(First Read 6/30/2010)Ahhhh damn! I was absolutely loving Faefever ~ thinking how much better this series gets with every book, digging Mac's weird love triangle of not-quite-human guys... but as I was nearing the end I began to realize that Faefever would probably end on a cliff hanger. Moning was simply bringing up too big of a conflict to be resolved in the few pages left in my book. Just as expected, there wasn’t an ending so much as a WTF?!?! moment. But to add insult to injury, my copy has an afterward in which Moning reassures her readers that hope is not lost and even quotes Mac in Bloodfever by reminding us that Mac's story is one of light, not darkness.

Well, thanks for offering that tidbit, Moning. I can't stand when authors write something horrific, but wind up pussing out by bringing the character back from the dead *cough Richelle Mead cough* create an alternate universe where no one is actually dead *ahem Stephen King ahem* or invent some other ridiculous way of satisfying fans who can't handle the bad stuff. J.K.Rowling was able to bring thousands, no millions to tears with Dumbledore's story in The Half-Blood Prince. She didn’t apologize or dwell on it ~ she simply continued with the story. As much as I hated what happened, I loved being so affected and emotionally invested in a book. If Rowling is able to write such depressing stuff for a children’s series, why can’t authors with an adult audience (and less beloved characters) let us accept their stories for what they are? It reminds me of when I was a kid and I would watch MTV for hours every day, waiting for Thriller. Loved it, couldn't get enough. Until some little boy got scared, and Michael Jackson made the decision to pull the video from the airwaves because he couldn't stand the idea of frightening someone when his intentions were to entertain. I remember being sooo pissed off that just one person ruined it for everyone else. Not to say that is the case here. But I believe that an author, or really any artist, should stand by their work. Clearly, not everyone will always be appeased. If an author feels their story needs to take a dark turn, then let it do so. Don't reassure the reader that things really aren't so bad.

So here I am, at 6am on a Saturday... been up for hours and now that I am done with Faefever I am furiously typing away online. One browser window is (obviously!) opened up to Goodreads so I can rant. The other is opened up to my local library, so I can request & put a hold on Dreamfever. *sigh*

UPDATE: 1/11/11: As with the previous two books in this series, I loved Faefever even more the second time through. Also, found myself paying attention to a lot of little details ~ now that I am aware of how much foreshadowing Moning includes in her books, passages that I thought were just interesting tidbits take on new meaning. Or do they? Damn! I guess I'll find out for sure in a few days when Shadowfever is fiiiiiiinaly released :)