Iced: Fever Series Book 6

First and foremost, if you haven't read the Fever books- then you will probably be pretty lost. The book happens directly after the conclusion of that series and the back-stories are deeply intertwined.

There are two things wrong with this book. The easiest one first- the book is following the Fever series too closely. You have Barrons, oops! sorry! Ryodan chaining Dani (the stand-in for Mac) while they trail some unseelie thing. All through the book there are all these hints dropped just like in the Fever book. What is Ryodan? What is Dani? Why is he really chaining her to his side? Christian/Vlane is being helpful and creepy at the same time. And, must we re-visit the Unseelie King and his human concubine story again? It goes on and on. The Fever books were great- I'm not sure the formula is up to a redo, though. And, it gets a little tiring making continual comparisons.

The second problem is more troubling and it kept yanking me out of the story. You just cannot sexualize a fourteen year old character that much and not creep some readers out. I get that this is a post-apocalyptic world where all the rules have changed. I get that Dani isn't exactly normal so the rules may not apply as strictly as they do to other fourteen year old girls. I get that Ryodan and Christian aren't playing with a mortal deck so our rules may not apply. Except, this is fiction and I'm the reader and the consumer and MY rules do apply. And, you cannot sexualize a fourteen year old girl like KMM did in this book. It got downright icky at times.

Real Spoilers.

Dani is fourteen. She absolutely and totally acts fourteen. When sexual innuendo is tossed around her, she doesn't get it (the vibrating scene with Lor and Ryodan). She is innocent- to a substantial degree. She acts totally immature. Her hormones and emotions are all over the place. She was an abused child who has barely escaped her abuse, chronologically. Yes, she grew up different and in some ways is not a child- except, she is a child when it comes to sex. She is alternately confused, frightened, and appropriately icked out by all the sex flying around in this book. And, an enormous amount of sex (implied and actual) is flying around this book with a fourteen year old protagonist. And, some of it is flat-out inappropriate (you know, the dead girl in Christian's bed or Ryodan's potentially succubus sexual relationship with Dani's dear friend, Jo?). If the protagonist had been older, this would be less creepy. It is like KMM is writing a book without regard, while making it a crucial plot point, to her protagonist's age and her reader's sensibilities. You can't have it both ways. For example, how in the world is it okay to have the heroine fall into jeopardy twice and have her clothes fall off twice and have to be ogled by older men who sexualize her- when she is fourteen? The key here is consent. In books with older heroines whose clothes fall off at convenient times (and that is a much used plot device), the older heroines consent to any sexual activity and it is okay with the readers. Here, you have a minor who can't give consent, who is unconscious, and being ogled by men who are more than slightly morally ambiguous. It crosses the creepy line.

Christian is just beyond creepy (How could KMM do that to a MacKeltar?) He was straight out of a Law & Order SUV skit of creepy and crazy and all focused on a fourteen year old girl. I suspect the author has a story arc for him that will end up in a non-creepy place. Yet, all I can think of is the scene where he strips, cleans her up, and feeds her his blood while she is unconscious. Oh yeah, and the small matter of the dead human already in the bed he puts her. What a squicky scene. And, that wasn't even the only time he saw her disrobed. I get that Christian is a potential hero/potential villain. But, the fact is his fall is directly related to sexual activity- he is a death by sex Fae. The whole glamour thing is a form of date-rape- the woman loses her mind and acts without conscious deliberation. And it gets triply icky anytime it is near Dani (not to belabor the point but because she is fourteen). And, he is attracted to, drawn to, and convinced Dani is his mate.

Ryodan. He acted mostly okay. However, the implications were clear and there- which are disturbing. He views Dani as a sexualized being. And, like Christian, he has some serious connection to sex (as in a potential succubus). Yeah, you are immortal and the few years it takes her to reach the age of consent is nothing to you so why not snatch her up at fourteen instead of waiting until she is eighteen? Aside from not creeping me out, it implies Dani is chattel. He already knows about her abusive childhood. So, if he wants her (and it is implied he does) and he wants her for something more than just a quick roll in the hay (which it is implied he does b/c he is putting a lot of effort into her annoying person)- then why all the disturbing surroundings? If she is to be some kind of "mate" for him, then surely her well-being matters somewhat? Trapping her in a sex club where humans get killed every day- that is not acting in her well-being. That is holding her in an objectionable prison of sorts. And, there was the fact he actually chained her to a wall and hit her more than once. Which, with her back story, shows very little regard for Dani as a person.

All I can say is that it was disturbing and I was totally dismayed. This was way too sexualized a book for a fourteen year old protagonist and much of the sex was... darker. The story had real potential. It was very classic KMM- a complex mystery, action, arcane stuff, and a kick-ass chick. But, I kept getting yanked out of that story by things that just weren't right.

Disappointed and then some. One of my favorite authors, but adult males lusting after a fourteen year old girl isn't entertaining, it's gross. This one gets tossed.

It pains me to write this, it really does. I am a HUGE fan of KMM. Up until this book was released, I had read everything she'd put out and enjoyed them all. I even loved the first few Highlander books, which had nothing to do with the ever-popular Fever world. She has written some of the most creative and original characters and has unique, complete, visionary world-building, in my humble and inexperienced fantasy-reading opinion.

All that being said, and still true, I gave up on Iced. I must admit that I went into it with a chip on my shoulder about the heroine, Dani O'Malley. I did not enjoy her in the Fever books and while I was hopeful it would change in this one, it did not. I found Dani to be incredibly annoying. Her voice grated on me and made me roll my eyes more than once. I also didn't like Ryodan. Where he was sort of a rough, protective guy in the previous books, he was just scary and sketchy here. And, then there's Christian. A beloved McKeltar gone wrong - his story could have been handled much differently.

I pushed myself to keep reading and made it almost halfway through and then came to the scene where I said "I quit." ***Possible spoiler*** Dani is unconscious and has both Ryo and Christian posturing and lusting after her while she is laying there, dead to the world. She is fourteen. Fourteen. The line had been crossed. It was creepy and inappropriate.

I think the whole thing could have been very different had KMM made the main narrator Kat or Jo or another sidhe-seer. But, alas, it was not to be.

I'm not giving up on KMM, as she supposedly has a couple more books featuring Mac & Barrons, but I'll just have to read summaries instead of the books in between to fill me in on what I missed. Or didn't miss, as the case may be.

All here. Interesting premise, breakneck pacing, the return of favorite characters, new nasties to battle, comedy, suspense, character development...and not one sigh of relief.

...There be Spoilers ahead...

Dani - We are finally allowed into the deep places that generate her attitude and chosen lifestyle. Finally out of the cage, off the collar (literally) and unencumbered by Rowena's suffocating influence, she is giddy with freedom and in a headlong rush everywhere... because she can. And because she wants to "superhero" everyone to safety. Nobody gonna starve in a cage on her watch.

Kat/Sean/Cruce - The chapters from mentally tortured empath Kat's POV are...well, torturous. "Soul mate" Sean - blah. Kat's attempt to withstand Cruce's mental seduction - admirable but waaaay too drawn out. Kat seems to have morphed from the no-nonsense warrior who fought back-to-back with Mac, into a nunnish, funereal, hand wringing wreck. OK. Going will-to-will against War can take a lot out of a person. I get it. But still, too much ink on this. The only interesting Kat moment occurs when she discovers she can't "see" Ryodan on her empathic radar. She speculates there is nothing there to see. Ryodan points out that it might be her lack, not his. (Ya think?) Also, seems odd that he constantly touches her during their encounters, taking her hands, kissing her cheek, stroking her arms, holding her gently. Seduction? Manipulation? Soothing? Just wondering...

Christian - Ah. Gorgeous, scary, erotic, horrifying, almost Unseelie Prince Christian. No older-guy-hot-for-barely-teen-girl "ick" factor here at all. IMO, Christian isn't actually in love with Dani. In the Fever books, he was literally saturated in the love tale of the Unseelie King and the Concubine while trapped in the White Mansion, and that is the framework for his attentions to Dani. The more Unseelie Prince he becomes, the more connected he becomes to the tale. To him, Dani is an ideal, his "princess", "damsel", "angel", a shining light in his growing darkness, not the souped up 14 year old street urchin she still is at this point. Or not. We'll see. Ironically, some of the best comedic moments in Iced result from Christian's quirky, ongoing transformation.

Dancer - A likeable character who would seem the logical front runner as Dani's eventual love interest. Or not. KMM is tricksy, and Dancer is a complete question mark. He is depicted as a mostly laid back, somewhat geeky 17 year old, but surprizes us with his complete lack of fear of Ryodan and Christian (even taking command and barking at them on occasion), and we are given hints of dark secrets-yet-to-unfold. Read: Fasten our seatbelts when KMM delivers on those hints.

Lor - The member of The Nine least likely to know what century it is. This beastie is a keeper. Love his sense of humor and am intrigued by his affectionate, avuncular treatment of "the kid".

Kasteo - There are only brief mentions of him in Iced, but how is it he reported anything to Ryodan about childhood-Dani when he allegedly has not spoken a word to anyone in 1000 years? (A little matter of his brethren killing the love of his life...)

"Shadow" - Hellooooo, number six! So far we have been allowed to know Barrons, Ryodan, Lor, Fade and Kasteo. Hoping the introduction of "Shadow" foreshadows (pun intended) additional detail, more back-story and greater focus on each of these guys, including the three who are still unnamed. These creatures are IMO the most delicious mystery and the true beating heart of Fever world...and of their own series if we should be so lucky.

Ryodan - Several reviews have remarked on what an abusive brute Ryodan is. Brute, yes. An animal, in fact. Just like everyone's beloved Barrons and the other seven. Not men who turn into a beasts, but beasts wearing the skins of men. Abusive? Ryodan does not damage Dani any more than she damages herself by freeze framing into things. He seems to be all about putting Dani on his "Mine" list, being her exclusive trainer, assigning one of his guys to baby-sit her, fending off the advances of supposed suitors, musing about what a magnificent woman she will be and, most significantly, NOT including her in the outsiders-must-die-if-they-learn-we-are-immortal thing. So here's a thought - Perhaps Dani is allowed to live because, after watching her since age 9 and testing her capabilities with this frost mystery, Ryodan determines she is, at least partly, one of them. Part beast. Let's review - Mom was a pleasure loving bumble bee with many casual liaisons, but who was dad? Where did Dani get her super hearing, sight, speed, et al? Just like Barrons and his guys. Just like Ryodan. Granted, she hasn't gone all horned and fanged yet, but there was that interlude during which we got to follow her into her internal "cave" and meet the very Nine-like creature within. And the business of Dani and Ryodan thinking so alike in battle. And that exchange between Dani and Ryodan in which she insists she wants to be immortal like him...and he says to ask again when she's older, rather like a father saying "we'll see." A father. Maybe this isn't Ryodan waiting for a prospective mate to grow up, but rather tempering a daughter while she grows up. Which brings us back to Ryodan's right hand guy, Lor, treating Dani in such an avuncular manner, like a protoge. An insider. And to Ryodan's attentions detouring to Jo. (More about that travesty below.)

On the other hand, arch sorceress KMM might bring us back full circle in later books to Dani and Ryodan as an eventual mated pair. (Would vastly prefer that. Equal juice and all.) If so, a word about the age difference issue. When Dani is a few years older and, hopefully, wiser, a liaison with Ryodan would be no different than the one between Mac and Barrons. Mac - 20 something, Barrons- in the thousands. Dani - 20 something (or late teens - she's a bit of a prodigy), Ryodan - in the thousands. Same/same.

