Release Date: 12/01/11
SYNOPSIS:
Recommended by Charlaine Harris, author of the series that inspired HBO's hit series TRUE BLOOD, this new #1 Bestselling series will take readers by storm! In an epic battle between humans and Fae, the hunter becomes the hunted when the Sinsar Dubh turns on Mac and begins mowing a deadly path through those she loves. Who can she turn to? Who can she trust? Who is the woman haunting her dreams? More important, who is Mac herself and what is the destiny she glimpses in the black and crimson designs of an ancient tarot card? From the luxury of the Lord Master's penthouse to the sordid depths of an Unseelie nightclub, from the erotic bed of her lover to the terrifying bed of the Unseelie King, Mac's journey will force her to face the truth of her exile, and to make a choice that will either save the world ...or destroy it.
REVIEW:
Having felt like the previous title, Dreamfever was a bit of a filler, I was really hoping for something special as a climax to this series and boy was I in for a ride. As with the other titles in the series, this book continues to work on a lot of levels with the freshness of mixing Celtic mythology with a modern world. Its inventive has some great characters and above all else it’s a tale that is story driven as the readers yearn to find out the result of the investigation into the principle characters sisters death. (Which is revealed within.)
That said however this title is huge and with some extra padding (I assume to help give the fans the maximum of reading pleasure) it’s a story that felt that some of the elements could have been dialled down more to give the principle aim a bigger impact for the reader. It is wonderfully descriptive, the prose ideal and when you add Makayla’s dialogue to the mix, it’s a series that you can forgive a lot for. All in a wonderful sense of Urban Fantasy and definitely something that gives it a bit of new wave to the reader. Cracking.
Release Date: 08/12/11
SYNOPSIS:
Recommended by Charlaine Harris, author of the series that inspired HBO's hit series TRUE BLOOD, this new #1 Bestselling series will take readers by storm! They may have stolen my past, but I'll never let them take my future. When the walls between Man and Fae come crashing down, freeing the insatiable, immortal Unseelie from their icy prison, MacKayla Lane is caught in a deadly trap. Captured by the Fae Lord Master, she is left with no memory of who or what she is. Clawing her way back from oblivion is only the first step Mac must take down a perilous path, from the battle-filled streets of Dublin to the treacherous politics of an ancient, secret sect, through the tangled lies of men who claim to be her allies into the illusory world of the Fae themselves, where nothing is as it seems - and Mac is forced to face a soul-shattering truth.
REVIEW:
I’m an avid reader and as such I feel that I’ve been lucky to get the Makayla Lane series back to back over a few months rather than the usual wait time that you endure for favoured authors next titles, however this series is getting deeper and darker with each passing title and whilst a lot of them hint at further games being played by all sides with our heroine as the principle pawn, the reader is left with another cliff-hanger at the end of this book.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Karen’s writing but this book really felt a lot more like filler than anything else to me. It is a gripping series, the characters are decent and keep you guessing as personal and professional motives seem to interplay and change as twists unfurl, but when a story feels like its going round in circles with reminders as to what’s gone before, you do end up wondering wha’ts happening. I just hope that the final book in the series (for now at least) Shadowfever, will break up a lot of the tension that’s been building and answer some questions that have been enquired about since the beginning.
Release Date: 10/11/11
SYNOPSIS:
Recommended by Charlaine Harris, author of the series that inspired HBO's hit series TRUE BLOOD, this new #1 Bestselling series will take readers by storm! He calls me his Queen of the Night. I'd die for him. I'd kill for him, too. When MacKayla Lane receives a page torn 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 that it corrupts anyone who touches it. Mac's quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shapeshifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious cop on her tail. Forced into a dangerous triangle of alliance with V'lane, a lethal Fae prince, and Jericho Barrons, a man of deadly secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind, and soul.
REVIEW:
I’ve become a fan of Karen’s since I started the Fever series currently being reprinted by Gollancz, month by month, so when this latest title landed I couldn’t wait to get my hands upon it. Sitting down (and taking a break from Skyrim) I grabbed the title, pulled my blanket round and sat down with my tankard of mead (appropriately Bunratty) to enjoy a cracking Urban Fantasy set in Ireland.
What unfurled within was a book that took its time to get going and spent a lot of time revising the events from previous titles, which considering that I’d only read them recently left me feeling a little cheated, almost as if the author didn’t have enough material to have the full book on its own, yet as it developed we started getting additional elements that helped Mac, the principle character grow. The reminders were there so that you could see how far she’s developed and then it adds real spice and fear for the reader as the story unfurls with the choices that she makes bringing consequences that she’ll have to learn to live with.
As with the others, its cleverly done, the plot line is wonderfully inventive and when you add the authors own personal voice alongside great prose and cracking pace (for the later part of the novel) it’s a book that gives the reader a little lull before the real storm hits.
Release Date: 13/10/11
SYNOPSIS:
I used to be your average, everyday girl but all that changed one night in Dublin when I saw my first Fae, and got dragged into a world of deadly immortals and ancient secrets. . . .
In her fight to stay alive, MacKayla must find the Sinsar Dubh—a million-year-old book of the blackest magic imaginable, which holds the key to power over the worlds of both the Fae and Man. Pursued by assassins, surrounded by mysterious figures she knows she can’t trust, Mac finds herself torn between two deadly and powerful men: V’lane, the immortal Fae Prince, and Jericho Barrons, a man as irresistible as he is dangerous.
For centuries the shadowy realm of the Fae has coexisted with that of humans. Now the walls between the two are coming down, and Mac is the only thing that stands between them.
REVIEW:
The second fever book by Karen Marie and one that continues to build upon the success of the original. It’s quirky, it takes the world of the fae back to the original tales and the darker aspects of man and faerie rise to the fore in this epic battle of darkness and light where the reader learns that not everything is black and white with hidden agenda’s ruling the roost with the principle character caught in the middle.
Add to this Karen’s fantastic writing style with great pace, cracking prose and witty one lines with a character that tries to remain true to her original goal perhaps to learn that vengeance is as dark as the blackest night, no matter how good the intentions are… Magical.
Release Date: 08/09/11
SYNOPSIS:
'My philosophy is pretty simple: any day nobody's trying to kill me is a good day in my book. I haven't had many good days lately.' MacKayla Lane's life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that only breaks down every other week or so. In other words, she's your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman. Or so she thinks . . . until something extraordinary happens. When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death - a cryptic message on Mac's cell phone - Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister's killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed - a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae . . .
REVIEW:
OK, I originally had this down as a Young Adult title until I read it of course. The book is dark, has some great twists and takes the world of the fae to a level as yet undreamed of by many mere mortals, where many are as foul as they are dark and a glamour is all that stands between them and ourselves.
It’s cleverly constructed, has some great twists and wonderfully weaves the mythos of Ireland into a setting that the reader can’t help but shudder yet still be allured in by the author. My only gripe with it was the sexual content that I felt wasn't required and could have added more to it had it been omitted, that said however there is some great prose and of course a fast paced story that not only entices but spellbinds which will hopefully get the recognition it deserves. Magical.
Release Date: 12/01/11
