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sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
💬: "Sinsar Dubh1: a Dark Hallow belonging to the mythological race of the Tuatha Dé Danaan. Written in a language known only to the most ancient of their kind, it is said to hold the deadliest of all magic within its encrypted pages. Brought to Ireland by the Tuatha Dé during the invasions written of in the pseudohistory Leabhar Gabhåla3, it was stolen along with the other Dark Hallows and rumored to have found its way into the world of Man."
Moning, Karen Marie. Darkfever: Fever Series Book 1 (p. 66). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal, paranormal romance, Fae
📚Page Count: 343
🎧Audiobook Length: 08h 57min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️ - 2/5
----
Darkfever is the first book in the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. MacKayla, more commonly known as Mac, is grieving because her older sister was murdered while abroad in Ireland. Mac's sister left one clue, one enigmatic voice message. So when the criminal murder investigation halts, Mac decides to travel to Ireland to find out who murdered her sister and why. As Mac digs deeper she finds maybe an enemy or ally in the peculiar Jericho Barrons, who happens to be shadowing her. Eventually Mac discovers that she's a sidhe-seer (she-seer), someone who can see and sense the monsters on the other side of the veil. V'lane, an alpha Fae who glamours women into wanting sexual intercourse from him, also has his sights set on Mac. The one thing that Mac discovers is that she needs to get her hands on the Sinsar Dubh, a one of a kind Dark Book that has the power to control both the human world and the fae world, before anyone else finds it.
The first part of the book was really boring, things don't pick up and get more interesting in the book until after the 50% mark. This book also had some inconsistencies as well as several scenes not being explained at all. It felt like nothing relevant was happening in the first 50% of the book. We get world building when Mac learns more about the Fae world and she writes the information down in her notebook, I suppose that's okay? It feels a little like lazy writing. The first time Mac finally sees a monster up close is at the 31% mark and that felt like the story was going too slowly. When Mac sees the monster she notices that it is naked and has a large "member", for some reason the monster stares back at her and begins to stroke itself?!This was never explained "why". To be fair, I think it's okay if some things weren't explained because I understand that this first book is meant the be the beginning of a long series. I just don't understand why the monsters want to stroke themselves when they see her and that is not explained. There are a few inconsistences but I'll just share the first one I found.
Moning, Karen Marie. Darkfever: Fever Series Book 1 (p. 66). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal, paranormal romance, Fae
📚Page Count: 343
🎧Audiobook Length: 08h 57min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️ - 2/5
----
Darkfever is the first book in the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. MacKayla, more commonly known as Mac, is grieving because her older sister was murdered while abroad in Ireland. Mac's sister left one clue, one enigmatic voice message. So when the criminal murder investigation halts, Mac decides to travel to Ireland to find out who murdered her sister and why. As Mac digs deeper she finds maybe an enemy or ally in the peculiar Jericho Barrons, who happens to be shadowing her. Eventually Mac discovers that she's a sidhe-seer (she-seer), someone who can see and sense the monsters on the other side of the veil. V'lane, an alpha Fae who glamours women into wanting sexual intercourse from him, also has his sights set on Mac. The one thing that Mac discovers is that she needs to get her hands on the Sinsar Dubh, a one of a kind Dark Book that has the power to control both the human world and the fae world, before anyone else finds it.
The first part of the book was really boring, things don't pick up and get more interesting in the book until after the 50% mark. This book also had some inconsistencies as well as several scenes not being explained at all. It felt like nothing relevant was happening in the first 50% of the book. We get world building when Mac learns more about the Fae world and she writes the information down in her notebook, I suppose that's okay? It feels a little like lazy writing. The first time Mac finally sees a monster up close is at the 31% mark and that felt like the story was going too slowly. When Mac sees the monster she notices that it is naked and has a large "member", for some reason the monster stares back at her and begins to stroke itself?!This was never explained "why". To be fair, I think it's okay if some things weren't explained because I understand that this first book is meant the be the beginning of a long series. I just don't understand why the monsters want to stroke themselves when they see her and that is not explained. There are a few inconsistences but I'll just share the first one I found.
"then turned out the light and fell almost immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep. Someone knocking at my door awakened me. I sat up, rubbing gritty, tired eyes that felt as if I’d just shut them seconds ago. It took me a few moments to remember where I was—in a twin bed in a chilly room in Dublin, with rain tapping lightly at the window. I’d been having a fantastic dream."
