Kingdom of Shadow and Light

Fever, Book 11

By: Karen Marie Moning

Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb, Aiden Snow

Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

MacKayla Lane faces the ultimate threat when war breaks out between the kingdoms of shadow and light, as the #1 New York Times bestselling Fever series races to an explosive revelation.

From the moment MacKayla Lane arrived in Dublin to hunt her sister’s murderer, she’s had to fight one dangerous battle after the next: to survive, to secure power, to keep her city safe, to protect the people she loves.

The matter of who’s good and who’s evil can be decided by the answer to a single question: Whose side are you on?

Now, as High Queen of the Fae, Mac faces her greatest challenge yet: ruling the very race she was born to hunt and kill - a race that wants her dead yesterday, so they can put a pure-blooded Fae queen on the throne.

But challenges with her subjects are the least of her concerns when an ancient, deadly foe resurfaces, changing not only the rules of the game but the very game itself, initiating a catastrophic sequence of events that have devastating consequences and leave Mac questioning everything she’s ever learned and everyone she’s ever loved. Now begins an epic battle between Mortal and Fae, Seelie and Unseelie, would-be kings and would-be queens, with possession of the Unseelie King’s virtually unlimited power and the fate of humanity at stake.

From the exquisite, deadly gardens of the High Queen’s court, to long-forgotten truths found in the Sacred Grove of Creation, from the erotic bed of her enigmatic, powerful lover to the darkest, seductive reaches of the Unseelie kingdom, Mac’s final journey takes her places no human has been before, and only one human could possibly survive...One who's willing to sacrifice everything. 

©2021 Karen Marie Moning (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Mac is Scarlet O’Hara?

I was really looking forward to this book. I’ve read them all and this is my first of the Fever audiobooks.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t get very far so I’m not going to judge the story, but any southern girl listening to this is probably rolling her eyes. I know that Mac is a southern girl but this is not Tara and Mac is not Scarlet O’Hara. No southern girl from any of the regions with their different dialects, under the age of 50, sounds like this. Bless her heart...

After listening for so long...

After so many hours of listening to this Fever series, I could not get through this book because of the narration. I should have stopped with Burned since it was the last one narrated by Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante. I kept hope alive that narrators would improve story-telling but the opposite happened culminating with this book as the worst.
I found myself skipping chapters just so I could get to the end, something I never like to do...taking a 15 hour book down to five.

Maybe Audio Just Isn't for Me

This is the second long awaited book in a much loved series that I pre-ordered last year with a credit. My thinking then had been how wonderful it will be to be able to listen as I do other things. The other book got shelved to start this one. This one is coming perilously close to getting shelved, too. I still have an easy 2/3's to go.

There's four blaring problems for me. 1) The accents. Just why? Mac's sums it up. They're like poor caricatures of real accents. While I can't speak for the others, there's no way someone of Mac's supposed age and upbringing sounding like that. Especially if she's spent all that time in Ireland and Faerie. I can't stand the over-the-top molasses oozing accent. It's made worse by 2) Mac. Can't stand the character in this book so far. Mind you, I was never Team Mac, but the spoiled selfishness has been kicked up to all new heights. Is this supposed to be because of her queenly aspects? I don't know. At this point, I don't care. Which saddens me. The only thing keeping me listening at this point is seeing where the story goes for Danny, Shaz, and Lyric. 3) Could the narrators or their producers/editors taken the time to have looked up and corrected pronunciation?! They've literally changed the pronunciation of the main protagonist's name!! 4) It's increasingly difficult to distinguish between when a character is speaking or the narrator is narrating actions or thoughts. Mac especially. Please don't narrate "Mac bangs her head into a wall because she's frustrating the listener." as if Mac is declaring it aloud in equal frustration. There's no distinction. Why is non-spoken sentences even being read in the character's voices?

I'm having a really difficult time understanding how best sellers can't have great narrations when much less popular, less expensive books do. I'm wondering if the author even listens to and has any say in approving the narration. Reading another review, I've discovered this is apparently wrapping up the series. That just makes me sad because what a low note to go out on. I hope the story improves and becomes less of Mac doing her best spoiled southern high school debutante impersonation and more great story telling so that I have a chance at finishing it.

If any narrators read this review, please try to find the middle ground between drab and over-the-top. A conversational tone should be just that... a conversational tone. Consider the character's background pertaining to accent and inflection. And please, please, please look up the correct pronunciation for words you're unfamiliar with. Especially if the language is not one you are fluent in. To get a main character's name wrong is an unforgivable blunder on many parts. Either no one paid attention, or someone made an executive call due to money and decided the readers/listeners paying top price for a professionally edited book didn't deserve to get what they paid for. I strongly suggest you buy the written copy for anyone who might be scrolling through reviews in debate of which edition to purchase. This audio book is a mess.

Rushed!

I'm not sure where Moning was going. Random, and missing the spark we got from high voltage. We build to the end and....... there's no real substantial end. It's summarized in the prologue. It was like climaxing with the wrong partner, afterwards you felt.....used. I hope this isn't her last book, but if this is then I'm pissed.

Couldn’t listen to this

Pre-ordered this because I love the series! Had to buy the book because I can’t listen to the voice. I think they missed the mark on this one.

Amazing as all her books! 5 stars for the story!

I was dying to know how Moning would wrap up this series although dreading seeing it end. This series has consumed me for years. I can’t explain just how much, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt a series so deep in my soul. Especially when it’s not my usual genre to read, and I find main characters almost as annoying as intriguing. Fascination with this series has led me to meet some fascinating people online and irl while having many, many discussions — a group of fans that can only be described as a tribe.

I just finished the audiobook and I’m satisfied. Of course not everything gets answered, but the key issues did. I’m happy that the story left some interesting possibilities open for Moning to write more in this ‘world’ with some new characters that I’d be happy to see again, if she so chooses. As always, the story takes your emotions on a rollercoaster ride that you don’t want to stop, even as you reach for a box of tissues.

As for the audio narration, it was ok. I did find some of Snow’s character voices a bit distracting that pulled me out of the story a few times (one that made me cringe). Cobb did better in the previous books, not sure why she changed fir this one. Also changed some pronunciations which pulled me out of the story and left me wondering what’s right. There were times it seemed both narrators were going a bit over the top on trying different accents inconsistently (didn’t flow naturally), but the story is so well written and compels the imagination enough that those hiccups in narration wham be pushed aside.

? ??????

I have been a Fever fan from the beginning. Have looked forward to all the books in this series, the story had me riveted, the characters captivating, but I have to say this final book fell short. I’m not sure what I expected maybe my expectations were to high.
Or it could have been the narration, I enjoy both of these narrators but they didn’t work for me.

Ok story, inconsistent voicing/pronunciation

Felt like a quick wrap up to a bunch of storylines. The story was average at best, the pronunciation of name and terms in the story were very inaccurate to the rest of the series (even with a return narrator) and, just like the previous book in the series, they butchered the personalities of characters. Honestly I'm done with this series, don't care to read anything in the future.

Wow!!! Just breathtakingly wow!!!

KMM is a master story teller. What an emotional roller coaster & a fabulous ending to this spellbinding tale!!! I hope there are more spin off stories for other characters. It’s way too hard to say goodbye to them all. Especially some we just met. I don’t want to leave any spoilers. Amanda & Aiden are absolutely the best narrators for this series. Would love them to record all the rest of the books too. 🎧❤️🎧❤️

Amazing

Karen Moning has wrapped up this epic story as only she could. Beautifully done Stardust.