Review: FAEFEVER & DREAMFEVER

Faefever by Karen Marie Moning
Book 3 of the Fever series
Narrated by Joyce Bean
Format: paperback, audiobook MP3 CD

About Faefever:

He calls me his Queen of the Night. I'd die for him. I'd kill for him, too.

When MacKayla Lane receives a torn page from her dead sister's journal, she is stunned by Alina's desperate words. And now MacKayla knows that her sister's killer is close. But evil is closer. And suddenly the sidhe-seer is on the hunt; For answers. For revenge. And for an ancient book of dark magic so evil, it corrupts anyone who touches it.

Mac's quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shape-shifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious cop on her tail. Forced into a dangerous triangle of alliance with V'lane, an insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes, and Jericho Barrons, a man of primal desires and untold secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind, and soul.

As All Hallows' Eve approaches and the city descends into chaos, as a shocking truth about the Dark Book is uncovered, not even Mac can prevent a deadly race of immortals from shattering the walls between worlds-with devastating consequences...

Source: Info in the About Faefever was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2702704-faefever on 30/09/2011.

Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning
Book 4 of the Fever series
Narrated by Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante
Format: paperback, audiobook MP3 CD

About Dreamfever:

MacKayla Lane lies naked on the cold stone floor of a church, at the mercy of the erotic Fae master she once swore to kill. Far from home, unable to control her sexual hungers, MacKayla is now fully under the Lord Master’s spell.…In New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning’s stunning new novel, the walls between human and Fae worlds have come crashing down. And as Mac fights for survival on Dublin’s battle-scarred streets, she will embark on the darkest—and most erotically charged—adventure of her life.

He has stolen her past, but MacKayla will never allow her sister’s murderer to take her future. Yet even the uniquely gifted sidhe-seer is no match for the Lord Master, who has unleashed an insatiable sexual craving that consumes Mac’s every thought—and thrusts her into the seductive realm of two very dangerous men, both of whom she desires but dares not trust.

As the enigmatic Jericho Barrons and the sensual Fae prince V’lane vie for her body and soul, as cryptic entries from her sister’s diary mysteriously appear and the power of the Dark Book weaves its annihilating path through the city, Mac’s greatest enemy delivers a final challenge.…

It’s an invitation Mac cannot refuse, one that sends her racing home to Georgia, where an even darker threat awaits. With her parents missing and the lives of her loved ones under siege, Mac is about to come face-to-face with a soul-shattering truth—about herself and her sister, about Jericho Barrons…and about the world she thought she knew.

Source: Info in the About Dreamfever was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6050298-dreamfever on 09/03/2012.

Review:

It seems that MacKayla or Mac is getting dumber in Books 3 & 4... in Books 1 & 2 she was kick-ass... in these books she acquired the "too stupid to live" (TSTL) syndrome! WTF!! I got so annoyed I stopped reading about halfway through Faefever. Until I got my hands on the audio formats. Anyway, I started listening to these books. The first half of Faefever was easy because I already read that part of the book. But the rest of it, I had to listen carefully because the audio quality wasn't very good. There was a hissing echo. Some parts I have to replay a few times. That is when I am glad that I have the paperback copies as well. But that is not the biggest bummer of all though... these books, both of them, ended in one huge mo**** f****r of a cliffhanger! This is the reason which made me NOT recommend this series to anyone who wants to avoid wasting their reading time. You wouldn't be missing much anyway. The entire Faefever book is all about Mac racing around Dublin in circles. There are only two salient points that happened in Faefever: one, Barrons realized something about himself. And second, the MacKeltars failed. The rest of it is Mac running around Dublin playing kick-ass heroine and killing unsuspecting Fae just because they were born Fae. Which I bet at least one or two of those were probably innocent and/or didn't have any choice seeing that they were just underlings. Who would probably get beaten to a bloody pulp if not outright killed if they don't obey. Those Fae were probably just trying to survive. Yeah, those Fae, Mac killed. The real bad guys, on the other hand, are left to run along to do bad things. Dreamfever is just more of the same. These two books' stories were badly structured that it made me think that Karen Marie Moning has lost it and is just winging it by the seat of her pants. It's that bad. In both books, the story has no substance whatsoever and no coherent structure, never mind a plot. Both books is just two chapters of a bigger book in which the 6th & 7th Book probably wouldn't get released until in several years' time. I never expected books this bad from this author! At all! I was stumped!! And then you get a pacifier at the end of Dreamfever with a whole load of shit about being true to the story and has to be written the way the story wants to be written. What a load of crap!!

If ever you decide to waste your time with this series, make sure that you have all 5 books in your possession before starting to read so that you could continue on reading to the next book as soon as you hit the cliffhangers. The good story telling quality is the only one preventing these books from getting a less than one rating.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3.5
Character development = 2.5
Story itself = 1
Ending = 0.5
World building = 3
Cover art = 3
Pace = N/A
Plot = 0.5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries

Review: THE IRON DAUGHTER

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
Book 2 of the Iron Fey Series

Genre: YA, urban fantasy

About The Iron Daughter:

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.
Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

Source: Info in the About The Iron Daughter was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7747064-the-iron-daughter on 24/08/2011.

Review:

The way the writer painted the story to life is quite breathtaking in this second book, The Iron Daughter. The surroundings and new characters was really imaginative. I also like the inner message of the story. The reality of the past fading and modernisation taking over. That's so true.

Meghan Chase was still not my cup off tea in this book but I pushed through, because the story did it for me, it kept me from wanting to find out more and explore Nevernever further.

I have to say I thought I would not enjoy this book as much, but I was wrong. It had everything in it. War (well 2 wars intertwined into 1), deseat, cheat, crimson and so mush more. And the twists.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Can't wait for the third book. Its got this book to contend with.

Books In The Iron Fey Series:


Thank you to Mira Ink for the review copy of The Iron King by Julie Kagawa received!

Review: THE IRON KING

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
Book 1 of the Iron Fey Series

Genre: YA, urban fantasy

About The Iron King:

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.
Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Source: Info in the About The Iron King was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6644117-the-iron-king on 02/07/2011.

Review:

I really enjoyed the writer's style, the way she wrote about the backgrounds of the Nevernever and characters. It was hard putting the book down just to go to bed. The first few chapters was a bit confusing because, I first thought that I am reading an old fairy tale and not a new and fresh story. What I mean by that is, is that the writer used old fairy tales and it did not feel that it was her own and that it started to become a bit predictable for the ending of the book. But the more I read the more the writer started to make it her own and that is when I started to enjoy the story.

There was however one character I did get annoyed with and that was Meghan Chase. I find her weak even though she has incredible powers. This character also cry to much in every chapter and that she does come across as someone that is blind to her surroundings and predicaments. Even into the Iron Daughter Meghan still has not grown up yet and still cry and hide to mush. As a reader I just could not get into Meghan's character.

But apart from Meghan Chase I fell in love with the books and the characters, the story is well written and very addictive.

I am looking forward to The Iron Queen to come.

Books In The Iron Fey Series:


Thank you to Mira Ink for the review copy of The Iron King by Julie Kagawa received!

EMBRACE THE NIGHT (take 2)

Embrace The Night by Karen Chance
Book 3 of the Cassandra Palmer series

My review is here.

Further Input:
With Embrace The Night, the openning volley has our protagonist being chased and shot at by the bad guys at the cemetery as Cassie tried to play "tomb raider". Here I found a nice pic which nicely portrays my idea of that scene... (Image taken from artist Tony Mauro's website at http://www.darkdayproductions.com/ on 13/06/2010).

About Embrace The Night:

Recently named the world’s chief clairvoyant, Cassandra Palmer still has a thorn in her side. As long as Cassie and a certain master vampire—the sizzling-hot Mircea—are magically bound to each other, her life will never be her own …

The spell that binds them can only be broken with an incantation found in the Codex Merlini, an ancient grimoire. The Codex’s location has been lost in the present day, so Cassie will have to seek it out in the only place it can still be found—the past.

But Cassie soon realizes the Codex has been lost for a reason. The book is rumored to contain some seriously dangerous spells, and retrieving it may help Cassie to deal with Mircea, but it could also endanger the world…

Source: Info in the About Embrace The Night was taken from the author's website at http://www.karenchance.com/books_embracethenight.html on 13/06/2010.

STORM BORN

Storm Born by Richelle Mead

Genre: urban fantasy, chicklit

Caption At The Back Cover:

Just typical. No love life to speak of for months, then all at once, every horny creature in the Otherworld wants to get in your pants.

Eugenie Markham is a powerful shaman who does a brisk trade banishing spirits and fey who cross into the mortal world. Mercenary, yes, but a girl’s got to eat. Her most recent case, however, is enough to ruin her appetite. Hired to find a teenager who has been taken to the Otherworld, Eugenie comes face to face with a startling prophecy – one that uncovers dark secrets about her past and claims that Eugenie’s first-born will threaten the future of the world as she knows it.

Now Eugenie is a hot target for every ambitious demon and Otherworldly ne’er-do-well, and the ones who don’t want to knock her up want her dead. Eugenie handles a Glock as smoothly as she wields a wand, but she needs some formidable allies for a job like this. She finds them in Dorian, a seductive fairy king with a taste for bondage, and Kiyo, a gorgeous shape-shifter who redefines animal attraction. But with enemies growing bolder and time running out, Eugenie realizes that the greatest danger is yet to come, and it lies in the dark powers that are stirring to life within her…

My Take On This Book:
This book was recommended to me by a fellow shelf browser at Waterstones bookstore when I went on a retail therapy a few weeks back. It came very highly recommended so I bought it. Talk about gullible!

The story itself is not very original. If I have to give it a score, it’ll be a 1 out of 5. It smacks too much like a female Harry Dresden by Jim Butcher. Or, the same tattooed protagonist in Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs. Or Kate Daniels in the Magic series by Ilona Andrews, ring any bells? Cassandra Palmer? I could go on and on. So… originality? Hardly. But what makes me buy Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews again and again even if they are not very original either? It’s the masterpiece story-telling quality! However this book’s story-telling quality is only about a 2 out of 5. Not very compelling at all. Plus the protagonist is just a shade this side of stupid.

About one third into the book and I just know who our protagonist’s father is. And guess what, I was right. It sort of deflates the suspense effect when one finds out one is right about the story.

The cover art is not bad. I would give it a 4 out of 5. The lightning and the wand appeals to the fantasy buff in me.

So, what have we got? A not very compelling story-telling quality, a story which is not very original at all and predictable to boot but good cover. Overall, I would give this book an entertainment value of 2 out of 5. Would I read another Richelle Mead? I would like to say no, but I already have a few of her books. But if ever I would read a Richelle Mead which I don't already own at this point in time, I’d borrow from the library than buy it.

Cherry’s Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries

THE FRIDAY 56: STORM BORN

Closest book: Storm Born by Richelle Mead
P56, 5th sentence:

I don't know what look was on my face, but he smiled at me.

Happy Friday everybody!!

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

CURSE THE DAWN

Curse The Dawn by Karen Chance
Book 4 of the Cassandra Palmer series

About This Book:

Cassandra Palmer may be the all-powerful Pythia now, but that doesn’t mean people have stopped trying to kill her. Most of the supernatural power players don’t want the independent minded Cassie as chief clairvoyant—and they’ll stop at nothing to see her six feet under.

The Vampire Senate does support Cassie in her position, but their protection comes with a price: an alliance with the sexy master vampire Mircea, who has claimed Cassie as his own.

But even the vampires will have trouble keeping Cassie alive now that the self-styled god Apollo, the source of the Pythia’s power, has it in for her in a big way. To save her life—and the world—Cassie’s going to have to face down her creator once and for all.

Source: Info in the About This Book was taken from the author's website at http://www.karenchance.com/books_ctd.html on 28/10/09.

Cherry's Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Genre: urban fantasy, chicklit, time travel

This book has adult content.

Verdict:

• Best book in the Cassandra Palmer series
• Witty, funny and fast-paced

My Take On This Book:
The story-telling quality is quite compelling. The characters stay with you long after you've finished reading the book. Characters which readers can connect with. Like all Cassandra Palmer books, this one is also fast-paced and action-filled. I think the author has refined her writing skills because there is a definite improvement. No more of that annoying tendencies to paint the protagonist stupid just to add a bit more drama to the scene which I find irritating to read in a book. Another thing I really like about this book is the fine sense of humor in the telling of the story. Christ, it had me in stitches!! Ms. Chance was firing on all cylinders when she was working on this book! Over all I gave this book a 5 out of 5. Curse The Dawn has restored my love for this series which I lost after reading Claimed By Shadow (Book 2). I was so disappointed by book 2 that I stopped reading and buying Karen Chance altogether. But Tesco had a sale about three weeks ago and I ended up buying six books. Before reading this book, I would never pay £6.99 (which is the usual RRP) for Karen Chance's books. But now I would buy again.