Burned: A Fever Novel

This book is EXQUISITE. Karen Marie Moning's talent is as boundless as the Unseelie King's wings, and her creation is as beautifully flawed. Because it has to be. Bear with me and marvel at her genius.Second round.Mac/Barrons. Their reappearance seemed to have elicited the most complaints from other reviewers. I don't have a single one.* Mac is not regressing. She is inactive because it's her only choice. The Book is so much stronger than her at this time, that if she takes a single action, she will be overcome. And with the Grey Woman/Guardian incident we see plainly where that would lead. Becoming moody, whiny, and retrospective is exactly how she would respond to such a situation, as suffering graciously is NOT in her character.* To give the Unseelie King or anyone else to save the universe, Mac has to hold off giving in to an entity so much stronger than she. If she gives in, the King might have to K'Vruck the universe into non-being and be done with it. If Mac gives in, there won't be any other choice.* Mac can't continue to be epic, because, firstly, it would give her really little room to grow as a character, and, secondly, she would overshadow the real star of this show. More on that later.* There's no Mac/Barrons sex, because sex, as any other plot twist, should be used only when it advances the story. With Mac where she is, that would lead nowhere. It would be sheer reader-gratification, it would not be epic, and I'm glad to see KMM didn't give into the urge. If Mac/Barrons sex is not EPIC, I REALLY don't want to see it.Jada.When I read pre-release that Dani would age rapidly in this installment, a trip to Faery seemed imminent. What it would do to her? I had NO IDEA. Even though, as with everything KMM writes, there was foreshadowing aplenty.* Jada is one-dimensional and "cartoonish" because she is not a person, she is a splinter of another person's mind. She was not born with Dani, she became later in response to grave circumstances indeed.* Most everyone Dani has ever cared about is on Jada's kill list, because, as any smart parasite, she understands she has to protect herself. All these people - Mac and Ryodan especially - are not going to stand around and just accept her. She's in for a fight of her existence. Therefore, she tries preemptive strikes. Also, since she wants power (who doesn't), it would make sense to eliminate as much competition as possible. However, we can still see Dani, the subconscious, in Jada's actions. Read carefully and you will see what I'm talking about.* Jada is a placeholder for Dani. There's lots of those in this book, and she is the biggest.* Jada is neither stronger nor better than Dani, and she begins to realize this. Would she go away willingly? Not a chance.The battle line is drawn.Which brings us to Ryodan. Ah, Ryodan... How wrong I was when I wrote the "Iced" review. With just a little glimpse of additional information, KMM has showed me just how wrong I was to assume anything. If Christian is a clear loch under a summer sky, Dageus a stormy sea, Barrons - a Mariana Trench, then Ryodan is a black hole of which we only saw the gravity effects through our telescopes from a few million light years away. We are not anywhere near the event horizon, never mind the center of that black hole.* I liked how KMM handles the Ryodan/Jo breakup. I thought there was no way Jo would not end up completely crushed, but she got off merely hurt. Good job, Ryodan.* After catching Jo with Lor, he's not acting jealous. Well, maybe a little. What red-blooded male wouldn't? His real bone is with Lor lying to him, which resulted in him overreacting to a threat and diverting attention from his search for Dani to deal with said threat. Ryodan deals in information. It is his strength. It is what keeps his family from harm. It's what puts him in control. And Control is his middle name, after all (at least I got this right with my Iced review!). When his intel is flawed, it threatens the security of his family. This he would not accept, and this, I believe, is his real problem. He acts so deliciously HUMAN when he loses it! I know he'd hate anyone noticing that, but ah well! And, besides, when he kills Lor, he says "Never lie to me", not "Never sleep with my ex-lays". Separating them doesn't seem his enforcement priority either.* Which brings us back to the true gem of this book. The time when Dani/Jada catches Ryodan with his pants, not down, but off. There are meaning to that scene and then there are meanings. It's that scene which makes me firmly root for Team Ryodan.* Ryodan KNOWS Dani. He is uniquely attuned to her frequency. He is the first to recognize Dani/Jada upon their return. Mac, who knows Dani better than most, has trouble figuring/believing that one. He is understandably flabbergasted as he beholds this newcomer that is Jada. The Robin quote showed me clearly that Barrons and Ryodan are indeed brothers by another father. With that quote he's doing what Barrons did for Pri-ya Mac with the photos and the Christmas tree. But while Barrons had to deal with the stripped-to-the-raw animal Mac, Jada is an entirely different beast. Where Mac was basic as basic goes, Jada is a construct of the highest reason.* Another scene, most illuminating, is when Ryodan explains why he didn't kill Dani. He cherishes that child as much as Barrons cherishes the Rainbow Girl Mac. If not more. Her spunk. Her sassiness. Her personality. She is IT for him.* Back to the naked scene. In Iced, when Ryodan and Dancer rescue Dani from the hoar frost, Ryodan gives over every stitch of clothing to keep Dani warm. Dancer comments on what he sees. Do unconscious 14-year-olds in skull-and-crossbones undies do it for Ryodan? Don't think so. He can have any woman he wants, and he does (groupies galore, anyone?). Yet after Dani is safe, he has to go in for an emergency level four intervention. What gives? Pervy much? Not really.* In Burned, there's a scene that mirrors the Iced one. Ryodan just returned from beast form, is naked, and Jada chooses this moment to appear. In the aspect of her appearance, she is indeed the woman he thought she would become. She is stunning. They're alone. He's naked. Mac moons over his package. Said package? Gives not a twinge. And just like that, I love Ryodan more than I had ever loved Barrons. (Plus, that scene alone completely justifies Mac becoming invisible).* Jada wants Ryodan's acceptance. He wants Dani back. Jada would not give in. He would not give up. An epic battle is set up. For this alone, I love Burned beyond reason. There's potential here as vast as the universe itself.Other points.* Love, love, love Lor and Jo! But Mac is wrong. The others have much more in common with Lor than she thinks.* Kat is not as annoying as in Iced. This is where I take heart that the other characters will grow in future books (Mac and Jada/Dani). The Kat/Kasteo thing is beyond interesting. Hope to see more of that! And Kat needs her strength to wrest the control of the abbey from Jada. She will.* That better NOT be Cruce's baby in Kat's belly. That would be just so... Ugh!* I have hope for Christian.* Unseelie King/Concubine - heartbreaking!* Someone dies, and doesn't die. Confused there. When such a powerful magical being becomes available, I would think he'd turn Unseelie mighty quick, but other people seem to think number Ten is coming. Dunno about this. Need more information.*The nuggets of info in the Appendices! Must read.Dancer/Mac/Music/RhymesVery little new info on Dancer is given, bit little as it is, it is most illuminating. Dancer might not have superhero strength, bud does he have a superhero brain!* The Song of Making is needed to save the world. No one currently living has the info. With Fae trapped in the present and unable to time-sift, no one can go back and get it from the First Seelie Queen.* Whatever Cruce or the Princess claim, they're not the King's ultimate creation. Mac is.* Mac has the complete corrupted Song of Making, she can recognize Fae "frequencies", she has a melody inside her.* Dancer has an ability to use science to figure out what the Hoar Frost King was missing. If he could do that to HFK, why not other Unseelie...* Well, you should figure out by now where this is going.EPIC setup. Can't wait for the next installment!

Why?!?!?(Warning: this post will be filled with spoilers and whining. Not that I didn’t highly enjoy the book but I just finished it and need to get some stuff off my chest. There. It’s said. Proceed knowing that I’m gonna talk about pretty much everything.)First off, I was really hoping this would be more of a Dani-focused novel. A slightly older Dani but Dani nonetheless. Mac…she had her HEA. Sort of. Kind of hard to have a completely Happily Ever After with the Sinsar Dubh resting happily within her (well, more like restlessly, endlessly battling Mac for control over her mind, body and soul). Still, more of a Dani-focused story, like Iced.But it wasn’t. It was a mostly-Mac story with too many other POVs thrown in at random moments (Kat, the Unseelie King, Jada, Lor and a sprinkling of Dani). And a rather sad-sack Mac at that (rhyme time!). She’s unable to fight or she’ll black out and awaken surrounded by blood and bodies; she hasn’t yet been able to forgive Dani for killing her sister; and she’s having flashbacks about the first time she met Barrons and he had wild monkey sex with her (then buried that memory from her, the bastard). She’s a mess.After a particularly challenging meet-up with Dani — one where she practically kills the girl because the Book takes over her actions for a moment — she chases Dani into the Hall of All Days, and Dani disappears.We’ve waited for this book for so long and, while I blazed through it (I would have read it in one night, if I could have stayed up but teaching high school students all day requires a solid 7-8 hours of sleep. I can’t function on less, even with a steady stream of Dr. Pepper running through my veins.), there were many parts that seemed thrown into the story, much like me attempting to fix a meal when I really should have gone to the grocery store (Seriously. My dinner tonight was some anchovy-stuffed olives, tater tots and a taco. Yummers.). It’s almost as if this series has lost direction…or that it doesn’t know in which direction to go next. Do we focus more on Dani or stick with Mac and her drama? Do we add in more about the Nine or focus on those gorgeous Keltar Highlanders or does Barrons lead the way? Now that the Fae are here to stay but the Song is missing, how do we knit the world back together in logical pieces? And what about Christian? Yeah, he’s getting his guts ripped out again and again by the Crimson Hag but then he’s rescued and what–is he a Keltar or is he an Unseelie Prince or is he both — and is he absolutely insane? And then what about his obsession with Dani? How’s that going to go over, once he’s rescued and fixed up? It’s a conundrum.And Dani. Darling, annoying, full-of-pep, 14-year-old Dani disappeared into the Silvers only to reappear as Jada, a stone-cold, sociopathic killer without an ounce of feeling or remorse. Jada is out to balance a ledger she keeps in her precise brain, starting with taking over the Abby and the sidhe-seers, working her way through the Nine, and ending with Mac. I severely dislike Jada. I want Dani back. Jada and this fractured personality thing seems like a cop-out, an easy way to make Dani older without any fuss (I mean, she disappears into those mirrors and then just reappears in Dublin five years older and completely changed. I want to know what happened to her. WHAT HAPPENED?!?) and therefore acceptable for Ryodan to hook up with (this doesn’t happen, just so you know. Which is good, because I haven’t made my peace with this Jada chick yet. I might never.). And I miss Dancer, Dani’s smart and adorable human friend. He makes a brief appearance but is gone after that, and Jada doesn’t even acknowledge that she knows him. Humph.Looking back at my rather ranty review, it seems like I should have absolutely hated this book but, really, I didn’t. I love Moning’s writing, the way she plays with words and gets deep into the psyche of her characters (even if I don’t like that psyche at the time). We got to know more about the Nine, those intriguing, massive alpha males who make my libido sit up and beg. We got to get some one-on-one smexytimes with Lor (dear, sweet Jesus. That man is sex on a stick.). He provided some much-needed levity in this story (and the only smexytimes we got the entire damn book! Besides Barrons getting it on with a still-rather-innocent Mac within her first 24 hours in Dublin the wiping her memory, Lor was the only one getting some!).There’s also the time that Mac got stuck as an invisible chick and wound up tailing Ryodan around his club. By far, the best choice she could have ever made (hell, if I was invisible, I’d do the same thing). She got to hear some very juicy secrets, plus she got to see that scorchingly hot dude naked, and she took that opportunity to fully check him out. I wanted to high five her. A lot.Now, *supposedly* Feverborn, the eighth book in this series, is coming out in October but I’m not holding my breath, especially considering how many times Burned got pushed off. I’m also hoping that this series picks a solid direction and goes with it, though I wouldn’t be opposed to some spin-offs featuring those gorgeous alpha males that are sprinkled through this series like delicious bon-bons. No matter when it comes out, I’m addicted so I’ll grab it and devour it, all the while hoping for a stronger, more cohesive storyline. And more naked men and smexytimes. Because that’s always a good thing.