The only deal breakers on this series for me would be if KMM allows Ryodan to be "K'Vrucked" - or - diminishes him by leaving him in a "relationship" with Jo. In Iced, that pairing is the definition of anticlimactic. It would be characteristic for Ryodan to enjoy a mutually satisfying sexual interlude with Jo (The Nine apparently use sex both to calm down and to recharge...ergo that "shaking" scene after Ryodan gets nearly-frozen-to-death Dani back to Chester's), while he uses Jo as an information conduit about Abbey doings, per her starry eyed remark to Dani that she and Ryodan are a couple and "tell each other everything".(Uh huh) He does seem to be protective of her, but as a permanent couple? No. Ryodan is epic. Jo is not. An imbalance of that magnitude would be a total waste of one of the most complex and tantalizing alphas KMM has ever written.

Am I over-thinking all of this? Sure. Anything to do with Fever World calls out for it. That is the genius of KMM's work. We get so involved with and proprietary of her characters/worlds that, even when she takes things in a direction that infuriates or disappoints, we're still with her. Celebrating, speculating, dissecting, griping, analyzing, and always, always anticipating the next anything. Might as well go ahead and buy the book. And the next. And the next. Got to.

***Correction*** Have dodged the Rhyodan/Dani father/daughter thing. Found an interview with KMM in which she indicates they are NOT related. Let the games continue...

I presume you know what the book is about. I'm letting you know what I liked or disliked about it.

I've been lurking a bit, watching for reviews that rank this book with 2 or 1 stars. I needed to know why those that didn't like this book didn't like it, and if their reasons were at least similar to mine.

I too am a huge fan of the Fever Series.

The things KMM did well with this book:

Dani is sensationally funny. She is cute, bright, extremely intelligent, and I am (now mildly so) hopeful she becomes the fantastic woman she has all the potential to become.

Dani was well written. I would be nitpicking if I spelled out those things that tweaked me about her character. I think KMM did anticipated very well the whole "people being so easily skeeved-out" with such a young protagonist. Dani was never naked, never emotionally or physical compromised in a sexual manner in any way.

I believe it is the reader that succumbed to skimming, and/or those that for whatever reasons perceive something (of a sexual nature) to be there that simply isn't, those that have issues related to Dani being 14. A child protagonist just provided the means, and a book review the soapbox to stand on. Which is fine, but again to anyone checking out reviews to see if they want to read the book or not, I'd say KMM did a very thorough job of keeping the lines of age appropriateness very cleanly and very clearly drawn.

So, it seemed to me the intent of book one is to ingrain Dani in this series much like Mac was ingrained in the Fever Series. I do hope it doesn't take as long for Dani to mature as it did Mac (5 books!). But I digress.

Dancer - ahhhh, I sure did like reading about him, learning him. His character pace (development and progression) throughout the story was the best of all of them. He is very interesting.

What I did not like about the series in order of importance to me:

Ryodan - sigh. I didn't like him before and I like him even less now. I think he is not going to be Dani's HEA. I think in the end he will become a distanced benefactor of some bizarre sort. The reason for this is because of Ryodan's daily indulgences with women. And, his physical abuse (no sexual abuse) of Dani when he was angry.

I've not seen (in any genre) where a male protagonist type love interest, under development in a story, pursues other women. Least ways I haven't been able to think of any... It's too much of a contradiction. Maybe another example of KMM ensuring a readers awareness of the distance between Dani and Ryodan regardless of the cost? Who knows? She isn't saying. But I really disliked these elements of the story. But that doesn't make it a bad book - in fact it's the exceptional author that can ring such strong responses from their readers. Any way -

About Ryodan's physical abuse of Dani. I can not think of an instance where a character in a similar position to Ryodan's would physically harm someone in Dani's position in anger. In fact, it's the opposite for this genre. I had re-read the Fever Series just before Iced was released and I can not recall a single time where Barron's struck Mac in anger. Pushed, pulled, slammed her back first against a wall before a most steamy and thrillingly intense kiss... sure, but Ryodan hurting Dani is significantly different.

