Review - Dreamfever (Fever Series, Book 4) by Karen Marie Moning (4.5/5 stars)

This is the fourth 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.  Much to my dismay I am finally caught up in this series and am stuck with everyone else dealing with the absolutely horrible cliffhanger that happened at the end of this book.  This was the best book of the series so far (I know I keep saying that for each additional book, but it is true).

This book starts up right where Faefever left off.  Mac is being tortured by the Dark Unseelie Princes and has been turned into a Beast enslaved by the sexual urges the Unseelie Princes project.  With Mac out of her mind Dani narrates the beginning of this book.  Of course, Mac (kind of) bounces back (was there ever any doubt that she would?).  What she has become after the torture she has endured is something different than what she was.  This book is about vengeance and Mac, with Dani at her side, will personally try to annihilate all of the Unseelie from Dublin.

This was an absolutely awesome book.  So much happens and Mac changes so much as a character.  The flowery Mac is replaced by a Mac who is vengeance personified.  That is not to say "old Mac" is gone, it is just that she is muted. 

If Faefever dealt more with V'lane; than this book is more about Barron.  We learn more about him in this book than in any other book so far.  We still don't learn enough and I still wasn't satisfied with what we do learn...but I guess I will have to be patient.  We also learn more about Mac's Seelie Seer powers and the additional powers that she is developing.  A lot is learned about the the history of the Fae and how their world works too.

There is a ton of action in this book; in fact it is relentless.  There were times I just wished Mac had a second where someone wasn't trying to kill her.  In fact at times the relentless action got a little monotonous; but overall I still enjoyed it.  This is definitely a straight urban fantasy; not much romance at all.  Moning's writing style is engaging, yet pretty average.  The plot is well done but not spectacular.   The areas where Moning really shines are characterization and world-building.

Again there is a huge cliffhanger.  I could not believe it, even given all the previous cliffhangers, this one left me with my mouth hanging open and frantically trying to find the rest of the pages in the book.  Only there weren't any.  So now I am stuck with the rest of the Fever fans waiting desperately for Shadowfever...  I am really not a fan of authors torturing their readers, I think if you are a skilled enough writer you can complete the novel with decent closure and still have people desperate to read your next book.  I think ending books with cliffhangers is more like forcing people to read the next book and sells you a bit short as a writer; wouldn't you rather have people read your books because they love your writing?

Overall an excellent addition to this series.  I love what Moning is doing with Mac's character and love how we are finally getting to explore the Fae world.  I can't wait for Shadowfever to be released.  Moning's strong point is definitely characterization and world-building.  Readers should be ware though, this book has another horrible cliffhanger ending.

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