Published: October 26 2010
Number of pages: 512
Format: mass market paperback
Publisher: Dell
Genre: paranormal, horror, thriller and suspense, fantasy, occult
Audience: adult fiction
Rating: 4/5 owl hoots
Find it on Goodreads | Chapters Indigo
Summary:
When the walls between Man and Fae collapse, Unseelie are loose from their prison, and Mac is caught in a deadly trap. After being captured by the Lord Master, Mac has no memory of who or what she is. Clawing her way back to reality, Mac must return to the battle filled streets of Dublin and continue the search for the Sinsar Dubh, the key to controlling both worlds. But who do you trust when you can’t even trust yourself?
My Review:
Some minor spoilers ahead.
Oh my God that ending! That cliffhanger! MacKayla Lane, what did you do?!
I’m getting ahead of myself since I’m already talking about the cliffhanger that left me hyperventilating and wondering what the feck Mac did to regret herself, leaving her in total grief and denial. But let’s not get into that right now, the story continues where we left off from Faefever, another cliffhanger from when Mac was trapped by the dark fae princes and the Lord Master (or LM for short). After the attack, poor Mac was left to her own devices: weak, empty, naïve, and useless. With no memory, no willpower, Mac is nothing and nobody…until Jericho Barrons comes to rescue her, but not in a knight-in-shining-armor kind of way.
Afterwards, things get really hot, intense, and sexy but there were also some awkward moments too. Imagine a scene where Jericho Barrons is dancing with a girl naked and singing out loud to the lyrics of a Bruce Springsteen song. I found it pretty funny at first but also a little weird because this is Jericho Barrons we’re talking about who I never imagined doing anything so spontaneous like dancing naked and singing on the top of his lungs! Now watching Mac managing to find her own way using her inner and mental strength was one of the most impressive scenes so far. Sure Barrons was there to help her (with some benefits on the side) but it was Mac’s inner voice that started to grow on her until she became the Mac 2.0 self again. Just watching her clawing her way back to reality gave me the shivers, but I was so relieved to see my favorite heroine, and getting back to kicking some serious Unseelie ass to save her world.
I love seeing how Mac is so strong and independent, and learns to trust her own instincts after realizing that her backups aren’t as reliable as she thought, and instead of relying on somebody else to do it or waiting for a miracle to happen, Mac takes matters into her own hands. Fighting her own battles, carrying her scars and moving forward, always planning ahead and not giving a shit as to what everyone else thinks. As usual, Mac hits some roadblocks along her way including the old lady Rowena, who reluctantly became her bitter ally, and the LM who surprisingly showed a different side to himself and has us questioning who he really is. Dani has also made a special appearance which has tripled her role as one of the best secondary female characters in the story! I love seeing Dani and Mac together, like I said before they make the best fighting pair I’ve ever seen. The way they move and fight together is almost in sync; Mac with her spear and Dani with her sword, the two just go together so perfectly that I can’t imagine a better team than these two. I like to think that Dani is the mini version of Mac, always being tough inside and out and proving to everyone that she’s braver than she looks.
This isn’t my favorite book in the series, but there were plenty of exciting scenes that kept me on the edge of my seat: Mac’s second encounter with the Sinsar Dubh, Dani and Mac together again, and her constant spats against Jericho Barrons never ceases to amuse me, especially when now she’s on the same level as he is (but Barrons would never admit to that because of his condescending attitude). And that cliffhanger! That ending! What happened to Mac’s parents? And what did she do to that, that, THING in the very end?! Dreamfever has really escalated the series that I’m so afraid to read Shadowfever now, but at the same time I’m so excited to see what happens next.
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