Rating 3.5 starsWarning, this review will contain spoilers for Burned. I've tried and tried to write a review without any but it's just impossible to talk about it properly without at least touching on some major events in the book. I'll try to keep it to a minimum but read on at your own risk.I have such mixed feelings about this book and that's one of the main reasons it's taken me such a ridiculously long time to write this review. Going into Iced I had incredibly low expectations because so many people hated it but after surprising myself and enjoying it I was then expecting even bigger and better things from Burned. And in some ways it delivered them: I got answers to a lot of questions I had, Ryodan went a long way towards redeeming himself, I got to spend more time with Mac and Barrons and the issue of Dani's age was resolved.All those things should instantly make it a favourite book but unfortunately the way these things happened also came with negatives. Ryodan went a little too far towards redemption and lost a lot of his roguish charm, I'm glad he was able to justify some of his actions in Iced but I don't want to suddenly see him as a perfect guy. The best thing about him was the fact that he was an unapologetic arse! Yes, we spent more time with Mac and Barrons but they're far from the couple we fell in love with in the first book - Mac is a shadow of herself (even worse than Mac 1.0!) and the closeness they'd built up to is pretty much gone. Barrons seems to have lost all respect for Mac and since Mac is acting like a child all of the other characters start to treat her like one. There is an interesting twist with Mac and the Sinsar Dubh though and she did start acting a little more like herself by the end of the book so I'm hoping she'll work out eventually.Then you have Dani, I've always loved her character, as irritating as she could be she always felt like a realistic teenager. I wanted to see her grow up and become a woman but that's exactly the problem here. I wanted to see it. I wanted to watch the changes with my own two eyes not have her disappear into the Silvers and have her magically come back 6 years older and a completely different person! In some ways that plot device is genius and I actually kind of like the disconnect between Dani and Jada, it even explains a few things about her past and it added a whole new layer of complexity to her character, I just don't like the fact that the Dani I know and love has vanished. I guess all I can hope for now is that KMM will find a way to merge the two sides of her character into someone who is recognisable as Dani but an older, more experienced Dani who is more in charge of her own life.This book is a perfect example of the phrase "Be careful what you wish for", it totally feels like KMM took on board what a lot of fans complained about after the release of Iced and wrote the Burned to appease them. That's all well and good in some ways but in others it feels like a bit of a cop out, like she gave up on her own plans for the series because fans complained too loudly about the way she had handled certain things. For those of us who actually enjoyed Iced it was an extra kick in the teeth because she took away all the things that made it great. I'm actually disappointed that the additional trilogy that was supposed to be Dani's story was taken away from her and given back to Mac and Barrons, especially since I feel like their story has already been told and they don't have a lot to add.It's not all bad though and there were some things I really enjoyed about the story. I actually liked Jada as a character (I just wanted to see how Dani went from being the girl we knew to being a warrior like Jada) and I think she's going to have an interesting impact on the Sidhe Seers. I loved the scenes from Lor's point of view, he outshone both Ryodan and Barrons in this book I think so I hope we see a lot more of him in the next book. I already mentioned an interesting twist with the Sinsar Dubh but we also get to see more of the Unseelie King and the Concubine which was brilliant and I loved the addition of the Unseelie Princess.So I didn't hate Burned but I didn't love it either and I just have this nagging feeling that it could have been so much better. Will KMM get things back on track in Feverborn? I honestly don't know. I kind of hope she does but I no longer have that desperate urge to read it and find out. Will I get to it at some point? I'm sure I will, in fact, finally sitting down and writing this review (nearly 5 months after I read the book!) is kind of making me want to pick it up now, but there's another wary part of me that thinks it's probably best to wait until the entire series is finished before going back there. Then I can read all the remaining books together and be done with it once and for all.

