Karen Moning: Iced

Iced (Dani O’Malley #1)

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.

Hardcover, First Edition, 512 pages

Published October 30th 2012 by Delacorte Press (first published October 29th 2012)

Language English

Great addition to the almost insuperable Fever series.

Closed for the moment, the storyline concerning Mac and Barrons and once discovered Mac sister’s murderer and the Sinsar Dubh “imprisonment”, Moning again immerse us in the streets of Dublin by Dani’s hand .

Dublin is a war zone and the city is being ravaged by a mysterious being that freezes and kills in seconds anybody who cross his path, Fae or humans.

After freezing one of Chester’s subclubs, Ryodan decides to take the matters in hand and engage Dani detective’s services. But is this Ryodan’s real motivation? Or is he trying to attract Dani as Barrons did with Mac?

Everything points to that second option, because, let’s face it, Ryodan doesn’t need the help of a 14 years old kid, even if she is very clever. Though, credit where it’s due, Dani decode not only the mystery but also how to end with the responsible Fae frozing Dublin, when others can’t even imagine who it is, or how it could be done.

Dani’s admirers are not limited to the mysterious Ryodan and Dancer, who finally makes an appearance in the series, she must also deal with the new Unseelie Prince, Christian MacKeltar, who believes himself in love with her.

Mac and Barrons made a couple of appearances, but there is no interaction between Mac and Dani throughout the book, except at the end, where they faced each other, and leave us in suspense until the next installment in the series.

A new and sinister Fae, the Crimson Hag appears, and is intended to play the leading role, I suspect, in the third installment of the trilogy, “Flayed”. Since this charming Unseelie is dedicated precisely to this task, to skin and eviscerate his victims to make herself a dress…

As in all the previous books, the characters are constantly evolving.

This change is already apparent in Iced, since none of the characters start from the same point they were at Shadow Fever. Who will suffer the biggest change is Christian, who evolves into a Unseelie Prince.

Overall, Iced could be considered the starting point for all the characters in the trilogy, because as Karen said in a recent chat with readers, all the characters will evolve in the trilogy, being Jo, Kat and Christian the ones who will suffer a more intense transformation.

In the words of the author herself, Dani is a fighter who has never known love, while Kat’s story is the opposite.

Jo becomes the most hated sidhe-seer of the series, for now, because of his relationship with one of the main male protagonists.

And we also get to know a bit more of Lor, Ryodan’s right hand and one of the 9.

It is a pretty attractive character.

Overall, Iced is a very good novel.

As is typical with Moning, nothing is politically correct. Everything is like life: sometimes good and other bad and even sordid and cruel.
This irreverence Karen has when telling the story, has earned her no little criticism among some readers, but in my opinion, it is precisely this lack of hypocrisy what makes believable the story and makes you fully empathize with the characters.

Iced is a very good and recommended book. Hopefully it will not be long wait until the next installment!