personality, manners, and wardrobe worked well for her debutante life in Georgia, but when she hits the wealthy and sophisticated section of Dublin, she seems like a Barbie doll. As Barrons puts it, she’s “a walking, talking catastrophe in pink.” But she’s so real — grieving over her sister, concerned about her frightened parents, realizing that she’s shallow, and knowing she doesn’t have what it takes to save the world.

Also impressive is the complete lack, so far, of a romance. I know it’s coming, but it’s not at all obvious that it’s being set up. At this point the focus is firmly on the plot and the world-building. While I welcome a romance, I find that fantasy novels that are set up around the romance (often what we get from books found next to Moning’s on the paranormal shelf) are usually weak in the areas of plot and world-building, and this is why I had dismissed the Fever series for so long. But I was wrong about this one. Darkfever is a fast-paced, compulsively readable novel with a relatable heroine, a wonderful setting, and a plot that’s full of tension of the non-romantic type. Now that this solid foundation has been laid, adding romantic tension on top will be a bonus to the plot instead of a burden.

This audiobook was read by Joyce Bean whose voice and acting skills easily range from Sweet Georgia Peach to Cultured Irish Alpha Male. Really impressive. I’m looking forward to the next audiobook, Bloodfever. —Kat Hooper

Bloodfever

At the end of Darkfever, Mac learned the identity of her sister’s mysterious lover (and possible murderer), but didn’t get the chance to strike against him. She’s still out for revenge, and Barrons still wants her help finding the Sinsar Dubh, an ancient book of evil magic. Meanwhile, Mac has to deal with too-curious Garda officers, the ever-present threat of Shades, and the machinations of the alluring Fae prince V’lane.

Then, in addition to the Shades and Rhino-boys she’s now accustomed to, Mac starts seeing another frightening figure. One in dark robes, carrying a long scythe. Is he an omen of Mac’s death, a manifestation of her guilty conscience, or something else entirely?

Bloodfever starts out feeling like a continuation of Darkfever, with Mac continuing her struggle for survival and vengeance (and Barrons continuing to be a pain in her… neck). Then Moning pulls off one heckuva plot twist and plunges Mac into a situation where she has to choose between dying and becoming a more ruthless person.

I should probably take a moment to mention the elephant in the living room, or should I say the elephant in the bookstore: Jericho Barrons is an overbearing jerk. And I’m pretty sure he’s being set up as the romantic lead for Mac. Normally I hate this kind of “hero” — about the only other one I can stand is Ilona Andrews’s Curran — so I’ve been trying to put my finger on why I’m ok with Barrons as a character even when I don’t like him much as a person. What I’ve come up with is that I can deal with Barrons because Moning, and Mac, seem quite aware of the fact that Barrons is not actually Prince Charming. He’s not the kind of guy an emotionally healthy woman would want in real life. He is the product of a hard world that has twisted him, and if he and Mac end up being well-matched, it’ll be in large part because that world is twisting Mac, too.

(Or maybe I just like the moments when Mac pokes holes in his self-importance, or the fact that he has her back when it really matters. At any rate, he’s not likable but I find him interesting to read about.)

Meanwhile, Mac’s character takes on new dimensions in Bloodfever, and then the book ends with a cliffhanger that makes me supremely glad all the books are already out so I can just dive right into the next one. Moning combines a complex mythology, smooth writing, emotional drama, and plenty of twists, making the Fever books hard to put down. —Kelly Lasiter

Bloodfever

Bloodfever, the second novel in Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series featuring Southerner MacKayla Lane, maintains the fast pace, exciting action, romantic tension, and emotional impact of the first novel. So far, Fever has not devolved into a brainless paranormal romance which is more focused on sex than plot, and at this point I feel hopeful that such an atrocity will not occur.

I read Brilliance Audio’s version of Bloodfever which was narrated by Joyce Bean. It was difficult to put down. In fact, I listened to the entire book (nine hours) in less than two days, probably annoying my family by having my earbuds in for hours at a time.

Mac is a heroine who feels real — she’s got plenty of courage and spunk, but as she learns more about her place in the world she’s also got serious and realistic doubts about her abilities and her allies. She thinks deeply and rationally, often using insights learned from her parents or from her education, not just gut instincts. Her grief over her sister’s death is heart-wrenching, making this an impressive piece of characterization. Jericho Barrons is also well-done — he’s a handsome and hardened man who remains a mystery. Mac smartly realizes that a relationship with him is not a good idea. I look forward to learning how Barrons became the person he is and I’m hoping that Mac can soften him up.

Plot-wise, Bloodfever doesn’t progress very far — it feels like an extension of Darkfever and its story could have been absorbed by the previous and subsequent novels, making this series only four books long. If I had been reading these books when they were first published, this may have been a major disappointment for me and I may have felt slightly cheated. But since I’m reading them after publication of the last book, I can simply move on to the next one. And I’m ready to move on to Faefever!
—Kat Hooper

Faefever

I’d die for him.

Throughout the Fever series, Karen Marie Moning has always had a penchant for telling us something dramatic and then backing up to explain how Mac got to that point. In Faefever, she takes that technique to a new level: the whole book is the explanation of how she reached that bombshell of a first sentence. Who is this man, and why is Mac willing to die for him?

The early chapters of Faefever are not quite as compelling as those of the first two books. They feel less focused. I think it’s symptomatic of Mac’s own confusion — she doesn’t know whom to trust or what the right course of action really is — but she seems more wishy-washy than she has in previous books. She wants to move out from under Barrons’s thumb, which I can get behind, but all too often that seems to mean getting under V’lane’s thumb instead. I can’t understand some of her decisions in this book.

On the upside, we get a larger glimpse of the history/mythology of the Fae and how the Sinsar Dubh fits in. It’s a tragic, haunting history and I suspect there’s even more to it than we’ve been told. Another excellent scene features Mac rigging up an invention to protect herself from the Shades. It’s ingenious… and hilarious. I cracked up, loudly, the whole time I was reading this scene, and I don’t think I can ever listen to “Bad Moon Rising” with a straight face again.

This moment of comic relief is sorely needed, too, as Faefever is the grimmest of the books so far. Moning builds up to two terrifying scenes. The first of the two scenes would be an “oh, holy crap” ending all by itself. Unlike the twist in Bloodfever, I saw this scene coming — I was able to guess what was being planned — but it was still chilling. The second scene is more personal to Mac, and just as scary in a completely different way. Moning strikes a difficult balance here, making an act sound erotic on the surface but horrific at its core. It’s a difficult scene to read, precisely because she wrote it far too well.

Once again, I’m very glad I started this series after all five books had been released. Moning’s love of cliffhangers would drive me crazy otherwise! She has an author’s note at the end of this one, reminding us that she has promised a story about light rather than darkness, but at the end of Faefever, both Dublin and Mac (and quite possibly the human race) are in pretty bad straits. —Kelly Lasiter

Faefever

I’ve already apologized for misjudging Karen Marie Moning’s Fever books; but I feel the need to do it again because I still keep expecting this series to jump the shark, and it refuses to even put on the skis!

Mac continues to develop, becoming stronger, more mature, and more admirable as she deals with tough situations, yet still retaining the pink debutante personality that made her so endearing at the start of Darkfever.

In Faefever, we learn more about the Seelie and Unseelie courts, Rowena and the other sidhe-seers in Dublin, and the Scotsman Christian MacKeltar (who has some special powers of his own). We can start to develop theories about how all of these characters fit into this world, but so far Moning is keeping us guessing and we’re not really sure who Mac can trust.

This kind of anxiety (along with a lot of sexual tension) makes the pages turn fast — all the way to the dramatic ending. The last line of the book made me gasp out loud and break out in goosebumps. I was listening to Faefever on audio (Brilliance Audio) and I think Joyce Bean’s narration made it even more chilling. The final scene was so disturbing that Ms. Moning felt the need to leave her readers a mollifying note at the end of the text. By the time you get there, you’ll definitely want to make sure you’re armed with lots of flashlights, extra batteries, and the next book in the Fever series: Dreamfever. —Kat Hooper

Dreamfever

At the end of Faefever, Mac was brought low, her free will stolen by the schemes of the Lord Master and the powers of several Fae. In the early chapters of Dreamfever, Karen Marie Moning makes the unusual decision of switching to another point of view, that of Mac’s teenage friend Dani, who narrates the first few days after the walls between the worlds fall down. Dani’s style of narration can be a little jarring after one is accustomed to Mac’s voice, but these chapters give us an idea of what’s going on in the world while Mac is out of commission.

Four days later, Barrons comes for Mac. (We don’t learn till later why the delay, and certain other characters exploit that mystery for all they’re worth.) No one has ever recovered from being turned into Pri-ya (a Fae sex addict), but Barrons has a plan to bring Mac back. For me, Dreamfever could be subtitled “The One Where Barrons Finally Won Me Over.” Is he still a jerk? Sure. But after the first 60-something pages of this book, I no longer have doubts about his feelings toward Mac or his determination to protect her. Through Mac’s rather addled point of view, we see a new side of Barrons. He’s surprisingly funny (Tubthumping!) and it’s also clear that the whole situation is tearing him up. He wants Mac to recover, but at the same time, he knows that when she recovers, so will her distrust of him. There’s a sexual aspect too, but the sexuality is almost the saddest thing of all, because that’s not how anyone (Mac, Barrons, or the reader) wanted this to happen. These scenes are touching enough that I felt teary a couple of times.

Then, with Mac back to her old self (though a more hardened version of herself) Moning expands the story. In the first three books, up until the penultimate scene in Faefever, this was a fairly personal tale. The larger world was threatened, but the focus was mainly on Mac and the small circle of people she knew. Most of humanity was oblivious to the plot events. Not so here. As Mac reenters the world, she learns what has happened in her absence. When she sees the map showing all the new Dark Zones and the number estimating the Earth’s current population, it’s chilling. This battle just got much bigger.

I felt bogged down briefly in the scenes of sidhe-seer politics. Later, though, I realized the problem was not that I didn’t like these scenes, but that I was so caught up in another plot point that I wanted the story to get back to that instead! I told myself to be more Zen about it, and was able to enjoy the moment more fully.

Mac learns more about the history of the sidhe-seers and about her own family, both blood and adoptive. Then, while trying to respond to a dire threat, Mac finds herself spirited into a Fae realm that’s just as seductively dangerous — and for much the same reasons — as J.K. Rowling’s Mirror of Erised. From here, she has some adventures that would be more expected in a high fantasy than in an urban fantasy. Moning shows plenty of creativity here, plus a heightened ability to write descriptive prose.

Dreamfever ends on the mother of all cliffhangers. Things look devastating, but I’m about to start Shadowfever, and I’m reminding myself that these books have always been full of fairy-tale references. The final scene of Dreamfever is reminiscent of a particular fairy-tale scene, and in the tale, things come out OK in the end. I’ve got my fingers crossed… —Kelly Lasiter

Dreamfever

“Come back and fight, Mac!”

After a major set-back at the end of Faefever, Mac’s got a lot of work to do at the beginning of Dreamfever just so she can get back in the game. The first scenes of this novel, the fourth in Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series, are horrible and heart-wrenching and not at all how we were hoping things would turn out for Mac. It’s a real emotional blow for both Mac and the reader, but there’s a silver lining: we finally get some much-needed proof about Barrons’ character.

Once Mac gets her life back in order, things start moving fast and the tension never lets up. Dreamfever contains my favorite scenes of the series: when Mac gets lost in the “silvers.” Dreamfever ends with an incredibly cruel cliffhanger and I can’t imagine the agony that Moning fans were in when they read this book after publication and then had to wait for book 5! Fortunately, it’s out now. Trust me: you’ll want to have Shadowfever in hand because you will not be able to resist opening it immediately upon finishing Dreamfever.

For audiobook readers, I need to warn you that Joyce Bean, the narrator for the first three books in the Fever series, did not narrate the last two books. The new readers are Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante. Natalie Ross is a Texan and I actually liked her better than Joyce Bean as Mac (more authentic Southern accent) except that she changed the pronunciation of the names “V’lane” (to “Vuh-lane”) and Rowena (to “RO-win-uh”). It took me some time to adjust to Phil Gigante doing the male voices. Surprisingly, it worked well with Gigante saying the man’s line and Ross adding “said Barrons” (etc.) at the end. What was jarring, however, was that Gigante (who is actually one of my favorite readers) has a deep bass voice and he interpreted Barrons differently than Bean had, making Barrons occasionally sound like some sort of evil overlord caricature (especially when he laughed: “Muwahahaha”). I adjusted to the new voices, and I still enjoyed listening to this on audio, but I was disappointed about the switch… just so you know.
—Kat Hooper

Shadowfever

What a ride! I count myself fortunate to be a “late adopter” of Karen Marie Moning's Fever series, because that meant I was able to devour its five books in rapid succession, almost as if they were one single long novel. It’s been an intense experience, the kind I always want to find in urban fantasy and so often don’t. This series has everything: a mystery; a twisty plot that isn’t confusing to read even when you don’t yet understand everything that’s happening; a dynamic heroine who changes as the story progresses; a complex, fascinating world; great sex (yeah, I said it) that always serves plot or character rather than the other way around; a touch of humor…

I’ve also seen Moning’s writing develop over the course of the series. Her descriptive prose has grown more lush and her plotting more complex. I’m pretty sure she’s had much of Shadowfever’s plot planned all along, but this hefty (608 pages) final installment has enough plot twists for another four books! When I was about halfway through it, I told a friend it was “a big brick o’ plot,” and I meant it in a very good way. Much like this is a big brick o’ chocolate.

