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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
3,5*
I’ve been trying to see if paranormal romance is for me; I’ve tried angels, werewolves and now faes with this one. They’ve all been 3 stars so far but for some reason I kinda want to go on with this one as I weirdly enjoyed it??
Darkfever has a tad annoying main character who’s a quirky shallow woman from Georgia who goes to Dublin in order to solve the mystery of her sister’s murder. There she encounters a dark mysterious man who is going to help her with her quest. It seems that he will be her love interest, though he is creepy and does questionable things and to be honest I thought he was bland and had no personality. There are also plot holes and the story is confusing at times. But the writing makes all of it flow quickly and makes it addictive and easy to read. I really liked how it combined a mystery with paranormal aspects, the latter which were inspired by Irish lore. It was interesting to see faeries painted in a way that is different to what we’re used to.
“Don’t you think the surest way to find both the Dark Book and your sister’s killer is to immerse yourself in the very world that killed her?”
I’ve been trying to see if paranormal romance is for me; I’ve tried angels, werewolves and now faes with this one. They’ve all been 3 stars so far but for some reason I kinda want to go on with this one as I weirdly enjoyed it??
Darkfever has a tad annoying main character who’s a quirky shallow woman from Georgia who goes to Dublin in order to solve the mystery of her sister’s murder. There she encounters a dark mysterious man who is going to help her with her quest. It seems that he will be her love interest, though he is creepy and does questionable things and to be honest I thought he was bland and had no personality. There are also plot holes and the story is confusing at times. But the writing makes all of it flow quickly and makes it addictive and easy to read. I really liked how it combined a mystery with paranormal aspects, the latter which were inspired by Irish lore. It was interesting to see faeries painted in a way that is different to what we’re used to.
“The world that came in the Fever box wasn’t pretty like my romance novels. There were monsters in every corner, people dying, everyone was keeping secrets, all the characters were too flawed to be heroic, and there was no traditional romance to be found.”(from the author’s note)
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
„Darkfever” to nie taka nowa nowość na polskich półkach fantasy. Dokładniej z gatunku urban fantasy, czyli współczesny świat razem z fantastyką w jednym.
Zacznę tu od tego co mi się podobało. A był to świat w tej książce. Bardzo ciekawy koncept fae podzielony na dwory sellie i unsellie, a do tego jeszcze podgatunki w każdym z tych dworów.
To wszystko jeszcze umiejscowione w deszczowym, zamglonym Dublinie w Irlandii.
Z kolejnymi stronami książki dowiadujemy się stopniowo więcej o istotach, które napotyka bohaterka i tego jak sobie z nimi radzić, albo i nie i brać nogi za pas.
Poza fae są jeszcze inne obdarzone osoby. I taką jest też nasza bohaterka Mac. Jestem naprawdę fanką całego zamysłu jej darów i „magii” tego świata. No i do tego te relikwie!
Główny bohater Jericho to tajemnicza postać, która nie chce o sobie za wiele ujawniać. Mac musi go mocno naciskać by wydrzeć chodź kapkę informacji. A zazwyczaj i tak ignoruje jej pytania. Jest sarkastyczny, nie do końca miły i skrywa więcej sekretów, niż nasza bohaterka ma różowych ciuszków. Streszczając - lubię go.
Niestety nie mogę tego samego powiedzieć o Mac. Nie potrafię się z nią utożsamić, ani zaprzyjaźnić w tej książce. Mac jest różową trzpiotką z długimi blond włosami i… awersją do technologi (?). Jej postać tak bardzo mi się nie kleiła, tyle tam sprzecznych informacji dostaliśmy. Przytoczę jeden przykład: Mac (młoda dziewczyna po szkole) nie potrafi w internet, więc wyszukuje informacji w tradycyjny sposób w bibliotece za pomocą katalogu książek. Po czym kilka stron dalej bardzo sprawnie pisze maile do rodziny i przerzuca ulubioną muzykę na swojego iPoda. Wyszukiwarka jednak ją przerosła. Jej telefon to taki z którego się dzwoni i pisze SMS (bez udziwnień - słowa bohaterki). A social media to zło. Pomijając to dziwne zachowanie dotyczące technologii, to jej postać jest jedną wielką sprzecznością. Nie lubi towarzystwa i przyjaźniła się tylko ze swoją siostrą, ale uwielbia pracę w barze w gwarze ludzi. A jej decyzje wydawały mi się tak odklejone momentami.
Nie będę tu przytaczać każdego fragmentu jednak to sprawiło, że cieżko mi było przebrnąć bo całą narracje prowadzi w książce Mac.
Co do relacji Jericho i Mac to można opisać ją jako przymuszona współpraca, bo nic bliższego (oprócz przelotnych zerknięć w dekolt Mac) to się miedzy nimi nie dzieje. Domyślam się, że ich relacja pójdzie do przodu w kolejnych tomach.
Wielka szkoda, że nie mamy tu dwóch perspektyw. Jestem ciekawa postaci Jericho, ale nie lubimy sie z Mac.
Świat stworzony tutaj na duży plus.
Zacznę tu od tego co mi się podobało. A był to świat w tej książce. Bardzo ciekawy koncept fae podzielony na dwory sellie i unsellie, a do tego jeszcze podgatunki w każdym z tych dworów.
To wszystko jeszcze umiejscowione w deszczowym, zamglonym Dublinie w Irlandii.
Z kolejnymi stronami książki dowiadujemy się stopniowo więcej o istotach, które napotyka bohaterka i tego jak sobie z nimi radzić, albo i nie i brać nogi za pas.
Poza fae są jeszcze inne obdarzone osoby. I taką jest też nasza bohaterka Mac. Jestem naprawdę fanką całego zamysłu jej darów i „magii” tego świata. No i do tego te relikwie!
Główny bohater Jericho to tajemnicza postać, która nie chce o sobie za wiele ujawniać. Mac musi go mocno naciskać by wydrzeć chodź kapkę informacji. A zazwyczaj i tak ignoruje jej pytania. Jest sarkastyczny, nie do końca miły i skrywa więcej sekretów, niż nasza bohaterka ma różowych ciuszków. Streszczając - lubię go.
Niestety nie mogę tego samego powiedzieć o Mac. Nie potrafię się z nią utożsamić, ani zaprzyjaźnić w tej książce. Mac jest różową trzpiotką z długimi blond włosami i… awersją do technologi (?). Jej postać tak bardzo mi się nie kleiła, tyle tam sprzecznych informacji dostaliśmy. Przytoczę jeden przykład: Mac (młoda dziewczyna po szkole) nie potrafi w internet, więc wyszukuje informacji w tradycyjny sposób w bibliotece za pomocą katalogu książek. Po czym kilka stron dalej bardzo sprawnie pisze maile do rodziny i przerzuca ulubioną muzykę na swojego iPoda. Wyszukiwarka jednak ją przerosła. Jej telefon to taki z którego się dzwoni i pisze SMS (bez udziwnień - słowa bohaterki). A social media to zło. Pomijając to dziwne zachowanie dotyczące technologii, to jej postać jest jedną wielką sprzecznością. Nie lubi towarzystwa i przyjaźniła się tylko ze swoją siostrą, ale uwielbia pracę w barze w gwarze ludzi. A jej decyzje wydawały mi się tak odklejone momentami.
Nie będę tu przytaczać każdego fragmentu jednak to sprawiło, że cieżko mi było przebrnąć bo całą narracje prowadzi w książce Mac.
Co do relacji Jericho i Mac to można opisać ją jako przymuszona współpraca, bo nic bliższego (oprócz przelotnych zerknięć w dekolt Mac) to się miedzy nimi nie dzieje. Domyślam się, że ich relacja pójdzie do przodu w kolejnych tomach.
Wielka szkoda, że nie mamy tu dwóch perspektyw. Jestem ciekawa postaci Jericho, ale nie lubimy sie z Mac.
Świat stworzony tutaj na duży plus.
I wrote a review that Goodreads lost so that's nice.
I made a deal with a friend that I'd read this book if she'd watch the first season of Friday Night Lights. I hope you enjoy the show more than I enjoyed this book.
I will give this book a positive in it's world building. The background of the Fae and all that comes with that is kind of interesting. I was pretty intrigued about what else there was to come. The descriptions of the Unseelie were well done. The positives pretty much end there.