Ryodan hurts her in a very public, brutal way by slamming her face first into pillars. Two maybe three times, back to back, in Chester's. He was unable to control his temper (or hey, maybe he was controlling his temper! There's a thought..). Oh, and Lor and any other part of Ryodan's crew that just stood there and watched? Well, okay - that part is "KMM diabolical" for which many of her fans love her. Yup, count me in ;)

A few people have said they thought Ryodan was nicer, more human, a well composed character in this book. WTF?! This character is stone cold. Stone. Cold.

Christian - I have said this before, I'll say it again. I think Christian is KMM's Vishous. 'Nuff said.

Add to the above the years it will take until the Dani O'Malley Series is published in it's entirety, and well.... I'm mourning the loss of reading the fantastic compelling stories KMM has proven herself capable of providing.

What it's about: Iced is part of Karen's Fever World but takes a different perspective, that of Mac's young friend, 14-year-old Dani O'Malley. It's been a year since the wall between the realm of Faery and our own world fell. Dani loves it. She's superfast, supersmart and has a sword that can actually kill the Fae. The problem: She's signed a blood contract with one of Jericho Barrons' buddies Ryodan (under duress!); Christian MacKeltar is turning into an Unseelie prince and thinks Dani is "worth the wait"; and there's a giant sentient being that is icing the entire town of Dublin ... oh, wait, and let's not forget that Mac wants to kill Dani after she revealed that she was the one who led Alina to her death -- never mind that she didn't know the basics or was forced. Dani O'Malley seems to be ticking off everyone and everything, and running short on allies.

Why you should read it: I have to admit it I was nervous to read it. I mean, I was 100% excited, read it until 4 in the morning to finish it, but still nervous. The Fever series was so dark, so sexy. How could Karen tell all that in a 14-year-old voice? I always loved Dani's POV in the Fever books. I found her enchanting and knew one day she was going to be the Mega. Karen had a tricky task of a first-person POV with a child who isn't a child and who hasn't been in a long time. How do you express sexuality (especially the sex-by-death Fae) and her "attractiveness" as seen through Christian's eyes?

Well, I have to say she did a phenomenal job. It was realistic; Dani is 14 but has been killing since she was 9. She understands the ways of the new world and fights back, yet still realizes she's not fully grown. There were no sex scenes, just a lot of posturing between the three guys who are interested in her and who she will become. I have to say this is one of my favorite 2012 reads, and I'm ticked I have to wait a full year until the next book comes out. Karen, of course, packs so much action into the story line that you have to keep up or get frozen. And then there's her customary cliffhanger ... this woman writes a cliffhanger unlike any I've ever known. You want to alternate between squealing, shaking your head, throwing the book, and immediately pre-ordering the next one. If you're on the fence, pick it up. If you loved Dani's POVs in the Fever series, pick it up. I\f you want to know whether Mac is still ticked ... pick it up! It's engaging, hilarious, amazing and Dani is going to be one heck of a woman.

Check out more on USA Today's HEA Blog!

People have taken this book out of context! Rhyoden is a man who sees the superhero Dani Is and will grow up to be,and he is waiting for her. He IS Not a pedophile! So please don't believe other bad reviews, if you are a fan Of KMM and her other books, you will love Iced! Buy it and see for yourself! This book is just as awesome as fever, and I would completely recommend it!

Moning continues to write books set in the world of Darkfever with a Dublin completely overrun by Fae that I. Can't. Stop. Reading.