”Now I’d lost everything,” Mac told us at the end of Dreamfever, but because Moning is EVIL, she didn’t tell us who had just died (though it’s not hard to guess). At the beginning of Shadowfever, we learn who bit the dust, and what Mac decides to do afterward. She starts thinking maybe she wants the Sinsar Dubh for her own purposes. Now she just has to decide what she’s willing to do to get it. She’s always had an unusual connection to the tome, too, and she begins to wonder about the nature of that connection — especially when she finds evidence that she may be the reincarnation of the Unseelie King’s concubine, or maybe of someone even more frightening.

There’s so little I can say about the plot without leaking major spoilers. I’ll just say that there are a ton of twists and that the tension level is somewhere in the stratosphere. Rarely have I felt so much temptation to flip ahead in a book and make sure this or that disaster didn’t happen; yet the story is so enthralling that I resisted that temptation due to sheer desire to let it unfold as written.

There’s one plot element, [SPOILER — highlight to view it:] Barrons not being permanently dead [END SPOILER], that I was quite sure would transpire, and I was worried that it would feel like a cop-out when it did. Instead, Moning weaves this into a major subplot with a tragic history, and makes it feel like an organic part of the story rather than a cheat.

Mac’s world is a male-dominated one in many ways, and Mac has often needed to be rescued. It’s gratifying that her input ends up being crucial to the solutions of two of the biggest problems in the book: in one case her willpower is needed, in another case it’s her ability to think outside the box.

Now that the series is finished, I can heartily recommend it with two caveats: you have to be willing to read about morally ambiguous characters — the “heroes” are often as ruthless and conniving as the “villains” here, and Moning has stated on her blog that it’s intentional — and you have to be OK with a lot of sex. As I said above, it’s always relevant to plot or character, but there is a lot of it, and progressively more as you get further in the series. If you are accepting of those two elements, Fever is an addictive, spellbinding, unforgettable series that takes you on one heck of a trip and then comes to a satisfying end with Shadowfever. Moning has stated that there may be future books in this universe, but these five books are a self-contained and resolved storyline. —Kelly Lasiter

Shadowfever

Smart is the new cool.

Shadowfever is the fifth and final novel in Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series. Readers will be pleased that it’s longer than the previous books, yet still chock full of plot.

After the horrific cliffhanger at the end of the previous book, Dreamfever, we find out that things are pretty bad for Mac — worse, in fact, than they were at the beginning of Dreamfever. Much of Shadowfever is emotionally draining as Mac deals with grief and starts to become harder and tougher. The result is a young woman who doesn’t quite know who she is. This change is painful to watch, yet it’s not unwelcome, and sometimes it’s amusing (now she’s likely to be wearing a semi-automatic weapon strapped across her pink Juicy shirt).

There’s also much joy in this final novel, and Moning brings everything together into a complex and satisfying conclusion. There are a lot of new revelations in Shadowfever, some that I saw coming (though none were so obvious that I was certain about them), others that truly surprised me, and a couple that I thought were slightly unbelievable (but I didn’t really care). Thus, like the previous installments, Shadowfever was a quick read that kept me on the edge of my seat — a place I like to be when I’m reading a book.

I don’t read much romantic urban fantasy because I usually think that the sex and romance overshadow the plot, but Moning’s Fever series is the best romantic urban fantasy series I’ve read. It’s got a complex twisty plot, a wonderful setting (I can’t wait to visit Dublin someday!), great characters, mystery, a pleasant writing style, and plenty of tension-relieving humor. What I liked most, though, was Mac herself. She’s a smart and strong heroine (though she doesn’t know it) who I can understand. She’s sweet and self-confident, sassy but not snarky, and she knows she’s in way over her head. She admires the alpha male and is strong enough to resist being pushed around by him, but she has her own goals and realizes his value as a tool to reach those goals. I found their behaviors and relationship to be believable and was pleased that the series didn’t devolve into a sap-and-sex story. (There is a lot of sex in the last two books, but it’s an integral part of the plot.) I’m glad that I started Fever after the final book was published because I flew through them in a few weeks and would have been seriously disgruntled about those nasty cliffhangers if I’d had to wait.

This is a great series to read on audio, but be warned that the narrator changes after book 3. I was so absorbed in the story that this change was a bit upsetting, but I adjusted. The narration on the first three books (Joyce Bean) was excellent — I especially liked Ms. Bean’s male voices. In the last two books, Natalie Ross reads Mac’s parts perfectly. Phil Gigante’s male voices were sometimes over-the-top in the fourth book, but they seemed more appropriate in the final dramatic volume.

If you’re a fan of urban fantasy and you haven’t read Fever yet, you’re missing out! —Kat Hooper