Moning, Karen Marie. Darkfever: Fever Series Book 1 (pp. 48-49). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
So Mac starts off saying that she "fell almost immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep." only to say at the beginning of the next paragraph, "I'd been having a fantastic dream."
(TW - mention of physical assault)
I don't think the relationship between Barrons and Mac is really possible without Mac continuing to accept Barrons' physically and verbally abusive behavior, at this point. Within the first few days of knowing each other, they get into one of their many arguments. Only this time, Barrons decides to "snatch" Mac up off the couch she's sitting on, by grabbing her by the hair and neck and shoving her against a wall.
He was on me before my brain processed the fact that he was coming for me. It was the third time he’d pulled such a stunt and it was getting darned old. The man was either an Olympic sprinter or, because I’d never been jumped before, I just couldn’t get a grasp on how quickly it happens. His lunges were way faster than my instincts to react. Lips compressed, face tight with fury, he dragged me up off the couch with a hand in my hair, grabbed my throat with the other, and began walking me backward toward the wall.
Moning, Karen Marie. Darkfever: Fever Series Book 1 (pp. 77-78). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
This is not described as consensual non-consent OR romantic behavior at all. This is described as the abuse it is. Barrons is supposed to be the main love interest but he physically attacks Mac several times in the beginning of their acquaintanceship. Towards the end of the book Barrons saves Mac and for some reason the author sort of paints this idea that it's okay to forget or that we should forget that Barrons was physically abusive towards Mac almost every time they were in each other's proximity. Barrons saves Mac and so the character is expected to be redeemed of his earlier behavior. Well I still don't like him, he's awful and abusive, I want Mac to get far away from him.
The audiobook narrator was okay, I didn't love their performance but I could stand it. Mac, the main character, is supposed to be from the United States South and so the narrator tried to use a "Southern" accent and sometimes the narrator would lose the accent for two sentences just to pick it back up in the third sentence. It was a bit distracting and took me out of the immersion of the story almost every time it happened. Someone gifted me every audiobook in this series (there was a sale at $2.99 per audiobook) so I plan on finishing this series. I think I don't mind that the book's narrators changes to new narrators starting in book 4, Dreamfever.
There were no spicy scenes in this book. All the scenes having to do with arousal had to do with monsters, fae, and creatures of the night being sexually aggressive and even almost sexually assaulting the main character by using fae glamour to make her think she "wants it". Nothing happened but I don't want to read about "almost sexual assaults" in my paranormal ROMANCES. I'm giving the spicy scenes zero -🌶️ chilies out of five chilies
Overall, I think the beginning of this book was not good, though the premise was interesting. The ending of the book is where the action and the full story started to come together, it was definitely the most interesting part of the book. I don't understand the "slow burn romance" in here because Barrons is terrible to Mac and even physically abusive to her in the days following their first meeting. That's not romantic at all. Some of the writing was also inconsistent. I'm giving this 2 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️ - 2/5 Stars
I listened to this audiobook for free on [Libbyapp.com]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
blombern's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Vomit and Alcohol
naturally's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
my third attempt reading this book. i'll hold up my hands and admit that i misjudged the quality of this story based on the prologue/first few chapters.
mackayla lane is a messy heroine, who often strays into unlikeable territory. she views irish (and other European) cultures through a lens of xenophobia, whilst uplifting her southern american upbringing. she's been raised in a bubble. she's spoilt, whiny, superficial. and when finding out the truth about her sidhe-seer abilities, she's reluctant to wholly embrace it for the duration of darkfever. her redemption comes in the form of her unwavering dedication to hunting down her sister's killer. she's stubborn and extremely consistent in her motives. mac's also adventurous, consistently underestimated and loves books - her arc as a young woman far away from home, exploring a new country/culture was written very well, blending seamlessly with the book's supernatural content. yes, she can acknowledge that jericho is attractive, but never to the point where she throws her whole mission out of the window.
same with jericho. he's a POS. however, i appreciate that neither mac, the narrative nor he try to explain this away. he's ferocious in his hunt for the sinsar dubhe, and this tracks until the very end of the book, although we can see occasional glimpses of him beginning to care for mac. the two of them make a compelling, dysfunctional team and i'm interested to see them learn more about each other and the sinsar dubhe's whereabouts. (them calling each other "miss lane" and "barrons" was overdone though. i'm confident this book would be several hundred words shorter, if the rampant uses of these names were cut from the text!)
at times, the plot rambled on...the middle of this book was definitely saggy! however, the overall world we are introduced to is dark, and addictive and near-stellar.
