REVIEW: Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning

Series: Fever #5
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Dell
Release Date: August 2011
Source: Self-Purchased
Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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

Four books have led the reader up to this point, then low & behold the rug is pulled out. Questions are not answered and/ or, worst, totally ignored as part of the original storyline. Ms Moning drifts away from the story's integrity by introducing conclusions that are quite frankly out of left field. KMM, did you just want to tie up a few loose ends before you left for your beach vacation?

I literally have an entire list of questions that I needed answers on. I still know almost nothing. I hate being led in one direction only to be dumped ungracefully in another.The biggest question of the series, Just what the heck is Jericho Barrons?, is literally ended about 3/4 through this book when, in a single afterthought, Mac decides not to question his identity. Seriously?! Ms. Moning, please send me a refund ASAP. I feel like the author never did really figure just what the hell Jericho Barrons was and decides to leave him nameless and shrouded in mystery. Jericho Barrons deserved better. He's the reason why I continued with the series. One annoyed reader at this point!

As much as Mac talked about how much she'd grown since her sister's death, I felt like we saw just how young and naive she still was. When Mac thought she'd lost Jericho, she should have been a lot more grateful when she realized he was alive but all she did was whine, whine, whine and whine some more about his treatment of her. Complaining to him how she had grieved for three days! Really? Three days? At least when Bella Swan thought she lost Edward Cullen in New Moon she was in a depression for three months; but Mac grieved for three days. I understand we all have our own ways of grieving and moving on but the three days of grieving just wasn't convincing. In my opinion, Barrons had the right to be upset when she told him she grieved for three days.

After all of the up/down, trials and tribulations between Mac and Jericho in the first 4 books, it would have been a much better read if their romantic relationship was solified at the beginning of the book. As much as I enjoyed all the mind boggling sexy times they shared (ahem, chapter 43 & 44!); Mac and Barrons relationship is more awkward than anything else and it feels forced. Was there a strong physical attraction between the two? Absolutely, but underneath all the lust there wasn't much emotional leverage between the two.

But with all that said, I still enjoyed Shadowfever. Immensely! Annoyed? Yes, but all the sexual tension between Mac and Barrons and the release of it all was enough to keep me trudging along. Gah! I still have so many grievances but I think this entry would be about 5 pages long. I didn't even dive into V'Lane, The Unseelie Prince & Dani.

OMG! Dani! WTF!

Those topics might have to be a separate entry. Till then, good readings to all!