Shadowfever

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Smart is the new cool.

Shadowfever is the fifth and final novel in Karen Marie Moning???s Fever series. Readers will be pleased that it???s longer than the previous books, yet still chock full of plot.

After the horrific cliffhanger at the end of the previous book, Dreamfever, we find out that things are pretty bad for Mac ??? worse, in fact, than they were at the beginning of Dreamfever. Much of Shadowfever is emotionally draining as Mac deals with grief and starts to become harder and tougher. The result is a young woman who doesn???t quite know who she is. This change is painful to watch, yet it???s not unwelcome, and sometimes it???s amusing (now she???s likely to be wearing a semi-automatic weapon strapped across her pink Juicy shirt).

There???s also much joy in this final novel, and Moning brings everything together into a complex and satisfying conclusion. There are a lot of new revelations in Shadowfever, some that I saw coming (though none were so obvious that I was certain about them), others that truly surprised me, and a couple that I thought were slightly unbelievable (but I didn???t really care). Thus, like the previous installments, Shadowfever was a quick read that kept me on the edge of my seat ??? a place I like to be when I???m reading a book.

I don???t read much romantic urban fantasy because I usually think that the sex and romance overshadow the plot, but Moning???s Fever series is the best romantic urban fantasy series I???ve read. It???s got a complex twisty plot, a wonderful setting (I can???t wait to visit Dublin someday!), great characters, mystery, a pleasant writing style, and plenty of tension-relieving humor. What I liked most, though, was Mac herself. She???s a smart and strong heroine (though she doesn???t know it) who I can understand. She???s sweet and self-confident, sassy but not snarky, and she knows she???s in way over her head. She admires the alpha male and is strong enough to resist being pushed around by him, but she has her own goals and realizes his value as a tool to reach those goals. I found their behaviors and relationship to be believable and was pleased that the series didn???t devolve into a sap-and-sex story. (There is a lot of sex in the last two books, but it???s an integral part of the plot.) I???m glad that I started Fever after the final book was published because I flew through them in a few weeks and would have been seriously disgruntled about those nasty cliffhangers if I???d had to wait.

This is a great series to read on audio, but be warned that the narrator changes after book 3. I was so absorbed in the story that this change was a bit upsetting, but I adjusted. The narration on the first three books (Joyce Bean) was excellent ??? I especially liked Ms. Bean???s male voices. In the last two books, Natalie Ross reads Mac???s parts perfectly. Phil Gigante???s male voices were sometimes over-the-top in the fourth book, but they seemed more appropriate in the final dramatic volume.

If you???re a fan of urban fantasy and you haven???t read Fever yet, you???re missing out!

so, i ended up binging the series bc i wanted to know how the story would come together... just a draft of my initial thoughts right after i (and partially sleep deprived LOL). i was trying to figure out what “label” i would give the series, how to explain the genre, and couldn't come to a satisfactory conclusion...anyway, here's my first review on Goodreads:

Whatever genre label you give to the story, there is only one way to put it - it's an addictive read. told in first person, there was a two way unfolding of the story - the short term and the long term. Not everyone is able to pull that off as masterfully as Moning did: she kept the reader engaged just enough, while also setting up elements that are made clear only in hindsight, when the reader reflects back on the story (despite the narrator's constant reminders throughout the story that hindsight is 20/20).

And despite knowing things are not as they seem (never trust first person narratives), it's easy to fall into the world of illusion that Mac creates. Much like the person she started off as, at first glance, the book appears to be eye-candy. But only as you keep reading (and as the story keeps unfolding) and more mysteries keep appearing, you get engrossed in the futuristic dystopia that Moning paints.

The story follows Mac's arc from being a superficial, “barbie-girl” into...the person she becomes at the end of the story (you'll have to read to find out lol). The character growth is achieved through multiple factors: experiencing life-changing trauma and overcoming it; learning to see the varying shades of grey of the world; having an existential crises and trying to figure out her boundaries / how she want to live your life post trauma...

Despite being a highly enjoyable read, there were moments when these musings were repetitive and detracted from the natural progression of the story...in that, Mac kept reiterating the same musings to the point that it felt like jargon...good thing there was Barrons was around LOL

Then there's also Jericho Barrons.

I find Moning's presentation of his character to be fascinating....he's paradoxical in that it's hard to characterize him but at the same time it's simple to do so. He doesn't fit the cookie-cut model of most male interests, and half the times his intentions appeared conflicting but were actually completely in-line with what you would expect of him...(but then, you also don't really know what to expect from him LOL idk! it's hard to explain!). It's an interesting dilemma, and I like such (grey) characters because they force me to think from a different framework. Ultimately, I don't have to agree with the character or their methods, but they definitely give “food-for-thought”.

Which leads me into Mac/Barrons' relationship....(ok im running out of adjectives now LOL) but basically - Barrons' “????” nature and Mac's transition from who she was to who she became makes for an interesting relationship . (just...read the book and get back to me).

anyway - after a lot of banter and foreplay (pun intended), book 5 provided a satisfying closer to Mac/Bannon ‘s story............for now :^)