I. Love. The. Fever. Series.
Now that I got that out of the way, I thought I would attempt to put together my feelings on the latest book in the series, Burned.
Going into reading this book, I have been salivating to get my hands on this puppy. I read the Fever Series back in 2011, finishing the 5 books in the first series within a matter of a few days and immediately started to read them again. ICED was an interesting follow up and perhaps not really what fans were craving. Sure, learning more of Dani’s background was fun, but after a while you just crave more Mac and Barrons.
(Some light spoilers ahead)
And you certainly get it at the beginning of Burned, but it’s not quite what you think. KMM gives us the Barron’s POV that she released back in the summer of 2012, which at the time she lead us to believe it possibly wasn’t true. I didn’t like what that story made of Barrons. The scene played out a little too hard on the vague-consent line for my liking. Then to take Mac’s memory away? It felt like it changed the dynamic between them and as we later find out as we read Burned, Mac is having major trust issues as a result.
Perhaps it may be better to talk about the elements of the story that I enjoyed:
- We are back in the Fever Series world! We are back in Dublin! The craic continues!
- We have Mac’s POV again because being in the head of a 14-year-old for one book is more than enough for a lifetime.
- We finally learn a bit of what Mac has been up to and why she wasn’t heavily present during the events of Iced.
- My suspicions about the copy of the Sinsar-Dubh are validated; you cannot just ice over your lake with the most evil of evil books buried within.
- Comedic scenes with Mac being invisible.
- We get to spy on Ryodan and Barrons.
- Possibility of kinky sex scene between Mac and Barrons while she is invisible!
Elements of the story that could have been better:
- We needed Mac in a more proactive role. It was tough transiting to this essentially neutered character. With the book loose in Mac’s head and seemingly more in control when Mac is in action, she takes a backseat in the story. She is used more of a window for the reader to get a bird’s eye view of events since she’s invisible and all. Basically, it was KMM’s way of incorporating her into a story that was really supposed to be about Dani. There I said it.
- An inactive Mac, means less adventures with Mac and Barrons. Less of the developed characters that we got to experience in ShadowFever. It felt like a promise that was never fulfilled.
- Where was the invisible kinky sex?
When you think back to KMM’s original plans for the continuation of the Fever Series, we were going to have three books concentrating on Dani followed by two more focusing on Mac and Barrons. My guess is that sales of ICED weren’t quite up to par with the original series and the publisher pushed to bring Mac and Barrons back sooner than the author had planned. Burned is still really about all about Dani, but told from Mac’s POV. It’s a bit of cheat.
While I did really enjoy the book, it did not do it for me the way that the initial 5 books had. With time to ruminate on my feelings about the series, I realized that I felt that way because I really like Mac as a character; I want her to be the most special. Burned shows us that it has really always been about Dani. Ryodan and his men have been watching her for years, even before the events of Darkfever. I equate it to watching Buffy for years and then after a switch-aroo finding out it has been Willow that was the key to everything. Sure, I like Willow, but I was invested in Buffy.
The best news of all is that Feverborn comes out this October. Let’s hope that the switch back to the Fever titles mean that we get back to what made the entire Fever series special: Mac and Barrons.
Additional side note rant: I HATE WITH A PASSION the new book covers. I think it belittles and trivializes the amazing, complex story telling of the series and turns it into a shallow romance novel. I’m sure KMM could counter me with some Barron’s quote, but I can have have my own opinions about TACKY book covers. /rant
What were your thoughts on the book? How did it compare to other books in the series?
Read other Fever Series posts here.
