“Tanya D said: 4 stars
This book is about Mackayla Lane, your average modern young adult, who goes to Ireland to avenge her sisters murder. However once there, she is brought into a world she didn't know existed, and learning truths about herself that she probably wishes she didn't. Soon she finds herself not only trying to find her sisters killer, but trying to keep herself alive as well.
I really liked this book. I found myself wondering what was going to happen next, and I look forward to reading the next in the series.
doughgirl5562 said: 4.0*
Meet MacKayla Lane - Fae Slayer
I loved this book. But now that I think about that's not a surprise since the main character of this book reminded me a lot of Buffy - she's young, sassy, naive but intelligent, cute, fashionable (matching her nail color polish to her outfit was the alt in importance) and not very goal oriented .... until .... her sister is murdered while studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland. And when, just a few weeks after her death , the Irish police put her sister's case in their cold files, MacKayla drains her bank account and flys to Dublin determined to find her sister's killer. The only lead that she has is a frantic and cryptic message left on her cell phone by her sister mere hours before her sister's death. A message that tells her she must find the Sinsar Dubh (pronounced "shesa du") and includes the phrase "You don't even know what you are."
But Mac finds out soon after arriving in Dublin, when she discovers that she can see things - creatures - that others can't. She also meets the dark, mysterious, arrogant and totally infuriating Jericho Barrens, who introduces her and guides her in the dangerous world of fairy (fae).
This book grabbed me FAST and held on with a powerful grip through the entire story. (Part of that may be because the audio version that I listened to was done excellently. I especailly enjoyed the artful touch that the narrator had with the accents - both the lilting Irish accent and MacKayla's own soft Georgia accent.) This book is the first in a series - MacKayla has just begun to discover who she is and what she can do - and I anticipate continuing with the other books in the series VERY soon.
JoLene R said: 3 stars
I had this on my Kindle for a while and when I saw that it fit the Ireland tag, I was happy to have an excuse to bump it up in the queque. Little did I know that I would "catch the fever" and ended up plowing through all of the books in the series. Normally, I NEVER read books in a series in a row but the story of Mac, Barrons and the world of the fae is very compelling. Here is my review of the 1st one.
MacKayla(Mac) Lane is a bit of a southern belle. She loves fashion, sunshine and the color pink. Her world is rocked when her older sister is murdered while studying in Dublin. The police close the unsolved case too quickly so Mac decides to fly to Dublin to investigate herself. In Dublin, her world is rocked once again when she discovers that Celtic legends are true and there really are a race of beings called faeries (Fae) --- but these aren't your tinkerbell nice faeries. She also discovers that both her and her sister have special powers that allow them to see the faeries (most humans cannot).
What I really liked about this book is the world building. I was not familar with the fae, so this was new and interesting. The story turns from a murder mystery into a coming of age quest story.
What I didn't really care for was the narration in 1st person. In the beginning, Mac is very much a "barbie" --- there is lots of descriptions about her clothes and especially about what shade of pink nail polish she has on (she must have a lot of free time to do so many mani/pedis). Mac is looking back, telling us the story and there is way too much foreshadowing (not sure if this is the right term). I found this completely annoying when the story is halted for her to say things like, if I only knew then, what I know now. (This is a personal pet peeve of mine anyway). I also didn't like that the book just ended without a real complete story arc.
The author had previously written several paranormal romances. I don't read much romance anymore, but I definitely felt like some of the sex scenes seemed like they fell out of the pages of a bodice ripper. Word of warning: there is quite a bit of violence and bad treatment of women, so if that bothers you, you may want to skip this.
Overall, I found the world that Moning created compelling enough to continue with the series.
LibraryCin said: 4 stars
Mac is 22 years old and living with her parents in Georgia. Her sister, Alina, has gone to study for a year in Dublin, but when Mac gets a phone call that Alina has been murdered, her world changes forever. Mac heads to Ireland to find out what happened to Alina, and discovers things about herself, and the world, that she really never wanted to know. There is (literally) a world, a supernatural world, she knew nothing about.
I really liked it. There were even some humorous bits, as Mac is really a girly girl, shoved into this dark supernatural world. Some of the most exciting parts for me were before Mac learned some of the supernatural stuff. Overall, though, I really did enjoy it. It did end on a bit of a cliffhanger, though. If I'm lucky, it won't be too long before I get to book two.”
Play Book Tag Shelf wrote this review Friday, April 6, 2012.
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