Darkfever

Fever, Book 1

By: Karen Marie Moning

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

MacKayla Lane's life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she's your perfectly ordinary 21st-century woman.

Or so she thinks...until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death - a cryptic message on Mac's cell phone - Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers.

The quest to find her sister's killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed - a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae.

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister's death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless Vlane - an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women - closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac's true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book - because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds.

Listen to more hot titles in Karen Marie Moning's Fever series.

©2006 Karen Marie Moning (P)2006 Brilliance Audio

Critic Reviews

"It's a compelling world filled with mystery and vivid characters, and this, combined with the hint of sparks between Jericho and Mac, will stoke readers' fervor." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Joyce Bean captures the beauty, fear, and otherworldliness of Moning's characters." ( AudioFile)

Stick with it!

The narrator is completely wrong for this character and unfortunately she sticks around for the first 3 books. Mac, the lead character, is annoying in the beginning but really transforms into someone much more interesting. The real disappointment in this narrators representation of the story is Barrons, which she makes sound like an 80 year old man. Any chemistry that happens between Mac and Barrons comes across a little creepy, instead of hot. That being said, stick with the story. Read the first 3 if you can't handle this narrator but be sure to listen to Dreamfever and Shadowfever. You will be blown away by the 2 narrators and the way they interpret the story.

Who picked the cover for this book?

STORY - Darkfever is an interesting mystery with a supernatural twist. I enjoyed it very much, but the cover is completely misleading. It is NOT a romance and there is basically zero sex. The story is an "easy listen" but with a much better plot than most books I put in that category. It doesn't really come to a conclusion but sets the background for what should be a really good series.

Some reviewers have commented that Mac is a shallow heroine and is overly concerned about her outfits and appearance, but I disagree. She does have a girly aspect to her personality, but it's just character development and I don't think it detracted from the story at all.

NARRATOR - The narrator does a pretty good job but nothing awesome. She performs male voices, Irish and Southern accents convincingly enough.

OVERALL - You will enjoy this book if you are looking for a fairly light supernatural mystery, but you will have to continue hearing the series for a conclusion.

Narration ruins it.

I may have liked this book more if I had read it rather than listened to it. The narrator sounds much older than the protagonist and the southern accent in unbearable. That being said by a Southern girl. The writer takes a while to develop the main character with lackluster results. The heroine's personality seems to be modeled after Sookie Stackhouse of The Southern Vampire Series by Charlaine Harris. This is like trying to turn Andy Griffith into Elvis. The sound quality was poor and depressive. May read the next book, may not. Blah....

Lazy writing, yet strangely addictive

What did you like best about Darkfever? What did you like least?

Hands down, the best thing about Darkfever is Barrons. JZB is one of the most compelling characters I've come across in a long time. What I liked least? Moning's lazy writing. Would it have killed her to invest in even a modicum of research? Irish people speaking in American English was jarring and it detracted from the story. I'm not talking about the narrator's accent, either. I'm talking about Americanisms that are rarely used in Ireland, and it happened so frequently that I'm not going to list them.

Would you be willing to try another book from Karen Marie Moning? Why or why not?

I was on the fence about this. The writing and so-so narration didn't exactly win me over, but I love Barrons so I continued with the series.

Did Joyce Bean do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I was surprised that I didn't hate Joyce Bean's narration. After reading the reviews, I braced myself for terrible narration. That wasn't the case. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible. The Southern accent was slightly over-the-top, Scarlett O'Hara-esque, and the Irish accent was that fake Irish Spring/Lucky Charms commercial kind of accent, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I actually wish she had continued narrating Mac's parts in the later books, because I didn't like the female narrator for the last few books.

Was Darkfever worth the listening time?

A qualified yes. I rolled my eyes quite a bit and the writing was so inconsistent, but it was a relatively quick listen and it introduced Barrons. Mmm...Barrons....

Any additional comments?

I think categorizing this as "Romance" is a stretch. There is very little romance in it. I also think that Mac comes off as Sookie-Lite, and Karen Marie Moning wasn't successful in developing Mac into an endearing character in the same vein as Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse.

What's with the antebellum southern accent?

Geez. I was pretty underwhelmed by this series when I first listened to it about 5 years ago -- but now? This is in first person, and since it's the narrator's caricature of a pre-Civil War southern accent -- for the main character -- the books just make me cringe. (I can't stand it, and I'm a Yankee.)

If you ARE from the south, you'll hate it.

(Isn't there a Looney Tunes character that sounds like this? *I say, I say . . . * Rochester somebody?)


NOT Recommended: I do recommend that if you HAVE to read this dated series, read the first three books on Kindle and escape the bad narration. (I've heard the new narrators do a better job with the next few, which I own, but I never thought the story was worth listening to after the first three, so who knows.)

Personally, I would not buy this series today. There are much better books out there now.

Also:

And while I'm here -- why can't Audible address the *quotation mark problem?* How hard of a fix could it be? It's pretty hard to review books without QUOTING THEM!

Have a nice day!

Great light read.

