A Walk on Words : Review: Iced: A Dani O'Malley Novel by Karen Marie Moning

Iced: A Dani O’Malley Novel by Karen Marie Moning

Steph’s Rating: 4 stars Overall Rating: 4 stars

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publication Date: October 30th, 2012

Pages: 495

*Please note: This novel is NOT Young Adult, although A Walk on Words will mostly post reviews on YA books*

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

Steph’s Review:

I am just going to be upfront and I am going to say that I loved the original Fever series starring Mac and Barrons. Since Dani O’Malley is a spin-off of Fever, I could say I had really high and unfair expectations for it, but come on, how could you blame me about that after all of the Mac and Barrons epicness? Okay, well Iced didn’t quite live up to my expectations, but it was still a great read and book. This might be a little long review because I have lots to say about it.

So I think my biggest and basically only problem with this book was the relationship between Dani and Ryodan, Dani herself, and maybe Christian in the mix too. Ryodan...well...is rather possessive of Dani and he acts as if he reallllly likes her but tries to hide it. Woah woah slow down like right there. Dani is barely 14. Ryodan is god knows how many millennia years old. I was not a huge fan of this really pedophilistic relationship right off the bat. Kind of hard for me to wrap my head around that Ryodan, a guy who basically values seeing clarity and being collected just suddenly likes a fire-headed and reckless teen? Makes no sense to me. I can get why Barrons likes Mac, but not why Ryodan likes Dani. I actually love Ryodan himself (sexy), and he’s part of why I liked Iced, but Dani took Iced down a notch. I thought she was really bratty and annoying and I found myself skimming or skipping the parts where it was just her in the scene.

Christian was also a “what-the-heck” too. He was in the Fever series, and was this hot Scottish Druid sorcerer turned Unseelie Fae Prince. I really liked him when he was the good guy. In Iced, he also has this possessiveness for Dani like Ryodan, and he isn’t afraid to show it either. This really irked me too since I’m pretty sure Christian only got a glimpse of Dani like once in the Fever series. Why is he suddenly madly in love with this teenage girl? He’s hot, could have probably gotten any girl he wanted, and he chooses a teenager who is creeped out by him? Again, kind of unbelievable.

Besides the character relationships though, everything else in Iced was basically up to my high Fever standards. Iced had a gripping mystery that had me on edge and wondering throughout. With the help of some almost-trusty-sidekicks (recurring theme in the Fever World, I see), Dani, our new detective extraordinaire, must race around AWC Dublin to find out who or what is causing destructive and dangerous patches of frosted people and landscape all over the city. She must also try to fend off the looming Fae in Dublin and deal with the abbey sidhe-seers at the same time. Dani has plenty on her plate to deal with this time around, which keeps Iced paced and interesting through the whole book!

I would recommend this to all Fever, Karen Marie Moning, and urban fantasy fans. Iced just sucks you into a disaster-filled Dublin whirlwind, and leaves nothing to chance. The ending to Iced left me reeling, and prospecting for the next installment, Burned!

Found this pic online that immediately made me think of the reckless redhead Dani: