Burned Review

Burned by Karen Marie Moning
Published by Random House Publishing Group on January 20th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 512
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Mac is back and badder than ever!”—J. R. WardMacKayla Lane and Jericho Barrons return in Burned, the latest novel in the blockbuster Fever series from Karen Marie Moning.   It’s easy to walk away from lies. Power is another thing.   MacKayla Lane would do anything to save the home she loves. A gifted sidhe-seer, she’s already fought and defeated the deadly Sinsar Dubh—an ancient book of terrible evil—yet its hold on her has never been stronger.   When the wall that protected humans from the seductive, insatiable Fae was destroyed on Halloween, long-imprisoned immortals ravaged the planet. Now Dublin is a war zone with factions battling for control. As the city heats up and the ice left by the Hoar Frost King melts, tempers flare, passions run red-hot, and dangerous lines get crossed. Seelie and Unseelie vie for power against nine ancient immortals who have governed Dublin for millennia; a rival band of sidhe-seers invades the city, determined to claim it for their own; Mac’s former protégé and best friend, Dani “Mega” O’Malley, is now her fierce enemy; and even more urgent, Highland druid Christian MacKeltar has been captured by the Crimson Hag and is being driven deeper into Unseelie madness with each passing day. The only one Mac can depend on is the powerful, dangerous immortal Jericho Barrons, but even their fiery bond is tested by betrayal.   It’s a world where staying alive is a constant struggle, the line between good and evil is blurred, and every alliance comes at a price. In an epic battle against dark forces, Mac must decide who she can trust, and what her survival is ultimately worth.Praise for Burned  “Karen Marie Moning is back, delivering the kind of spellbinding, addictive, twisted tale we love to devour. Magic and madness, intrigue and illusion, passion and power, sexual tension and more sexual tension. . . . Burned is a book that shouldn't be missed. Thrilling, suspenseful, sexy—it has all the right stuff to delight the most ardent of Fever fans.”—USA Today“Dark, delicious suspense! Karen Marie Moning is my author of choice and Fever is my series of choice for action-packed suspense with a spine-tingling paranormal twist.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner“A masterwork by an incomparable writer. Burned is brilliant, sexy, and dangerous. I adore Moning! No one does it better.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Sylvia Day   “Prepare for a heart-stopping trip into the epic Fever world, filled with gasp-out-loud surprises and sweltering sensuality.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole   “Burned gets the highest rating from me. I wanted to run through town shouting ‘Mac is back! Mac is back!’ Grab some snacks, something to drink, and settle down for a cover-to-cover read that will likely keep you up all night.”—New York Times bestselling author Linda Howard“One of the most anticipated books in romance . . . Burned is told through several viewpoints, but the dominating view is Mac’s, and it’s wonderful to have her back, as well as get to spend time with the two Alphas in her life.”—Heroes and Heartbreakers   “Deeply complex, heady and action-packed.”—RT Book ReviewsFrom the Hardcover edition.

 

Lynn’s Review:

There is a lot going on in this book. I don’t know if I’d recommend it for someone new to the series. But let’s start with a plot summary.

Mac and Barrons and the rest of The Nine are trying to save the world from the Seelie and Unseelie. Christian MacKelter is chained to a mountain like Prometheus. Dani is not herself. Oh yeah, and a bunch of black holes have started popping up all over Dublin. This doesn’t even begin to explain all of the different plot lines.

I really wanted to like this book.

 

 I think I liked it and hated it at the same time. It had been quite some time since I had read any of the Fever series. Iced was published in 2012. And it was all Dani. Shadowfever was published in 2011. Four years is a long time span to remember all that’s been going on with Mac and Barrons. It took the first hundred pages or so of the book to remember most of the characters and relevant plot points. Burned is told from different characters’ points of view. At first, I was really excited for this. Getting to know more about the other characters was great. But as I read more of the book, I found this really distracting. There are a lot of concurrent plots going on. And I really would have preferred sticking with Mac most of the time.

I did enjoy getting to know The Nine better.

Lor pretending to be Pri-Ya (sexually addicted) Kasteo’s silence. Ryodan’s business savvy.

As for the sex scenes, I think Burned was more of a tease than anything. Outside of the prologue, the scenes between Mac and Barrons are all foreplay, no action. There are other characters getting together. But never Mac and Barrons. 

To sum up, as my pal Inigo says, there were some great scenes. I mostly enjoyed Burned. I’d recommend it for readers of the series. (If you haven’t read this series, get on it!) But would have preferred more plot cohesion. And really, it’s not like I’m not going to read Feverborn when it is published in October.   

 

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