So Mac had to fly to Dublin to ID her sister's body as their parents were on a 21 day tropical island hopping cruise from Maui to Miami. However, it wasn't until her second trip that she chose to go see her sister's apartment and start packing it up. First of all, she and her family had no intention of going back, were they just going to leave all her things there to get thrown out?
Second A, the Mac we're introduced to would have gone there her first trip. She would have been ALL over that place.
Second B, during Mac's first trip to Dublin, she didn't run into anything out of the ordinary?
Third, are we meant to believe that Mac dealt with all there was to deal with in terms of sending her sister's body back to the US? She's two fries short of a happy meal on a good day, I don't see her handling any of that without her parents. And if her parents went to Dublin, they couldn't go to the apartment?
Fourth, Mac's parents were 100% against Mac going to Dublin to Sherlock her sister's death. But she was set on going anyways. If the major concern was she was going to die, why not go with her?
Fifth, what was Mac's plan in regards to getting the detectives on her sister's case? She decided she was going before she heard the voicemails. What was her grand plan beforehand?
Sixth, there is no way Mac would have been without her cell phone for as long as she was. Wasn't it over a month? She flew to Dublin to ID the body with no phone to keep in touch with her parents who would obviously be trying to stay in contact with her?
Seventh, what kind of awful cruise is her parents on? Logistically it makes no sense. The starting cities for cruises are often from cities that are easy and cheap to get to. A cruise starting from Maui requires buying tickets to Maui which makes the cruise pretty damn expensive at that point. And then 21 days to Miami? It's like one of those awful Chinese bus tours that gives you an hour at each location and then herds you back onto the bus.
Mac is a vapid character who lacks common sense. There is just something particularly irritating about a character who leaves the US to another English speaking country and then complains about the way they speak. She spends a great deal of this book talking about her clothing, makeup, hair, accessories, and describing all the "gorgeous" men with the same amount of vigor. When it comes to things that matter, we're told she doesn't want to bore us with the details. I feel like if you can describe people and clothing like this:
...the short pink silk skirt I was wearing today with a clingy pearly top, and shimmery gold sandals, flattered by just the right heel to show off my golden, toned legs. A polished pearl-drop necklace swung between my full breasts, matching earrings and a pearl bracelet at my wrist gave me just the right look of youthful glam. My Arabian Night curls were soft around my face...
or
He wore an elegant, dark gray Italian suit, a crisp white shirt, and a muted patterned tie. He wasn’t handsome. That was too calm a word. He was intensely masculine. He was sexual. He attracted. There was an omnipresent carnality about him, in his dark eyes, in his full mouth, in the way he stood. He was the kind of man I wouldn’t flirt with in a million years.
You can describe in detail your sister's death scene. It would add depth to the book.
Her main characterization seems to come from the fact that she is in fact not Barbie.
I was blonde, easy on the eyes, and guys had been snapping my bra strap since seventh grade, I’d been putting up with the Barbie stereotype for years. That pink was my favorite color, that I liked matching accessories and eye-catching heels, didn’t help much. But I’d never been turned on by the Ken doll.... How fascinating. She keeps telling the reader that she is distraught over her sister's death. But it comes off more like she's some special snowflake who needs you know she is upset about her sister. There is more description about nailpolish and clothing than anything that truly lets the reader know about her close relationship with her sister.
Of course she undergoes a massive transformation by the end of the book. Except there's no training involved, nothing deep, nothing earned. It's actually a physical change that makes her an all new person. A better author can make this a subtle change. Maybe a metaphor of some sort. Or you can have this:
The Mac who’d followed a woman’s outflung arm into an urban wasteland that day had been wearing a killer outfit of pink linen, low-hipped, wide-legged capris, a silk-trimmed pink T, her favorite silver sandals, and matching silver accessories. She’d had long, beautiful blonde hair swept up into a high ponytail that brushed the middle of her back with the spring of each youthful step. This Mac had shoulder-length black hair: the better for hiding from those monsters hunting Mac Version 1.0. This Mac wore black jeans and a black T-shirt: the better for potentially being bled upon. Concealing her Iceberry Pink manicured toenails were tennis shoes: the better for running for her life in. Her drab outfit was finished off with an oversized black jacket she’d swiped from a coat hook by the front door as she’d left: the better for concealing the foot-long spearhead tucked into the waistband of her jeans (tip stuck in a wad of foil), the only silver accessorizing this carefully selected ensemble.
