Reviewed by tellemonstar on
I enjoyed Darkfever quite a bit. I have a thing for the Irish legends of the Sidhe and the Tuatha De Danaan, so I was pleased that the fae in this series is based on that particular mythology.
Mac is an interesting character, and from her narration of the story I got the feeling that she has changed a lot since the death of her sister and her trip to Ireland. She’s grown up quite a bit, and some of that growing was evident within Darkfever. I thought her portrayal was fairly realistic – the not wanting to accept that there are very bad things out there, or that she was one of few who could see those very bad things, and her desperate need to avenge the death of her sister all felt very realistic. You could put yourself in that situation and think – yep, I would probably feel that way. Barrons is also an interesting character, and I know there is much more to him than he reveals, so I hope more about him is revealed in the next book.
I was quite grateful that there wasn’t an insta-love thing going on between Mac and Barrons. She tells us he is attractive, but I am just glad we weren’t three or four chapters after their initial meeting and all of a sudden she’s professing her undying love for him or getting frisky with him. There’s no denying there was sexual tension, and definitely attraction on both sides (no matter how much Mac denies it), but it was a nice change to not have it resolved a couple of days after they met.
Overall I thought that Darkfever was a great start to the series. A couple of parts maybe could have moved a little bit faster or been skipped, but nothing too major. The world building – the descriptions of Dublin and the Fae world as well – was well done, especially with Mac’s comparisons between home and Dublin. The only thing I could have done without was the constant descriptions of precisely what shade of nail polish she was wearing and exactly what she was wearing every single day. The outfits she wore to the homes Barrons wanted her to sniff out were fine, because they lent to the atmosphere of Mac’s feelings when she was there. But I could care less about whether her undies matched her nightie or not.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 31 March, 2013: Finished reading
- 31 March, 2013: Reviewed