Proceed With Caution:
This book contains death, violence, gore, thoughts of suicide, and mentions of rape.
The Basics:
Shadowfever is the fifth book of the Fever series, and yes, you need to read them all in order. And you'll want to. Need to. This one picks up right where the fourth left off, which was the steepest cliffhanger of all time.
My Thoughts:
The only downside to reading Shadowfever was that I already knew who Mac killed, so that emotional punch was gone. But I was still fully invested because I remembered exactly zero other events! Part One holds no punches as this new Mac emerges. Rainbow Girl is truly gone and is teaming up with her mortal enemy?! What?! Don't do it Mac! But also, yes do it, because I need to know more about them! The first quarter was a lot of introspection on Mac's part, and a lot of learning about her enemy, who might actually not be so bad. I feel dirty thinking that, but it's true. Things are truly never black or white in this new world.
Part two starts with a Christmas miracle! Well, it's February, but it's all that Mac ever wanted! Kind of. This is the longest section of Shadowfever at about one-third of the total book. It's long and kind of slow but there's no time to get bored! It's jam-packed with information! We get to know the characters better, there's world-building, Fae history and lore, plus everyone finally puts together a cohesive plan to trap the Sinsar Dubh! See what happens when you work together and share the knowledge?! There's so much going on, and so much that can go wrong in the final third of the book.
Once you make it to part three of Shadowfever, things really take off! Little bits and pieces from all of the previous books starting coming together. The picture is nowhere near clear, but something is starting to form. Mac accepts who she is, or rather, who she never was. Barrons is...well, he's Barrons, and it's effing epic. Chapter 43 is still my favorite thing ever, and we get to stay there for quite some time before reentering the real world. Or at least what's been left of it.
And part four is where things get real. All is revealed and my head was spinning! I can't believe that I didn't remember any of this, or put it together myself. Shadowfever is simply bonkers. It's so detailed and mind-boggling. But don't expect everything to wrap up with a nice, pretty bow. It's all too messed up for that. Even with the adorable final chapters of part five we're left with this sense of more to come. Mac's adventures are far from over.