Barrons, the main male character is a cookie cutter cutout of every abusive asshole male character that is supposed to come off as dark, mysterious, brooding, and beautiful. He's both mentally and physically abusive on top of being a dick. That's really all there is to his characterization. He takes Mac out to kill her first Unseelie without giving her training or tips on what to do even though he kind of thinks she's as dumb as the reader does. When she ends up in a precarious situation where she could maybe die, he starts lecturing her and mocking her. Dude, we know she's dumb, but you dropped her off to play quarterback in the Superbowl without explaining the rules of football.
The two of them are constantly hiding things from each other when they don't need to. On top of that, Mac ignore basically all useful advice in keeping herself safe.
The narration style of the book is a bit irksome. Aside from the prologue, the book takes place the previous year. However at times, Mac takes on an omniscient narrator voice and says things like "later I would learn that..." or "I didn't understand that night but I would later". It takes you right out of the story.
The book also just sort of ends. The end of the book felt like what should be the middle of other books.
I'm sure I'm missing things that I had in my first review. I'm told the books get better, but I don't think I'll be reading them.
I made a deal with a friend that I'd read this book if she'd watch the first season of Friday Night Lights. I hope you enjoy the show more than I enjoyed this book.
I will give this book a positive in it's world building. The background of the Fae and all that comes with that is kind of interesting. I was pretty intrigued about what else there was to come. The descriptions of the Unseelie were well done. The positives pretty much end there.
So Mac had to fly to Dublin to ID her sister's body as their parents were on a 21 day tropical island hopping cruise from Maui to Miami. However, it wasn't until her second trip that she chose to go see her sister's apartment and start packing it up. First of all, she and her family had no intention of going back, were they just going to leave all her things there to get thrown out?
Second A, the Mac we're introduced to would have gone there her first trip. She would have been ALL over that place.
Second B, during Mac's first trip to Dublin, she didn't run into anything out of the ordinary?
Third, are we meant to believe that Mac dealt with all there was to deal with in terms of sending her sister's body back to the US? She's two fries short of a happy meal on a good day, I don't see her handling any of that without her parents. And if her parents went to Dublin, they couldn't go to the apartment?
Fourth, Mac's parents were 100% against Mac going to Dublin to Sherlock her sister's death. But she was set on going anyways. If the major concern was she was going to die, why not go with her?
Fifth, what was Mac's plan in regards to getting the detectives on her sister's case? She decided she was going before she heard the voicemails. What was her grand plan beforehand?
Sixth, there is no way Mac would have been without her cell phone for as long as she was. Wasn't it over a month? She flew to Dublin to ID the body with no phone to keep in touch with her parents who would obviously be trying to stay in contact with her?
Seventh, what kind of awful cruise is her parents on? Logistically it makes no sense. The starting cities for cruises are often from cities that are easy and cheap to get to. A cruise starting from Maui requires buying tickets to Maui which makes the cruise pretty damn expensive at that point. And then 21 days to Miami? It's like one of those awful Chinese bus tours that gives you an hour at each location and then herds you back onto the bus.
Mac is a vapid character who lacks common sense. There is just something particularly irritating about a character who leaves the US to another English speaking country and then complains about the way they speak. She spends a great deal of this book talking about her clothing, makeup, hair, accessories, and describing all the "gorgeous" men with the same amount of vigor. When it comes to things that matter, we're told she doesn't want to bore us with the details. I feel like if you can describe people and clothing like this:
...the short pink silk skirt I was wearing today with a clingy pearly top, and shimmery gold sandals, flattered by just the right heel to show off my golden, toned legs. A polished pearl-drop necklace swung between my full breasts, matching earrings and a pearl bracelet at my wrist gave me just the right look of youthful glam. My Arabian Night curls were soft around my face...
or
He wore an elegant, dark gray Italian suit, a crisp white shirt, and a muted patterned tie. He wasn’t handsome. That was too calm a word. He was intensely masculine. He was sexual. He attracted. There was an omnipresent carnality about him, in his dark eyes, in his full mouth, in the way he stood. He was the kind of man I wouldn’t flirt with in a million years.
You can describe in detail your sister's death scene. It would add depth to the book.
Her main characterization seems to come from the fact that she is in fact not Barbie.
I was blonde, easy on the eyes, and guys had been snapping my bra strap since seventh grade, I’d been putting up with the Barbie stereotype for years. That pink was my favorite color, that I liked matching accessories and eye-catching heels, didn’t help much. But I’d never been turned on by the Ken doll.... How fascinating. She keeps telling the reader that she is distraught over her sister's death. But it comes off more like she's some special snowflake who needs you know she is upset about her sister. There is more description about nailpolish and clothing than anything that truly lets the reader know about her close relationship with her sister.
Of course she undergoes a massive transformation by the end of the book. Except there's no training involved, nothing deep, nothing earned. It's actually a physical change that makes her an all new person. A better author can make this a subtle change. Maybe a metaphor of some sort. Or you can have this:
The Mac who’d followed a woman’s outflung arm into an urban wasteland that day had been wearing a killer outfit of pink linen, low-hipped, wide-legged capris, a silk-trimmed pink T, her favorite silver sandals, and matching silver accessories. She’d had long, beautiful blonde hair swept up into a high ponytail that brushed the middle of her back with the spring of each youthful step. This Mac had shoulder-length black hair: the better for hiding from those monsters hunting Mac Version 1.0. This Mac wore black jeans and a black T-shirt: the better for potentially being bled upon. Concealing her Iceberry Pink manicured toenails were tennis shoes: the better for running for her life in. Her drab outfit was finished off with an oversized black jacket she’d swiped from a coat hook by the front door as she’d left: the better for concealing the foot-long spearhead tucked into the waistband of her jeans (tip stuck in a wad of foil), the only silver accessorizing this carefully selected ensemble.
Barrons, the main male character is a cookie cutter cutout of every abusive asshole male character that is supposed to come off as dark, mysterious, brooding, and beautiful. He's both mentally and physically abusive on top of being a dick. That's really all there is to his characterization. He takes Mac out to kill her first Unseelie without giving her training or tips on what to do even though he kind of thinks she's as dumb as the reader does. When she ends up in a precarious situation where she could maybe die, he starts lecturing her and mocking her. Dude, we know she's dumb, but you dropped her off to play quarterback in the Superbowl without explaining the rules of football.
The two of them are constantly hiding things from each other when they don't need to. On top of that, Mac ignore basically all useful advice in keeping herself safe.
The narration style of the book is a bit irksome. Aside from the prologue, the book takes place the previous year. However at times, Mac takes on an omniscient narrator voice and says things like "later I would learn that..." or "I didn't understand that night but I would later". It takes you right out of the story.
The book also just sort of ends. The end of the book felt like what should be the middle of other books.
I'm sure I'm missing things that I had in my first review. I'm told the books get better, but I don't think I'll be reading them.
Incredibly fast-paced...I think I may be addicted. Total pulp and guilty pleasure.
Overall I enjoyed the story telling and unraveling this world. Mac was skeptic of everything which I get! I would be skeptic to. It did get a little repetitive but I understand she was naïve.
Jericho is a mystery. I have so many questions still! I appreciated how he taught Mac and didn’t just do whatever Mac wanted.
Both characters each had their own thoughts and ideas which was refreshing. I appreciated how much of this was plot driven. I’m curious to see what happens next!
Jericho is a mystery. I have so many questions still! I appreciated how he taught Mac and didn’t just do whatever Mac wanted.
Both characters each had their own thoughts and ideas which was refreshing. I appreciated how much of this was plot driven. I’m curious to see what happens next!
3.5 because Mac is the biggest pick-me girl in the entire world and because the early 2000s outfit descriptions really yanked me from the narrative.
So this book started out strong and then kind of faded by the end. This is definitely a book written in the 2000s and feels exactly like all other early 2000s fantasy with dark brooding bossy alpha men and a young girl that knows nothing (think Laurell k Hamilton or black dagger brotherhood vibes for the 2000s fantasy). The language and writing haven’t held up but I think the concept and plot are interesting. I hate first person writing though. I think I’ll read the next one to decide if I’ll finish the series or not as people have stated the series greatly improves moving forward.