mackayla lane is a messy heroine, who often strays into unlikeable territory. she views irish (and other European) cultures through a lens of xenophobia, whilst uplifting her southern american upbringing. she's been raised in a bubble. she's spoilt, whiny, superficial. and when finding out the truth about her sidhe-seer abilities, she's reluctant to wholly embrace it for the duration of darkfever. her redemption comes in the form of her unwavering dedication to hunting down her sister's killer. she's stubborn and extremely consistent in her motives. mac's also adventurous, consistently underestimated and loves books - her arc as a young woman far away from home, exploring a new country/culture was written very well, blending seamlessly with the book's supernatural content. yes, she can acknowledge that jericho is attractive, but never to the point where she throws her whole mission out of the window.
same with jericho. he's a POS. however, i appreciate that neither mac, the narrative nor he try to explain this away. he's ferocious in his hunt for the sinsar dubhe, and this tracks until the very end of the book, although we can see occasional glimpses of him beginning to care for mac. the two of them make a compelling, dysfunctional team and i'm interested to see them learn more about each other and the sinsar dubhe's whereabouts. (them calling each other "miss lane" and "barrons" was overdone though. i'm confident this book would be several hundred words shorter, if the rampant uses of these names were cut from the text!)
at times, the plot rambled on...the middle of this book was definitely saggy! however, the overall world we are introduced to is dark, and addictive and near-stellar.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Xenophobia, Blood, Stalking, and Sexual harassment
meganpbennett's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I read the first four books in the Fever series years ago, and I decided to reread Darkfever to see how it held up to what I remember. I remember really liking it, but I found it was okay this time. Mac isn't a particularly great narrator, and story is far darker than I remember.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
cealotte's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I was pretty hopefully for this book. I love fae stories in modern settings, and I was excited for the pairing of that with a murder mystery. However, this book was such a letdown. The narration of the story (first-person) actively spoiled parts of the plot, letting you know before something happened that the main character (and sometimes others) survived and later had thoughts about how the specific moment went down. The main character also spent a lot of time on asides or mini rants about unrelated topics--in a way that felt more like a venting of the author's opinions than a productive. (For example: rants about how the millennial generation is entitled in the middle of nowhere.)
I do acknowledge that this book was written in the early 2000s, however I still was disappointed by some of the problematic parts of the story. There's a lot of misogyny and internalized misogyny. Not just from a specific characters, which would be fine. But from every angle. There's also a moment when a character is described as "Saudi" and that is directly associated with him being "fierce, dark and ruthless."
I also expected that there would be more romance in this book, as it is a romance. The main relationship is set up to be almost an enemies to lovers. The two characters butt heads constantly and seem to viscerally dislike each other. However, this plays out in the guy (Barrons) being quite abusive towards Mac. During an initial meeting, he slams her into the wall and pins her there till she can't breathe, causing her to be in a lot of pain later. It's not sexy or kinky: it's violent. He then continues to insult her, bully her, and control her actions throughout the rest of the book.
The romance also doesn't even develop during this story. (I'm assuming it kicks in in the subsequent novels in the series.) The two characters simply antagonize each other until the very end, when all of a sudden they show each other some basic decency--and there's a possible kiss.
There are two scenes with sexual content. However, they're both non-consensual moments when a fae being of dubious motivation whips the main character into a frenzy in an uncomfortably public place. It just reads incredibly awkwardly. If you're reading this book looking for spicy content, it technically exists but I would look elsewhere.
I bumped my rating to 2 stars purely because part of me is curious to read the next book.
I do acknowledge that this book was written in the early 2000s, however I still was disappointed by some of the problematic parts of the story. There's a lot of misogyny and internalized misogyny. Not just from a specific characters, which would be fine. But from every angle. There's also a moment when a character is described as "Saudi" and that is directly associated with him being "fierce, dark and ruthless."
The romance also doesn't even develop during this story. (I'm assuming it kicks in in the subsequent novels in the series.) The two characters simply antagonize each other until the very end, when all of a sudden they show each other some basic decency--and there's a possible kiss.
There are two scenes with sexual content. However, they're both non-consensual moments when a fae being of dubious motivation whips the main character into a frenzy in an uncomfortably public place. It just reads incredibly awkwardly. If you're reading this book looking for spicy content, it technically exists but I would look elsewhere.
I bumped my rating to 2 stars purely because part of me is curious to read the next book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Blood