I was in the mood for something light and steamy when I downloaded this and it definently delivered. I don't usually find things to do so I can listen to more of the story but this time I found myself doing just that. This isn't very romantic in the normal sense of the genre, but there is plenty of sexual tension. The main character did take some getting used to, but she eventually developed into a heroine that I'm dying to know what happened to.
Unfortunately I read some of the other reviews so part of the story was ruined for me, but I'm still downloading the next edition.
If you want something you don't have to pay strict attention to, but still contains a mystery, I would recommend this title.

Geez She's Shallow

I have liked the author's Highlander series, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to stand the Fever series if all the heroines are this annoying. She's surround by death and creatures of terror but all the girl can do is go on and on about her nail polish, pink capris and strappy sandals. (How did she fit all this clothing into her suitcase??) Almost everyone she comes into contact with is dangerous, but she just can't see it. Somehow, I think, if you watch someone being killed you will probably experience enough anxiety to stop caring if your panties and bra match. Unless, of course, you are shallow and clueless. I was disappointed that another reviewer put in spoilers, but at least now I don't have to finish it. The narrator does a good job not mixing accents between characters, but the main male character sounds like an 80 year old Irish emphysema victim and the heroine's southern accent was just this side of painful. I hope someone can convince me once again that this is a good series because I don't know if I can spend another eight hours listening to the fashion report.

Interesting Story

I found the story to be an interesting one, but the narrator was extremely weak. Her attempt at different accents was painful, and greatly detracted from my enjoyment of the audiobook. I'd like to listen to other books in this series, but will probably pass if this narrator is attached.

Poor narrator, weak lead character.

I think my main problem with this book was the narrator. I wish Audible would let you rate the story and the narrator separately. This narrator's voice was way too old to be a 22 year old girl and yet she made the main male character sound like a leprechaun who had smoked for 30 years. It was so awful. Here was a guy who was supposed to be attractive, and his voice was totally irritating.

The main character was also annoying in that you had to continually hear about every thing she wore, including her underwear, her nail polish, etc, again and again. I've heard that it was supposed to show us in the following books how her character matures, but give me a break. I'm not even sure I'll make it to the further books, although the premise of this one was pretty good. I know there are some real devotees of the series, so maybe I'll read book 2 rather than listen to this narrator again. I notice that for book 4, they have new narrators, a man and a woman. I think that the man/woman combination could work well and I hope they are better.

narrator is horrible

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator for this book is horrible. It's hard to get into a story when you can't get passed horrible accents. Every body in this book sounds either like a leprachaun or an idiot.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Darkfever?

this is an awesome series and I revisit it frequently (reading my copies) Although the last few books are read by a really good narrator...the first few are not!

How did the narrator detract from the book?

hugely

Good book but where is the rest of the series?

As with a lot of paranormal romance audiobooks Audible UK only seem to have one or two books from a whole series. More Karen Marie Moning Fever books and Highlander series please!

A great bit of fun

I really enjoyed this book, it's a great bit if fun. I hope the follow up books in this series Blood Fever and Faefeve soon join it on the book shelf. I for one would certainly buy them.

Buy it!

A fantastic start to a new series. Thouroughly engaging. Joyce Bean does a great job at the narration of this one, now all we need are the rest of the series. Karen Marie Moning is a very talented story teller and sucks readers in and makes you want to finish it in one sitting or listening in the case of this version! You won't regret the purchase of this book! The evolution of the main character is amazing and will linger with you long after the story ends!

Great book, well worth the buy!

Very engaging story from the start and I found Mac's character to be very in-depth and well developed. Joyce Bean does a fantastic job at narrating and I loved her accents, although I felt her voice was a little too mature to be portraying a 22 year old. I hope the rest of the series is brought out on Audible, I'd really like to continue listening to the series!

creepy male voice

switched to kindle after hearing the male voice
but once you hear you can't unhear
if you're interested in the story, go for the written book

Darkfever

Would you consider the audio edition of Darkfever to be better than the print version?

No. I do prefer the print version. Mainly because the narrator is fine for Mac, but not so great for the others. But it was a good listen and would happily spend my next credits on the next books in the series.

What other book might you compare Darkfever to, and why?

I've compared it to Laurel K Hamilton, there is great Urban Fantasy mixed with steamy scenes and a female protagonist that has to learn an awful lot about the world around her.

What does Joyce Bean bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I think her Mac voice is great and adds to the enjoyment.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not really. It did make me turn it down a bit as some of the scenes are a bit graphic.

Any additional comments?

This is the first book in the series and a great place to start.

Brilliant

Any additional comments?

If you like fantasy then you will like this book. I wish the rest of the series was available on audible.

Excellent audiobook performance of an excellent novel

I adored the novel so when I started crocheting recently and couldn't read as I normally would, purchasing a copy of the audiobook made sense to me. I'm glad I did! Joyce Bean does a tremendous job of bringing Mac to life, and I loved listening as the beginning of the Fever series came alive for me. My one complaint is that the rest of the series is not on Audible for some reason, so if I want to listen to the rest I will have to buy the CDs. 😕

not bad

The was enjoyable to listen to but was easily put downable. It made a long car journey less boring but didn't excite or intrigue.

Awesome

I managed to absolutely speed through this audio book, listening at every chance I got. I loved it! I just wish the rest of the series was one here because now im at a loss!