March 25, 2011: I picked up the first novel, Darkfever. Friends had been talking about this series they loved wrapping up, and a complete series will always reel me in.
March 26: I picked up Bloodfever. I had gone from wondering why my friends recommended this to me (Mac annoyed me in Darkfever SO MUCH), to being seriously intrigued (The Burren scene!!!) in less than 24 hours.
March 29: I finished Faefever and screamed, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THAT ENDING!!! WHERE IS MY COPY OF THE NEXT BOOK?!?!?!”
March 30-April 2: I did not stop reading, but I did so ever so slowly because Dreamfever was to be savored. I needed answers, but I needed to KNOW THE ANSWERS BEFORE I WAS TOLD THE ANSWERS.
0.5 seconds after completing Dreamfever, April 2: I read the last chapter of Shadowfever because EFF THIS NOISE I WILL SPOIL MYSELF TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO BARRONS. Then I read the whole book. Whew.
April 3: I read them all over again.
What I fell in love with was a series that was fast-paced and engrossing and addictive and a damn fun time.
When others would ask me about urban fantasy as a genre, I would hold the Fever Series up as the gold standard. I read others in the genre and still always came back to Karen M. Moning’s way of writing foreshadowing, world-building, tension and character. Her books weren’t one-offs. She had built something with each novel, and given us a crazy satisfying ending.
But then …
October 2012: Iced came out. People read it and wept. I thought the series was over so what was this Dani nonsense? I shelved it, thinking it was a single title standalone, and if she was writing secondary characters into a story I thought was over, I would get to them when I got to them.
January, 2015: Burned came out. Apparently, Mac and Barrons were back. I re-read the first five books again in preparation for our epic Hangoutlander episode: JAMMF vs JZB, which you can watch here.
Then I read Iced and Burned because I was FULLY back in the world, dangit and I wanted to know more.
January 2016: I did not finish reading Feverborn at 50% through. I decided I was ok with the first five books being all I knew and loved about the Fever Series.
January 15, 2017: I picked up my advanced copy of Feversong, thought “I’ll get to this someday,” read the last chapter so I could see how it all ended and IMMEDIATELY HAD TO READ THE ENTIRE SERIES FROM START TO FINISH. Because you guys. The Fever Series is not the first five books. IT IS ALL OF THEM, and you don’t even know until you’ve read the final words.
Because I will really tell you.
But not here.
We have been talking and writing about the Fever Series on That’s Normal since we began. We’ve giggled about Mac and Barron’s wardrobe choices and V’lane’s long hair. We made fun of ourselves and our oversexed addiction to this series. We maybe haven’t taken our love for it very seriously. But we’ve always loved it. So much so, that my friends Jamie and Shalan and I decided to make a pilgrimage of the final Fevercon in New Orleans this past weekend. That’s right. We did this thing.
We did the Corset Pub Crawl and the Costume Party at Chester’s and the Feverquest Scavenger Hunt (ok, we did the indoor quiz instead because we felt lazy). But we met the Moning Maniacs, and the JZB dream cast guy and KMM, and we gotta say – it was a great fandom weekend. As soon as we get all our pics downloaded, we will give you an epic wrap up.
In the meantime, I will be reading. Because I’m back in it. In Barrons’ Books and Baubles, in Dublin, in the Fever World. It’s a great story, a great fantasy, and I cannot wait to spend the next week (or two – we will how long it takes me from start to finish) re-reading it.
