Released September 2008 (Delacorte Press) * 352 pages * ISBN 13: 9780385341639
The Fever series is the story of Mac, short for MacKayla, Lane. She was your typical early twenties girl, hanging out at mom and dad’s where life is easy and working a series of crap jobs. The highlight of her week, other than clothes shopping and partying, was talking to her older sister who had gone to study in Dublin. Then her sister was murdered.
Not satisfied with the official explanation of a mugging, Mac goes to Dublin to find her sister’s murderer with revenge on her mind. Strange things start happening when she gets there. Turns out Mac and her sister are sidhe-seers, they can see the Fae (isn’t that something you want to find out wandering down the street in Dublin). Oh, and did I mention that the Unseelie, the worst of the Fae are escaping their prison intent on destroying our world? And her sister had a secret life tied up in it all. Avenging her sister will have to take a backseat to saving the world.
That’s the plot for Darkfever, the first in the series, which sets the stage for the next four books that cover the saving the world part (keep reading to find out how to check out Darkfever for free). It’s difficult to evaluate a single book in the series, since it is really a single story that has been chopped up into five books. I find the series very absorbing and Moning always manages to take it up a notch and throw in a twist whenever you think you have things figured out.
Because the books are released at least a year apart, it’s easy to forget where the last one left off. Moning does a good job of presenting a recap in the prologue if you need it, though if you read the books in quick succession you’ll want to skip it and get straight to the story. There are several maps included as well to help you orient yourself to the world if you need to.
If you’ve read Moning’s other books, the Fever series is a different direction for Moning. While all of her books take place in the same universe (a fact that only becomes apparent in Faefever, but to say more would be to enter spoiler territory), her Highlander books are focused on the romance between the main characters. The Fever series is more action and little romance (although the word orgasm appears on page 6 of Faefever, so sex does come up in the Fever series from time to time). I find the Fever series much more spellbinding than the Highlander series, which is a relief because when an author changes direction there’s always the chance that it won’t work.
If there’s one thing that frustrates me about this series, it’s the way that each book ends. Instead of leaving the characters at a lull in the story, Moning ends each book in the middle of a crisis, like someone ripped out the end of the book. It’s brilliant from a marketing standpoint, but the books are coming out a year apart which is a bit too much time between books when you’re using this tactic. The urgency is gone by the time the next book comes out and then it’s a hard shove into the middle of a crisis that’s gone all hazy in the readers mind.
It’s difficult to both recap a series and build up the urgency in a prologue as the series progresses and there is more to recap, which is the job Moning sets for herself at the beginning of each successive book. She does about as good of a job as you can do, but I found it difficult to get into Faefever after an 11-month hiatus since I read Darkfever and Bloodfever back in January. I stuck with it, because I knew from experience that it would be a good ride, but I would have enjoyed Faefever more if I could remember more from the earlier books. This will be a fantastic series to read in one go. If you pick it up now, be prepared to face frustration waiting for the next book.
If you’d like to try out Moning’s Fever series for free, she has made a podiobook of Darkfever, the first in the series, available at podiobooks.com. If you’re not familiar with podiobooks.com, it’s full of audiobooks released as free serial downloads.
Arghhhh…I hate waiting for sequels. I have zero patience! But there is something wonderful about a good series, that’s for sure. Thanks for the podcast link…I’d like to try this!
Michele´s last blog post..Review: I, Lorelei
I read very few series, because many don’t make good individual books, but I am addicted to this series and Diana Gabaldon’s books.
Let me know how the podiobook is. I haven’t listened to it since I’d already read the book by the time it was released. I’ve seen positive comments about it elsewhere.