i was... expecting something completely different and far worse. this was entertaining, far tamer than i expected and pretty solid. the world building was interesting and original enough, despite the generic tall, dark and handsome of jericho barrons (which is the one character i actually expected more of, after some reviews), i actually quite liked the female lead.

honestly, mac acts exactly how you would expect from a young woman of her age and that was far more refreshing than annoying. it's not that She's Not Like Other Girls, She's Special. she's beautiful and knows it. she likes what she likes and that's more than fine. she lived a somewhat shallow life and aknowledges and misses it in a believable way. i'm surprised myself of how fond of her i am.

as someone who is annoyingly critical of writing and plot points and ambiance, i had hardly any scenes in which i felt that pang of "ugh, why wasn't this scene done more properly", and that is why this is getting four stars. the setting is awesome, every place felt vivid, and except how for a single side character, i had a pretty good grasp of everyone around and their names.

all in all, a fun read, something that would drive me nuts had i read it younger, but just cool enough that i'm probably going to check out the whole series... or at least as long as it holds my interest, lol.

if you're looking for darker fantasy, cool sexy characters doing badass things, and to get yourself removed from your daily life and thrown into some cool alternare universe- grab your drink of choice and buckle in with darkfever. this one quite did it for me.