Book Review: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

Review: Darkfever
Series: Fever – Book 1
Author: Karen Marie Moning
No of Pages: 342
Release Date: 31 October 2006

My Name is MacKayla, Mac for short. I’m a sidhe-seer, one who sees 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 cell 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 mysterious 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 begin to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: to find the Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all powerful Dark Book – because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of both worlds in their hands...


My Thoughts:

This is the first book I have read in a while without a strong romantic theme, and I absolutely loved it.

Darkfever is like a massive flashback which is new for me. MacKayla Lane is a sidhe-seer, which means she sees the Fae. Darkfever tells the story of how she got to where she is now, and the running commentary is not only hilarious but is almost spoilery, but in a good way. It took the edge of mystery and human stupidity out of the story and it was masterfully done.

Instead of us following through the eyes of Mac stumbling where she stumbled and not knowing what was going on although we weren’t told everything seeing Mac stumble we were accompanied by present Mac telling us that past Mac didn’t really know how stupid and naive she was. Like when she walked into an abandoned warehouse present Mac admitted that she didn’t really know what on earth was going through her mind that day.

After the death of her sister, Mac travels to Dublin, Ireland to investigate her murder because the local police didn’t do enough as far as she was concerned. It is in Dublin that Mac watches her life as she knows it completely unravel.

After her first encounter with an Unseelie (an extremely ugly, alien-looking Fae) she runs into Barrons’ Books and Baubles run by Jericho Barrons. He is a man of many words, and many secrets. Even though throughout the tale Mac tells us that they end up working together it is still a mystery as to whether or not she can fully trust him.

Mac is innocent, but also extremely smart and very resourceful...and stubborn. She listens to Barron’s only when she feels the need to, but if he says something that sounds a little off, she will go and do things her own way regardless. Sometimes that gets her into trouble, but it’s not that stupid “oh my god, why did you do that” trouble that makes you want to shake her. You fully believe it’s going to work as well...until it doesn’t.

The secondary characters are well formed, we can catch glimpses into their lives and are told part of their histories without being bored or it feeling like a complete information dump. Malluce the “vampire”, Rocky O’Bannion the mobster, Barrons the mystery and even Alina her dead sister are all very intriguing characters that make me hope that we continue to learn about them in the future.

There are some unsolved mysteries that run throughout Darkfever. Especially revolving around the other characters. Who Fiona is, if Malluce is really a vampire, is V’lane evil and what on earth the Lord Master is. It keeps a very strong sense of “I must find out” which one can only hope will be revealed in the next book.

Although I’m not entirely sure where Moning is going with the series, it’s obvious Mac will still be searching for OOP’s (Objects of Power) I am interested to see what else comes of discovering the world of the Fae.

Also in this series:
Bloodfever
Faefever
Dreamfever
Shadowfever