This series is like no other, and just when I think the last book can't be beaten Karen surprises and astounds me with a story that blows my mind. I did not and could not expect the events that happen in this book. The story and characters continue to develop in ways I could never have imagined, and that is what is so brilliant about this author. Just when you think you know what's coming, boom! Something else comes along that sweeps the rug from under your feet. It is completely and utterly brilliant! I'm not giving anything away because if you haven't read this series, believe me you don't know what you're missing, and for someone to tell you even one little tit bit would spoil the WOW factor. What I will say is that you will meet characters that have so much depth and layers to them that you never truly know or understand them, and you wish with all your heart that you did, but you also know that it's the mystery of them that keeps you hooked. You will find a plot that has so much going on in it that it should be too busy to keep track of, yet because of the skill and artistry of the writing, it isn't. Every detail is important and you crave every bit of information because you just know that it's going to lead to something big. There are big developments in this story and answers to questions I didn't even know I had, but not enough to satisfy me, which I think is intentional. The cliff hangar at the end had me gasping and I am going to be anxiously and impatiently awaiting the next installment. What I would say is that to get the full enjoyment from this story, if you haven't already done so read the Highlander series by this author, which includes some of the characters in this book. You don't necessarily need to but it will give you a better understanding of how important these characters are. This book deserves more than a 5 star rating, and if you are looking for a series that is smart and sexy, smouldering and hot, dangerous and exciting, thrilling and nail biting, unique and extraordinary and something out of this world then this is the one for you. Oh yes I'm definitely still a Barrons Bitch and proud of it, I just hope I don't have to wait too long for the next book. BRILLIANT

Another book that you will struggle to put down until you read the last word on it... genius!Mac and Dani finally come to blows and it is so exciting! More info on what goes on in Ryodan's head and what makes him tick...And Christian... He does get to fight his inner battle and how interesting that is...On to the next one! Can't wait...!

Mac/Barrons all the way for me and I am so glad that this book (and the next it seems thus far) follows this. However, 3* why? 5 words...Why Is Mac So Useless???I have a problem with our heroine...why did KMM make her so useless, so passive? All of a sudden, Mac's storyline seems to focus on her reflections, on long drawn out descriptions of her thoughts and feelings...which is good but to this extent just plain boring...I've just started on the next book and am really hoping it will get better...! For now....it is an effort to keep awake tbh....

Another ripping episode in the Fever series keeping readers on the edge of their seats wondering what's going to happen to Mac, Dani, Barrons, Christian, Ryodan, and all the other characters whose lives have been thoroughly rocked since the walls fell. This episode has its usual share of sex and action and ends on another cliff edge. But it will be a long wait to find out what happens next as book 8 isn't out until next year!