Review--Iced by Karen Marie Moning

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning comes the first book in her hotly anticipated new urban paranormal trilogy, set in the world of her blockbuster Fever series.

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.

After having Karen Marie Moning's Iced in my TBR Mountain of Doom for three years, I have finally read it! Good thing too, because there was a pretty good cliffhanger and now I only have a few weeks wait until Burned comes out!

Wow! Where to begin! I haven't read the Fever series in years...I read it just before the fifth book came out, so yeah, there was that doozie of a cliffhanger in the fourth book to deal with too. Naturally, my memory of everything is pretty poor. Because there's been 100s of books in between those years of waiting. Iced centers around Dani, and I figure it's picking up pretty much where we left off. The wall separating Faery from our world has fallen and all sorts of nasties have been entering our world. Dani is still doing what she does best and killing them when she can and posting her Dani Dailies out there so people are aware of what's going on and can protect themselves. She's steering clear of Mac since Mac wants to kill her for killing her sister...and it's something that makes Dani upset since she was seeing Mac as a friend. That was a bit I totally forgot about from the series, but can vaguely recall it now that it was mentioned.

Ryodan has commissioned Dani to figure out what has been freezing people about town. He makes Dani an offer she cannot refuse. Dani fights him, but it doesn't work. He knows her tricks and knows how to best her, so Dani finds herself working alongside him to solve the puzzle. It was an odd relationship. I get the feeling that Ryodan has a secret or two. I couldn't tell if it was because he was seeing the woman Dani would become and was attracted to that, or if there's something else in the midst. Dani is only fourteen here, and Karen has acknowledged the comments on the whole romantic airs surrounding Dani. Which I guess is why she's older in the next book.

Then there's Christian. I honestly couldn't remember this guy from the original series. I feel like he was there, because Dani knows him well. He's turning into an Unseelie Prince and is losing himself slowly. He too, is in love with Dani. He acknowledges the age difference and will wait for her. There's like 8-11 years difference. I say that because he apparently lost 3 years while in Faery, but still looks like he's 22. So yeah...more oddity. I found myself liking Christian though despite my lack of memory for him. He was an interesting character, though his devout love and near obsession of Dani bordered the lines of creepy.

There was even a third guy, that I can't decide if he's a player for Dani's heart too. Lots of wonderings basically! Dancer is Dani's best friend and if I recall right, he's only a few years older than her. So a more appropriate age that isn't as skeevy. Though, I'm really blanking on what his age was. He's a genius and helps Dani out a lot during the case of the ice monster.

This is truly a remarkable Fever book because I loved Dani's character in the first books! She was hilarious and feisty! She's the same as ever! I love her sass and her bravery! She's got guts of steel! She's not afraid of Ryodan and his temper, which would have me flinching at times! She's pretty mature for her age too. The things she has seen and experienced are pretty harsh and all the while I can't believe this is a fourteen year old girl out saving the world!

I was a little sad not to see Mac around, but I understood why. Dani is avoiding her, so seeing her wouldn't really be frugal. Though Barrons does make a brief appearance! 

This was a delightful read! Very well paced, though it took me longer to read it due to personal reasons. But I kept at it because it was very enjoyable! I loved every moment of it! Told in three points of view; Dani, Kat, and Christian, we get quite a few viewpoints of the going-ons of Dublin. Though it could be hard to tell who was talking as the entire book was in first person point of view. It would take a few sentences before the character was revealed somehow, they could be hard to tell at some points, but it didn't really detract from the enjoyment, just caused a minor hiccup!

There's plenty of action in this one. No romance, since Dani is too young to be looking for love. And of course there were plenty of laughs! Dani is hilarious, as I said and I enjoyed getting her perspective of the world! So looking forward to Burned!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars