Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning

Product Details
Pub. Date: January 2011
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Format: Hardcover , 594pp
Series: Fever Series , #5
ISBN-13: 9780385341677
ISBN: 0385341679


Synopsis“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.


My thoughts:

I waffled about whether or not to buy this book or wait to find it at the library or on paperbackswap and I made the right decision. This book was so hard to put down! I stayed up too late multiple times because I just had to find out what was going to happen next! I read the fourth book so long ago that I could have used a little more review, not that there wasn't some review, but I feel like I may have forgotten some important parts.

There were times during the series that I wasn't sure if I really liked the books or not. The cliff hanger endings were not my favorite, they felt like a ploy to make sure you would buy or read the next book which I can understand. The thing was, I was always planning to read the next book because I was such a fan of Moning from her Highlander series that the endings bothered me. I am happy to say that, while this ending is open to there being more books about the characters it feels like this chapter is closed. I wasn't left with unresolved issues that bothered me and felt unfinished. Maybe that is what I had a problem with in the first four books, they felt unfinished. Someones fate was left uncertain until the next book was published and that takes time. At some point it would be interesting to go back to the beginning and read all the books in order.

I want to be very careful in my review not to reveal anything, I hate to read spoilers about books I plan to read, but it is making it really hard to write much of anything. I was really glad to see how strong a character Mac has become from the beginning and how much more sure of herself she has become. Even when doubts about her past and even her birth emerge ans she starts to question who she really is, she does not totally lose her sense of self. She observes that family is both the people you are born to but also the people who become so close to you that to lose them would be to lose a part of yourself.

The world within the Silvers with its dangers and odd use of time was very well constructed. It is interesting that for Mac just a few hours or days the Silvers or in Fairy will be months in our reality while Christian's time in the Silvers was years longer than the amount of time he was actually missing from our reality. Enough about the past is revealed to make the readers feel like he or she is starting to understand, but the curve balls continue to come right up until the end.

It would be interesting to visit this world again in another book and see how things have changed and improved. One of the things that is mentioned in the last few pages are the debates on how the world should be when it is rebuilt. Technology has failed and some people are pushing for a less plugged in world. Sometimes it seems like people are too connected through technology to actually have a real experience. Always being distracted to answer a text or respond to an email. Every year when we go on vacation we take a bit of a break from technology. It's nice to relax away from email and facebook and other distractions.

I would definitely recommend this book!


BiographyKaren Marie Moning is the New York Times bestselling author of the Fever series, featuring MacKayla Lane, and the award-winning Highlander series. She has a bachelor’s degree in society and law from Purdue University and is currently working on a new series set in the Fever world and a graphic novel featuring MacKayla Lane.


Product Details
Pub. Date: January 2011
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Format: Hardcover , 594pp
Sales Rank: 34
Series: Fever Series , #5
ISBN-13: 9780385341677
ISBN: 0385341679