ICED by Karen Marie Moning ~ An Audio Bk Review

 

Listening Length: 14 hours and 51 minutes

Version: Unabridged

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Audible.com Release Date: October 29, 2012

Narrated by Phil Gigante, Natalie Ross

ASIN: B00A0M7ABA

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 few 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.

 

So many of you have already dived in, and have read ICED ~ I've actually listened to it TWICE already, lol.  Once by myself, and once during my commute w/ my nephew, who I've totally got hooked on the Fever series, too. 

I've mulled over how I feel about it, where I want it to go, dadadadadada...

and here it is ~

 

At first, I wasn't warming up to Dani ~ I actually think I was still pissed at her on Mac's behalf. (If you haven't read the series, let me tell you this is one you really DO need to read in order, and all of them.) Once I could see my way past that, I see Dani has already done quite a bit of growing up ~ but she's still so full of herself that at times I just wanted to choke her, lol.  But come on!  She's 14, she basically IS a super hero, and look who her role models ARE! 

So I've concluded that she's coming along pretty darn good ~ in this book we see her going to work for Ryodan, who we of course sort of got to know in the Fever series.  You'll get to know him better in this book ~ and from the set up, a WHOLE lot better in coming books.  He's litterally bribed and forced Dani into working for him to help him figure out what is freezing up certain parts of Dublin to the point that it is killing everything that exsists at that point and time ~ and he's been a sneaky bastard to do it.

  But gah, I love this sexy, sneaky, bastard.  I can't HELP it!

 

Then we have Christian MacKeltar ~ remember him?  Well, he's turned almost ALL Fae Prince now, and he's decided that Dani is his one true love.  But she's too young yet, so he's willing to wait...at a VERY close distance, w/ one eye on Ryodan the whole time. 

 

Then we have, of course, Dancer.  Dani has been friends w/ Dancer since the walls fell ~ we heard about him in the Fever series, but we really get to know him in this book, and I like the kid!  And even just being human, his smarts DO make him a super hero, as Dani says, and make Ryodan & Christian and the others take note of what he says.  And again, while he doesn't seem to be IN love with Dani, he certainly watches over her, and is concerned over her well being. 

 

So...we see Dani grow up & mature quite a bit just during this book.  She comes to some hard realizations about herself, and others she's surrounded herself with.  There is of course the mystery of the ICE, but we also have the mystery of WHO will be Dani's hero...and while ALL these boys are quite a fews years her senior (OK, in Ryodan's case, millenium) I truly wasn't squicked out by it.  Thought I would be ~ wasn't.  I guess, with the immortality, and the simple fact that since the first page KMM introduced Dani, she's never really come across as a CHILD to me.  The world as we know doesn't exsist any longer in this fictional world ~ and Dani has had to scrabble for every day of her exsistence.  So yeah, I buy it.  She's smarter, harder, faster & more mature than most adults, never mind teens. 

 

I'm anxious and curious to see what is going to happen between Dani and Mac ~ I feel like Dani can't move much further along w/ her life until she faces that demon down.  And what about the We Care?  Gah, was pissed that was left hanging, but isn't that how each of the Fever books kept us hooked from book to book? 

 

I'll tell you a secret ~ I really, REALLY want Dani to end up w/ Ryodan in my heart of hearts.  I think they belong together ~ and yup, maybe that makes me one sick puppy, but I think they do! 

 

So this was the Audio version ~ And WOW,  Phil Gigante and  Natalie Ross ROCKED it!  FABULOUS doesn't even begin to describe how good it was ~ OMG, Ryodan's voice was uber sexy, and rowr for Lore (man, I hope we one day get his book!) and Dani's voice was perfect ~ and made me laugh when she got on one of her little feckin' tears.  There wasn't a single thing about the audio version I didn't like ~ it played through my head like I was watching a movie!