Iced by Karen Marie Moning Review

Iced

Author: Karen Marie Moning

ISBN: 0385344406 (ISBN13: 9780385344401)

Release Date: October 30th 2012
Pages: 495
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Paranormal Romance,
Urban Fantasy
Series: Dani O'Malley Trilogy #1

Summary
The year is 1 AWC—After the Wall Crash. The Fae are free and hunting us. It’s a war zone out there, and no two days are alike. I’m Dani O’Malley, the chaos-filled streets of Dublin are my home, and there’s no place I’d rather be.

Dani “Mega” O’Malley plays by her own set of rules—and in a world overrun by Dark Fae, her biggest rule is: Do what it takes to survive. Possessing rare talents and the all-powerful Sword of Light, Dani is more than equipped for the task. In fact, she’s one of the rare humans who can defend themselves against the Unseelie. But now, amid the pandemonium, her greatest gifts have turned into serious liabilities.

Dani’s ex–best friend, MacKayla Lane, wants her dead, the terrifying Unseelie princes have put a price on her head, and Inspector Jayne, the head of the police force, is after her sword and will stop at nothing to get it. What’s more, people are being mysteriously frozen to death all over the city, encased on the spot in sub-zero, icy tableaux.

When Dublin’s most seductive nightclub gets blanketed in hoarfrost, Dani finds herself at the mercy of Ryodan, the club’s ruthless, immortal owner. He needs her quick wit and exceptional skill to figure out what’s freezing Fae and humans dead in their tracks—and Ryodan will do anything to ensure her compliance.

Dodging bullets, fangs, and fists, Dani must strike treacherous bargains and make desperate alliances to save her beloved Dublin—before everything and everyone in it gets iced.


Review

I’ve been waiting so long to read this book, and I'm happy to say that it was very much worth the wait. Nearly every moment kept me hanging on. I would like to point out that while this is an adult book, 14-year-old Dani is not sexually active. However, characters around her do have sex. I did have one problem while reading this book; I didn’t mind that sometimes the point of view changes to characters outside of Dani, but I found the POV of a character named Kat to be just filler. I ended up skipping the Kat POV's and found myself not missing too much.

As a quick recap, this book is part of a series, so this review may contain spoilers. (The previous books are 'Darkfever', 'Bloodfever', 'Faefever', 'Deamfever', and 'Shadowfever,' and the 'Moon Fever' graphic novel.) The series follows the events after the wall between the Fae (fairy) world and our human world.

This book takes place in the same time and location where the other five books of the Fever series takes place. This book follows the story of Dani “Mega” O’Malley story and her point of view. Dani is different from everyone. She has inhuman speed and strength, which she uses to kill Fae's. She wants her beloved Dublin to be free of the Dark Fae. Dani will even go to places where she knows she shouldn’t, as one wrong move and her life is in danger of turned over to Ryodan, who wants her to work for him. He is willing to even use force to make her work for him. The force comes in the form of holding one of her friends hostage. Dani wants to find out what, or who, is turning Dublin to ice, she doesn't have time to play his games. She's a loner, wanting to be by herself, but she also wants to save her friends. If she does work with him, you know it'll be with a handshake with her sword. Luckily, by her side are Christian and Dancer. Christian is a highlander who is slowly turning Dark Fae. Dancer her best friend, who she’s been with since After The Wall Crash. Between these three men, she’s being pulled multiple directions, her own wants pushed away. During all this, she has to deal with her old friend MacKayla Lane, who wants her dead. She will do anything to stay away from her.

Dani isn’t like any normal 14-year old-girl. She’s fast, being able to move to a new location in a matter of seconds. She also has super strength, which she needs to kill Dark Fae with her sword. The sword never leaves her sight, and she can’t stand to be without it. In fact, she's in danger from every Fae in the city if she doesn’t have her sword. I love her strong personality, and how she can stand up to someone like Ryodan who most people are frighten of.  Even with everything happening around her and Ryodan trying to control her she doesn’t once lose who she is.

Ryodan hardly ever shows emotion, and when he does it's strange. It makes him seem normal when you know he's anything but. He also has a powerful attitude, wanting everything he sees. He's the type who will make sure he gets it. Dani is the one thing he can't get, so he resorts to blackmail. His powers scare both the Light and Dark Fae. When Dani thought there were only two weapons in the world that can kill Fae, here comes Ryodan killing a Fae without those weapons. Surprises keep happening with Ryodan around, and you wonder what other secrets he’s hiding. It surprises me that I fell in love with his character from book Five of the Fever series. He's a mean, cold individual, but I can’t help but love how he acts around Dani. There is a difference in how he treats Dani from other people. They're only small hints, which you need to read to see for yourself.

In 'Shadowfever', you see how Christian was slowly beginning to change into something else. In 'Iced', you know for sure of what he’s becoming and you can’t believe it. He hates that he's becoming a Dark Fae, but the more he changes, the more he embraces the change. He’s attracted to Dani, but he won’t touch her in anyway because of how young she is. When he's with Dani, he acts like his his normal self, but once away from her, he acts more and more like a Dark Fae. He would risk his life to save Dani or someone she cares for, which may be what saves him in the end.

We don’t know much about Dancer, only that he’s 17 he’s human and is Dani’s best friend. He and Dani have a deal to not worry about each other. Like Dani, he keeps different hideouts. He's always moving and setting up traps so that he knows when someone is trying to get into his hideout. He also tries to work with Dani to figure out new ways to capture and kill the Dark Fae. He even stood up to Ryodan and Christian despite being only human. Goes to show how strongly he feels for Dani.

This book also makes me super glad that Karen Marie Moning put two of my favorite characters into the book, Dani and Ryodan. In book five of the Fever series, I saw a bit of a spark between those two. No romance yet, but she is only 14. Maybe when she gets older a romance will blossom. I will be so excited it Moning goes in that direction.

Rating
5 out of 5 Howling Wolves