Review - Bloodfever (Fever Series, Book 2) by Karen Marie Moning (4/5 stars)

This is the second book in the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning.  There are five books planned for this series and the fifth book "Shadowfever" is scheduled to release in January of 2011.  This book was an enjoyable read; I liked it a little better than the first book.  Mac is finally growing a backbone and we meet some new interesting characters.

Mac is settling into her strange life in Dublin.  She is running the bookshop for Barron now and still trying to dodge the creeps that were out to kill her in the first book.  Barron is still trying to get her to track down the Sinsar Dubh and she is still having little success.  In this book she has a lot more run ins with the Seelie Prince, V'lane and meets the Grand Mistress of Sidhe Seers.  The mystery behind Barron's origins deepens.  Meanwhile crime and violence in Dublin is growing as the Unseelie population grows; it will be up to Mac and Barron to stop it.

This was a good follow up book to Darkfever.  This is one of those series where it is hard to review the books separately because what happens in the current book is so tied to the previous book and to future books.  Mac learns a lot more about her Seer powers in this novel.  She also spends a lot of time running from monsters.  Barron remains mysterious, although him and Mac do start building some chemistry together.

The action in this book is pretty much non-stop.  Mac is flung from one desperate situation to another.  The plot gets more complex and the world is filled out even more.  The writing is easy to read and the book is hard to put down.  We are introduced to loads of Unseelie too.

Some interesting characters are introduced in Rowena, the Grand Mistress of Sidhe Seers, and in the guy from Trinity college.  Barron's character gains more dimension and we are given some small tantalizing glimpses into his past; but he still remains quite the mystery.  Mac grows enormously as a character.  Gone is the Barbie doll, in its place is a girl with tenacity and courage that is tougher than we ever thought she could be.  Mac tries to be herself though and we are still given detailed descriptions on her attempts to dress cheery.

I was a bit frustrated that the story didn't progress more.  One tiny thing in the plot is resolved in this book but the rest is left open.  Most of the plot points in the book are just made more complex. The book again ends with a huge cliff hanger.  There were many things that I wish this novel included.  I wish there was more description of and names given for all the Unseelie encountered.  I wish we learned more about Barron.  Where are all the Seelie?  You would think with all the Unseelie roaming about there would be more Seelie about than just V'lane.  In some ways I just wish this was a more complete story.

Overall this was an enjoyable read and I liked it.  It didn't absolutely blow me away, like Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series did or Faith Hunter's Jane Yellowrock series did.  I also wish that each book in this series had a main plot that it wrapped up with an overall plot that went between books; this series is definitely not like that.  This book is more like a small part of a larger story than a story in and of itself.  I am looking forward to reading the next book, Faefever.

This book goes towards the following Reading Challenge:
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge