ICED

When the ancient Fae of Irish legend break down the walls between their world and ours, a 14-year-old girl creates an odd alliance of monsters and men to save humanity and her beloved city of Dublin.

Dani “Mega” O’Malley isn’t your typical teenager, a fact most humans of the post-apocalyptic AWC (After the Wall Crash) world would be grateful for if they knew how dedicated she is to fighting the Dark Fae, the creatures who destroyed their world and are taking over the human realm. And if the usual shadowy figures who roam the Earth aren’t enough, now some devilish creature is flash-freezing masses of people, leaving no clues as to why or how.  Dani is only 14, but her beauty, mad survival and fighting skills, and zest for life have attracted the notice of some enigmatic, powerful alpha males. Dani is always skirting danger, but entering her teen years, her edgy lifestyle becomes even more complicated when her spiking hormones wreak havoc on her emotional equilibrium—really bad timing, since she needs her wits about her more than ever as she juggles an enigmatic nightclub owner, an infatuated half-blood Fae prince and her boy-genius best friend, while tracking down this new, dangerous villain who threatens to destroy what’s left of Dublin. Then there’s her ex–best friend, who wants to kill her, and the police chief who’s determined to take her most potent weapon, and a thousand other things that can slay a girl if she lets her guard down for even a second. The newest addition to the popular urban fantasy series Fever and the first of a planned trilogy with Dani O’Malley as the main character, this is a gripping story that combines excellent storytelling with believable characters that are rendered both superhuman and superbly human, with emotional fragility and psychological vulnerability, in an unstable world fraught with danger. Dani is young here, and we see the road being paved for increased emotional and sexual conflict later in the series.

Fast-paced, with nonstop action set in a fascinating urban fantasy world of Dublin under siege, this is a smart, bold and textured success.