Proceed With Caution:
This book contains murder, graphic images, violence, and mentions of rape.
The Basics:
Darkfever is narrated by twenty-two year old MacKayla Lane aka Mac. After her sister is murdered, she travels from Georgia to Dublin, Ireland to find out who killed her and why. Upon arrival, she quickly realizes that her sister was involved in something much bigger and much deadlier than Mac could ever imagine.
My Thoughts:
I originally read this almost exactly nine years ago! Time flies! I've been wanting to reread this series for a long time, and now seemed like the perfect time since the eleventh book was coming soon (out now!). So I picked up Darkfever once again and was very pleasantly surprised; I liked it more this time around!
I remember being annoyed with Mac my first time reading Darkfever, but this time I actually liked her a lot. She's loyal and brave and much smarter than she gets credit for. Sure she may look like the stereotypical dumb blonde, always dressed in pink and sparkles, but this girl has brains and sass! She's an avid reader which shows in the way she speaks. She also loves deeply which is evident in her flying across the world alone to avenge her sister. She's also quite resourceful and people savvy as she handles Barrons to the best of her ability. She's just all around great!
The one thing that did still annoy me about Darkfever was all of Mac's foreshadowing. She regularly breaks the fourth wall (which is fine, it makes the narrative much more conversational) and then tells us how she "should have known" or would "later learn" and all that. Even once she mentions that it's been a year since she arrived in Dublin, despite us only being with her for a week! It's quite distracting and a bit disorienting when it comes up.
Aside from that, Darkfever is just a good time. It's dark and sexy. There are plenty of dated references which were funny to read (who remembers having a Nokia brick phone?). It sets a great tone for the following books and I find myself reinvested in Mac and Barron's mission to locate the Sinsar Dubh and stop the dark fae from destroying our world!