Review: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

Title: Darkfever
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: 08/28/07
Summary:

MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first century woman.

Or so she thinks... until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death -- a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone -- Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle 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, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless Vlane -- an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women -- closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book -- because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands...

Plot: 4 Stars
I love a good story where the paranormal creature(s) are terrifying. Too often they're sexy or cute or just like humans. But not the fae in Darkfever. They were gross and ugly and evil. And I loved it. I also enjoyed that the plot wasn't so straightforward. Mac crosses the Atlantic to solve her sister's murder, and then gets swept up into the search for a dark, magical book. She spends most of the novel balancing between trying to figure out what happened to her sister, learning about her powers as a sidhe seer and the fae she can see, and searching for the Sinsar Dubh. There's never a dull moment because there's so much on Mac's plate, but it never seems too overwhelming.

Pace: 4 Stars
The pace of this novel was smooth and steady. There weren't any bumps in which things slowed down and became boring, nor were there moments that seemed rushed and confusing. Everything unfolded in a realistic timeframe. There was never a time where I was left wondering if days in Ireland were longer than 24 hours to accomodate all of the action. Instead, the author spread things out over the course of a couple weeks. This also helped show the progression in which Mac starts to see and really believe in the fae around her. My only gripe is the ending. It's not quite a cliffhanger, but it comes out of nowhere and totally leaves you hanging for book two. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing since I went out and bought Bloodfever the day after I finished it.

Characters: 4 Stars
Mac was a very real character. Often, when reading paranormal stories, characters who are first introduced into the supernatural accept it a bit too quickly and easily. But Mac fought the strange things happening in Ireland tooth and nail. She was stubborn and refused to accept the supernatural until it was shoved right under her nose, and even then, she still seemed skeptical. Jericho Barrons was a nice mix of hot and cold, sugar and spice. Every time you thought he started to care, he's turn around and be mean again. I can't wait to see more of the dynamic between Mac and Barrons. I also hope that future books will have Mac uncover more of what happened to her sister. The bits and pieces throughout this novel were not enough.

Cover: 4.5 Stars
I absolutely love the new re-designed novels. I will admit that I was a little hesitant about reading these books in the past due to the lackluster covers, even though I had heard really good things. So when I saw these new covers, I figured I'd give it a shot. My favorite part is the color. The blue they chose is beautiful, and also fits the emotions of the novel. I also really liked that the cover model was so small. It made her seem lost or confused, which describes Mac for most of the novel. All in all, kudos to whoever decided to switch things up.

Overall: 4 Stars

Disclosure: I bought this book for my own enjoyment.