Darn her. I have all kind of issues with this book, most of them one other reviewers had, and I really, really thought hard about only giving it 4 stars, but in the end, I couldn't get over the fact that even in the saggy parts where Dani's 14 year old voice got my nerves and I was icked out by the attraction between her and Ryodan, the book still had me utterly engrossed.

Dani is doing her Mega Superhero thing watching over what humans she can in Dublin, hiding from Mac, hanging with her brainy friend Dancer, and killing all the fae she can with her sword.

But Ryodan, the owner of Chester's night club, has taken in an interest in her. He forces her into his "employ" and sets her on the path of solving the mysterious "iced" places in Dublin. Meanwhile, our old, Druid friend Christian is almost all the way through his transformation into an Unseelie Prince, and he's also got designs on Dani.

Zaniness ensues.

While Dani-Ryodan reminded me an awful lot of Mac-Barrons (subsitute Dani's inexperience/youngness for Mac's innocence) and Christian was a mite bit creepier than in prior books, Dani is her own person in this book with a distinctive voice and constant desire to be moving forward and getting things done that is quite believable. I love how Moning makes Ryodan and his buddies make comments that Dani doesn't get but that us readers definitely pick up as sexual innuendo.

Of course, although the book ends by tying up the main loose ends of Dani's iced mystery, it does not in the least tie up any of Dani's male harem and opens up more cans of worms with Mac and what will become of the Sinsar Dubh/Cruce as well as what exactly Ryodan is (slightly different from Barrons, I can tell you).

If you like Moning's Darkfever series, you will love Dani's story just as much.

This Book's Snack Rating: Garlic parmesan Kettle chips for more, addictive love/lust relationships on the sturdy crunch of Moning's well-developed post-Fae apocalypse Dublin

Moning continues to write books set in the world of Darkfever with a Dublin completely overrun by Fae that I. Can't. Stop. Reading.

Darn her. I have all kind of issues with this book, most of them one other reviewers had, and I really, really thought hard about only giving it 4 stars, but in the end, I couldn't get over the fact that even in the saggy parts where Dani's 14 year old voice got my nerves and I was icked out by the attraction between her and Ryodan, the book still had me utterly engrossed.

Dani is doing her Mega Superhero thing watching over what humans she can in Dublin, hiding from Mac, hanging with her brainy friend Dancer, and killing all the fae she can with her sword.

But Ryodan, the owner of Chester's night club, has taken in an interest in her. He forces her into his "employ" and sets her on the path of solving the mysterious "iced" places in Dublin. Meanwhile, our old, Druid friend Christian is almost all the way through his transformation into an Unseelie Prince, and he's also got designs on Dani.

Zaniness ensues.

While Dani-Ryodan reminded me an awful lot of Mac-Barrons (subsitute Dani's inexperience/youngness for Mac's innocence) and Christian was a mite bit creepier than in prior books, Dani is her own person in this book with a distinctive voice and constant desire to be moving forward and getting things done that is quite believable. I love how Moning makes Ryodan and his buddies make comments that Dani doesn't get but that us readers definitely pick up as sexual innuendo.

Of course, although the book ends by tying up the main loose ends of Dani's iced mystery, it does not in the least tie up any of Dani's male harem and opens up more cans of worms with Mac and what will become of the Sinsar Dubh/Cruce as well as what exactly Ryodan is (slightly different from Barrons, I can tell you).

If you like Moning's Darkfever series, you will love Dani's story just as much.

This Book's Snack Rating: Garlic parmesan Kettle chips for more, addictive love/lust relationships on the sturdy crunch of Moning's well-developed post-Fae apocalypse Dublin

Well, I should have read the reviews before reading this book. I don't like Dani, never have. I got so sick of reading the word "fecking". Way over used. I was extremely disappointed in this book, started skimming chapters. I won't be buying the next in the series, if there is another book. So far from the Fever series. Yeah, I was stupid, didn't realize the book was about Dani. This "series" is a dead end for me. Very disappointed in Moning. Didn't expect something like this from her.