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Review

This book marks the beginning of one of my favourite PNR / urban fantasy series ever. Enthralling and mystical, welcome to the shadowy world of the Fever series.

MacKayla Lane lives an enchanted life in small town Georgia, concerned about not much except looking pretty in pink, and having fun on the beach. But her carefree life comes crashing down around her when her sister is brutally murdered while studying abroad in Ireland. When she belatedly finds a cryptic voice mail from her sister, sent hours before her death and asking her for help, she hops on a plane to Dublin to search for answers and help to track down her sister’s killer, and the mysterious “Sinsar Dubh” alluded to in her sister’s message.

With her heart broken and her life shattered, Mac finds nothing but dead ends until she unwittingly stumbles across a terrifyingly dark and sinister supernatural world existing right alongside the human race. A dangerous race of fae wander the streets of Dublin, taking all sorts of forms and inflicting hideous torture and death on innocent and unknowing humans. Being one of the few who is able to recognise what is going on around her, Mac discovers an unknown side of herself – her true nature and a secret heritage that serves to suck her further into the unknown. And when the tall, dark, handsome and dangerous Jericho Barrons enters the picture, things become even intense.

“He wasn’t just masculine and sexual, he was carnal in a set-your-teeth-on-edge kind of way; he was almost frightening.”

“He’d surely been spawned by some cataclysmic event of nature, not born.”

Dangerously enigmatic, the man is a mystery. He never shares his motivations, or his allegiance, but Mac needs his protection, and he needs her and her newly discovered senses to help locate the Sinsar Dubh – a book of immense power and evil that they both want to get their hands on. And so, the two of them form an unlikely and uneasy partnership – broody and intense Barrons, and the woman he refers to as a “perky rainbow”.

I must say, Mac is irritatingly innocent and naïve. I remember not liking her very much during my first read of this book, but knowing the journey that she is about to undertake, I could appreciate her a whole lot more on my reread, and she provides a fabulous contrast to the dangerously dark and broody Barrons. The two of them have a sensational relationship – they don’t trust each other, and they antagonise the shit out of each other, knowing exactly how to push each other’s buttons. But they are reliant on each other, and I love that despite all that she is going through, Mac still has the strength to stand up to him. She realises that she is part of something huge and terrifying, so she takes what she can get from Barrons, but she also has the strength to fight her own battles, and I love how, surrounded by magic, soul sucking evil and “death-by-sex” fae, Mac walks full throttle into her new world, determined to fulfil her sister’s dying wish, and take her vengeance on her killer – not realising that it will change her life forever.

“Sometimes, Ms. Lane,” he said, “one must break with one’s past to embrace one’s future. It is never an easy thing to do. It is one of the distinguishing characteristics between survivors and victims. Letting go of what was, to survive what is.”

This book is the first in Mac’s terrifying but incredible journey. The set up of the world and the characters is sensational, and though it’s a lot to take in, KMM’s writing is imaginative and beautifully descriptive. And she manages to portray an overarching sense of darkness which adds a lot to the mood of the book, and sucks you right into her sinister world. The story is really well paced, and there is a great mix of reality, supernatural fantasy, and realistic characters that bring the story and the world to life in an epic battle of good vs evil vs even more evil.

“You want to believe in black and white, good and evil, heroes that are truly heroic, villains that are just plain bad, but I’ve learned in the past year that things are rarely so simple. The good guys can do some truly awful things, and the bad guys can sometimes surprise the heck out of you.”

A great start to a sensational series.

4.5 stars.