Literary Friday: Shadowfever

This week I read Karen Marie Moning's Shadowfever.  It is the fifth installment in her wildly popular fever series, and it debuted at number one last week on the New York Times Bestsellers List for Hardcover Fiction.  I blogged about the first book in the series, Darkfever, here.

The series begins as MacKayla Lane's sister, Alina, a graduate student at Dublin's Trinity University, is brutally murdered on one of Dublin's cobbled alleyways.  Mac travels to Dublin, Ireland to insist that the Garda reopen her sister's unsolved murder case.   Shortly after arriving, Mac learns that she and her sister are descended from a long line of Sidhe-Seers, or women who can see Fae.  One evening, after a close encounter with one of Dublin's growing "dark zones," Mac stumbles upon Barrons Books and Baubles where she meets the enigmatic Jericho Barrons.  As Mac learns (with Barrons' help) how to cope with her newly discovered Sidhe-Seer abilities, she launches her own investigation of the Sinsar Dubh, the book Alina had mentioned in her last phone message.  Alina implores Mac to find the Sinsar Dubh, that everything depends on it. The Sinsar Dubh is an Unseelie (Fae Dark Court) hallow. It is a dark book of magic, and Mac quickly discovers that many in Dublin are also seeking it.

I absolutely loved the first three books in the series.  Mac is a sheltered Southern girl who loves fashion and fun.  She never had a care in the world before her sister's murder.  Many of Karen's readers did not care for Mac's vapidness at all in the beginning, but  I loved the fact that Mac did not curse and would say things like "Kiss my petunia."  Mac does grow and mature during the series, but I wish she had maintained a few of her charming habits. I did not like the fourth book in the series because I found it way to disturbing, so don't say I didn't warn you.  It is definitely not for the squeamish or prudish.  I would not let my daughter read it until she turned eighteen.

Karen's fans, known as the Moning Maniacs, wanted answers to the questions that had been building in the first four books.  I will not post spoilers here, but many of Karen's readers were disappointed that major questions were left unanswered.  I admit that I was disappointed, too, because I thought that the plan was to have a five books series with a conclusion.  The last four words in the book are "the end...for now" which confirms that Shadowfever is definitely not a concluding book.  What I do like about Shadowfever is how Karen's writing ability shines in several areas.  Her description of the white mansion and all the scenes in that setting are beautifully written;  she can truly paint a picture with her words, and these sections of the book were up there with my favorite fantasy writers. Karen's depiction of the Unseelie King was genius, and I would like to read a sequel story about the Unseelie King and the Seelie Queen.  I also enjoyed the conversations between the Sinsar Dubh and Mac throughout the book, and I would have liked even more of them. We do discover one thing about Barrons that is a real tear-jerker, so get the tissues ready. That storyline blew me away.

A mantra from the series is: "Stay to the lights."  I just wish I did not feel left in the dark without a flashlight as the shades descend because I still have unanswered questions.  But I suppose the storyline will be continued somewhat in the next series with Dani as the main character.  If the timeline of the new series is directly after Mac's, then it will be young adult which is fine with me.

Until next time...

Happy reading!
Ricki Jill