I honestly can’t believe that people don’t know this about me, I’ve not kept it a secret at all! Have any of you been paying attention at all?
Seriously I think I ‘ve mentioned it about a gazillion times. But, for the sake of arguing and since Karen ‘s latest book is released I’m going to go there. So, here it is, the latest addition to her Fever series:
ICED: Dani’s story. Karen’s books are the only ones I have preordered for quite some time. I think they have been worth it. I haven’t finished this one yet, but so far it is not disappointing at all.
Prologue:
Dublin, you had me at “Hello”
Imagine a world that doesn’t know its own rules. No cell phones. No Internet. No stock market. No money. No legal system. A third of the world’s population wiped out in a single night and the count rising by millions every day. The human race is an endangered
species.
A long time ago the Fae destroyed their world and decided to take ours. History says they moved in on us between 10,000 and 6,000 B.C., but historians get a lot wrong. Jericho Barrons says they’ve been here since the dawn of time. He should know, because I’m pretty sure he has, too.
For a long time there was a wall between our worlds. With the exception of a few cracks, it was a solid barricade, especially the prison that held the Unseelie.
That barricade is gone now and the prison walls are dust.
All of the Fae are free: the deadly Dark Court and the imperious Light Court, who are every bit as deadly, just prettier. A Fae is a Fae. Never
trust one. We’re being hunted by voracious monsters that are nearly impossible to kill. Their favorite food? People.
As if that’s not bad enough, there are fragments of Faery reality drifting around that swallow up anything in their path. They’re tricky to spot; you can drive right into one, if you’re not careful. The night the walls fell, Faery itself was fractured. Some say even the inimical Hall of All Days was changed, and opened new portals onto our world. The drifting is the part that really gets me. You can go to sleep in your own
bed and wake up in a completely different reality. If you’re lucky, the climate won’t kill you instantly and the inhabitants won’t eat you. If you’re really really lucky, you’ll find your way home. Eventually. If you’re superlucky, time will pass at a normal rate while you’re gone. Nobody’s that lucky. Folks vanish all the time. They just disappear and are never seen again.
Then there are the amorphous Shades that lurk in the dark and consume every living thing in their path, right down to the nutrients in the soil. When they’re done, all that’s left is dirt that an earthworm couldn’t live in—not that they leave those either. It’s a minefield outside that door. Walk lightly. Your parents’ rules don’t apply. Do be afraid of the dark. And if you’re thinking there might be a monster under your bed or in your closet, there probably is. Get up and check.
Welcome to Planet Earth.
This is our world now—one that doesn’t know its own rules. And when you’ve got a world that doesn’t know its own rules, everything dark and nasty that was once held in check comes slithering out of the cracks to try to take a shot at whatever it wants. It’s a free-for-all. We’re back to being cavemen. Might is right. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. The bigger and badder you are, the better your odds of surviving. Get a gun
or learn to run. Fast. Preferably both.
Welcome to Dublin, AWC—After the Wall Crash—where we’re all fighting for possession of what’s left of the planet.
The Fae have no king, no queen, no one in charge. Two psychotic, immortal Unseelie princes battle for dominion over both races. Humans have no government. Even if we did, I doubt we’d listen to them. It’s complete chaos.
I’m Dani “Mega” O’Malley.
I’m fourteen. The year was just officially declared 1 AWC, and the streets of Dublin are my home. It’s a war zone out there. No two days are alike.
And there’s no place else I’d rather be.
If you haven’t read the rest of the series, I’m not sure if it will make sense or not. I highly recommend the whole series!
Now, for my little bit on my favorite author. This originally was posted for the Tasha Turner Virtual Blog Tour. I thought I’d share it with the timing of Ms. Moning’s new release.
My current favorite author is Karen Marie Moning. I’ve read every book in Karen’s Highland series as well as the Fever series. As much as I enjoyed her well written romances, the Fever Series was phenomenal. The Fever series consists of five books, which should be read in order: Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever, and Shadowfever. These are dark gritty urban fantasy that got me to read outside the box of my preferred genre.
I have never been so completely transported into a fictional world as I was with the Fever series. Mackayla Lane or Mac for short takes a journey to Dublin, Ireland in search for answers about her sister’s murder. What she finds is the greatest challenge of her life, and two mysterious men that are vying for her attention. Jericho Z. Barrons, a mysterious, wealthy, powerful man that evades questions and Fae prince V’lane, a ‘death by sex’ Fae, use every weapon in their arsenal to win Mac to their side. Her true mission becomes clear, to obtain the elusive all-powerful Dark Book, the Sinsar Dubh.
The first line in Darkfever, the first book in the series is: My philosophy is pretty simple, any day nobody’s trying to kill me is a good day in my book.
Later in the series, Mac states: 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.
Karen’s ability to draw me completely into her character’s world has caused me to examine my own writing, digging deeper, tapping into the dark places to eventually produce the joy. I’ve survived a few darknesses in my own life, and if I can use that to produce a better story for my readers, it makes my scars a badge of honor. It’s the victors that tell history, not the defeated. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I think on some level I could relate to the character of Mac, realizing that I was made of stronger stuff than I thought I was.
Have you ever read a book that made you really think? Made you examine yourself in ways that you wouldn’t if you had not read the book? Who is your favorite author or book? Why? Was it simply a great story, or something more? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Write on my friends, write on!
quotidiandose 