This review can also be found on my blog: A Match Made in Heaven
This wasn't really what I had been expecting. Its definitely way more Urban Fantasy than Paranormal Romance. The story was interesting and the world easy to get into and understand. But I can tell that it is merely the introduction. The story didn't get too deep and didn't progress too far. Really, I am disappointed by the fact that this had no conclusion whatsoever. I am always a little upset by books that don't have the five-stage story structure. This book didn't solve anything. They didn't find the Sinsar Dubh. They didn't find Alina's killer. We didn't even learn a single thing about Barrons. I don't think a main character should remain a mystery past the first book. It makes it hard to really care when you don't know who it is you're supposed to care about.
I really enjoyed MacKayla's character. She was amusing and lively, fun, honest, loyal, brave, and a girl. A girlie-girl, and I liked that. I am a girlie-girl. I like to look nice and I like to wear pink. My friends even halfheartedly make fun of me for always making them look bad. I always dress up even when we aren't going anywhere. I love how MacKayla proved that just because you like to look nice does not mean that you are a damsel or a wuss. Barrons was ok. He was definitely domineering, but that in itself is not hot. I know I hardly know him at this point so I cannot judge until I have read the next book. But at this point he is pretty dull, and if I have to wait longer than two books to get to know a character I will most definitely hold it against the series. I have already ordered book 2 and then after I finish that one I will reassess whether or not I will continue the series.
The cover on this book is extremely misleading. There are two seemingly naked people on the cover but there was zero romance. Z. E. R. O. This book has an average rating of 4.19 out of 76 000 readers, and I know that they can't all be wrong, but at this point I am doubtful. I rated this 3/5 because it had an interesting Urban Fantasy type story, but I was disappointed in everything that I was led to believe this would be. If I had heard nothing about this series before reading this I don't think I would have bothered continuing it. Sure, book 1 was interesting, but I don't like things that are drawn out too much, and with no conclusion to this one I may not have bothered. It makes me wonder how this became popular when it was first new and no one knew that it would be worth waiting for.
This wasn't really what I had been expecting. Its definitely way more Urban Fantasy than Paranormal Romance. The story was interesting and the world easy to get into and understand. But I can tell that it is merely the introduction. The story didn't get too deep and didn't progress too far. Really, I am disappointed by the fact that this had no conclusion whatsoever. I am always a little upset by books that don't have the five-stage story structure. This book didn't solve anything. They didn't find the Sinsar Dubh. They didn't find Alina's killer. We didn't even learn a single thing about Barrons. I don't think a main character should remain a mystery past the first book. It makes it hard to really care when you don't know who it is you're supposed to care about.
I really enjoyed MacKayla's character. She was amusing and lively, fun, honest, loyal, brave, and a girl. A girlie-girl, and I liked that. I am a girlie-girl. I like to look nice and I like to wear pink. My friends even halfheartedly make fun of me for always making them look bad. I always dress up even when we aren't going anywhere. I love how MacKayla proved that just because you like to look nice does not mean that you are a damsel or a wuss. Barrons was ok. He was definitely domineering, but that in itself is not hot. I know I hardly know him at this point so I cannot judge until I have read the next book. But at this point he is pretty dull, and if I have to wait longer than two books to get to know a character I will most definitely hold it against the series. I have already ordered book 2 and then after I finish that one I will reassess whether or not I will continue the series.
The cover on this book is extremely misleading. There are two seemingly naked people on the cover but there was zero romance. Z. E. R. O. This book has an average rating of 4.19 out of 76 000 readers, and I know that they can't all be wrong, but at this point I am doubtful. I rated this 3/5 because it had an interesting Urban Fantasy type story, but I was disappointed in everything that I was led to believe this would be. If I had heard nothing about this series before reading this I don't think I would have bothered continuing it. Sure, book 1 was interesting, but I don't like things that are drawn out too much, and with no conclusion to this one I may not have bothered. It makes me wonder how this became popular when it was first new and no one knew that it would be worth waiting for.
Real score 4.00. Wow. It has a 4.1 score already. And I’m awfully sorry to lower that marginally but I’m not sure I like Mac yet. I’m going to persevere.