Review: Faefever by Karen Marie Moning

Title: Faefever (Fever #3) 

Author: Karen Marie Moning 

Rating: 4/5 Stars 

I think I've said it before, but I simply have to say it again - this series keeps getting better and better. In Faefever, Mac's life takes on a darker and far more dangerous turn than before. The previously fun-filled, pink and rainbows narration is gone and replaced by a woman who has been forced to change to her surroundings, adapt to threats, and struggle to survive. Although Mac's narration still retains her classic persona and remains to be immensely fun to read, there is definitely a darker undercurrent to it. Furthermore, I find that it is hard to pinpoint an exact plot for the story arc of this novel. Mac's quest for the Sinsar Dubh continues and as she learns more about the book, the MacKeltars, and the other sidhe-seers in Dublin, she also accumulates an even larger store of questions. In many ways, Faefever is a gradual continuation of Mac's story from Darkfever and Bloodfever, but it is also the build-up to a far larger and more terrifying plot line than any could imagine.

Faefever surprisingly took me the longest amount of time out of all of Fever books to finish. This is largely in part because I didn't have much time to read, but it is also because areas of this story begin to feel redundant. As a reader, we are accustomed to Mac, her habits, and her ways of gleaning new information, all while confusing herself further. Yet, in Faefever I found that her actions began to become predictable which slightly detracted from this story. However, looking back, I am able to see that this was a conscious - and brilliant - literary maneuver by Moning herself. Much like J.K.Rowling, Moning has sprinkled sets of clues within the pages of Faefever that give away the cliffhanger ending - if only you are smart enough to find them, piece them together, and figure them out. Somehow, all of the information that Mac has accumulated throughout the past weeks comes together at the end of this book and it is truly earth-shattering. It is also cruel though, but that is mostly because of the cliffhanger ending. Seriously, I'm beginning to wonder if the ones Moning leaves us with are even legal!

Scintillating plot aside, what always makes me fall head-over-heels for this series are its characters. If you've been reading my previous reviews, you'll know that I am completely in love with Jericho Barrons and nothing changes in this installment. Barrons is just as big, bad, and untrustworthy as before, but his relationship with Mac has changed ever-so-slightly. The sparks that readers have felt ever since the first time these two connected together on the page are now being felt and analyzed by Mac herself. Furthermore, Barrons proves to be all the more enigmatic by withdrawing from any form of humanizing himself. I think the tension, undercurrents, and overall development of their strange companionship is truly brought out in this novel more than the others. I can sense the barriers between these two breaking and I cannot wait to see how their relationship progresses in the sequel.

I've mentioned this before and I'll say it again: these cliffhangers are killer. However, what I love about Moning's work is that although she puts her characters through some of the most torturous, horrible, and cruel situations, she always finds a way for them to come back all the more stronger for it. Perhaps she lives by the saying, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," and even if she doesn't, she certainly writes by it. I'm a huge fan of the hope, messages, and themes that Moning conveys to the reader, despite writing an urban fantasy piece of fiction. That, more than anything else, makes her a writer to be admired IMO.

Overall, Faefever was a fantastic addition to this addictive series. I am thoroughly hooked onto these books and can't wait for more. Thus, I leave you, dear readers, with a quote that Moning herself wrote in Bloodfever in the hopes that it will lighten your heart as it did mine after realizing the terrible ordeal Mac had and was facing at the end of this novel. "Although it may not seem like it, this isn't a story about darkness. It's about light. Khalil Gibran says, 'Your joy can fill you only as deeply as your sorrow has carved you.' If you've never tasted bitterness, sweet is just another pleasant flavor on your tongue. One day I'm going to hold a lot of joy."