Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning

Shadowfever (Fever, #5)

by Karen Marie Moning

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

Reviewed by Amanda on

3 of 5 stars

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Actual rating 3.5

Original review: http://onabookbender.com/2011/09/28/review-shadowfever-by-karen-marie-moning/

Though I felt these last two books were better than the previous two, I find it hard to reconcile Darkfever with Shadowfever. Or is it the other way around? Shadowfever is so incredibly different than how the series began. I liked Darkfever and it remains my favorite book of the series. However, as the series progressed, it got further away from what it was in Darkfever. Things got too absurd and messed up for me to want anything other than a resolution. I felt like every possible twist that you could think of was thrown at Mac, and eventually I stopped feeling like it was a plausible story. It’s the author’s responsibility to make me believe that whatever happens in the book is possible, no matter how absurd or strange it is. It did not happen for me here.

Shadowfever dragged on for what felt like forever. It was a total roller-coaster of finally loving the series, only to have that dashed when the latest turn of events annoyed me, or having the pace of the book slow to the point that I just wanted to yell at it to hurry up. I remember being at 90% thinking, the book is almost over FINALLY, when another twist was thrown in, and I just wanted to groan. Shadowfever was equal parts “I CAN’T PUT IT DOWN” and “JUST FINISH THE STORY, ALREADY!” but the latter sticks with me as an overall impression rather than the former.

I’m also torn about the characters. I loved Mac at the beginning, but the more she started questioning herself and spinning herself around in circles, the more confused I felt, and the more it made me want a quick resolution to the story. And Barrons… I liked knowing less about him, oddly enough. Learning about him in this book ruined his mysterious nature, the same that I fell in love with in Darkfever. It was the side characters that really came through in this book, though it would have been nicer to see more of them sooner. It felt as though everything worth knowing was saved for this last book, when these bits of information could have been sprinkled throughout the previous books to culminate in Shadowfever.

At least there wasn’t a cliffhanger? (maybe that should have been my in six words)

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 1 September, 2011: Finished reading
  • 1 September, 2011: Reviewed