The Dangling Plot Line: The Fever Series

As regular readers know quite well, the majority of us are completely, totally, 100% obsessed with Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. We've written numerous posts about it. Several of us have traveled to New Orleans to attend release parties for this series. We've all read the whole series multiple times. If you look at our What the Wenches are Reading posts, you'll see that every couple of months someone pops back in to the Fever world. I think you get the idea. We are now on to the final book in the series, Feversong. Yes, I know Ms. Moning will be writing two more books set in the Fever world. But, we don't know what those are going to be yet. We don't know if those will be Mac's story or Dani's story. So, for all intents and purposes, this is it. The final chapter. Considering this is the final book in this arc, there are a pretty good amount of loose ends to tie up. That's why I'm here today. I'm going to discuss the major story lines that are still dandling precariously on the edge of the cliff. Join me after the jump to see what we have left to tie up. I feel like a spoiler warning is unnecessary, but just in case.... Spoilers ahead!!

Now, I know that Ms. Moning is not one to tie up every single story and every dangling plot point into a nice neat little package. But, I am hoping she'll wrap up at least most of these, though I'm not holding my breath.

Black Holes

The most imminent threat to everyone in the story right now, are the black holes. To recap, the iced scenes left over from the Hoar Frost King's reign of terror are converting themselves into black holes that are sucking everything that comes near them into....well we don't really know what happens to things that get sucked into them. But, it can't be good. Most alarmingly, there is a black hole just feet from the Abbey walls. Our characters have hypothesized that should the black holes encounter something like the Abbey, that is anchored so firmly into the Earth, the black hole could suck the entire Earth into it's depths. Obviously, that would mean total destruction (we assume) of our planet. That's ok, you say, Mac and Barrons and everyone can just use the Silvers to travel to another habitable environment. Yes, that is true. However, the Nine, excuse me, the Ten, go back to the place where they died the first time each subsequent time they die. If there is no Earth for them to go back to, they won't be able to come back. They'd be gone for good. This is obviously not acceptable. So, they need to figure out a way to deal with these black holes. Ryodan is able to tether them. But, this is not a permanent solution. Dani and Dancer were able to come up with a plan to defeat the Hoar Frost King. Will Jada and Dancer be able to solve this problem too? Or will we need Dani back in control? Is this something the UnSeelie King could help with? Would he help, if he could? I don't know, but something needs to be done.

Concubine/Seelie Queen Aoibheal 

Speaking of the UnSeelie King, will his Concubine be able to escape his clutches? Or, will she regain her memories and fall in love with him all over again? Would she be able to recreate the Song of Making, given that she was born human? Or, if it was recovered, would she be able to wield it's power? To recap, the UK's beloved Concubine was stolen away from him by Cruce and he was made to think that she had committed suicide. In reality, Cruce wiped her memories by way of the Fae's cauldron of memory wiping potions. He, then, planted false memories in her mind and, essentially, turned her Fae. She lived as a Fae for so long, she rose to the position of Seelie Queen. Fast forwarding a little, the UK discovered that the Seelie Queen was really his presumed dead Concubine. He took her and whisked her off to an unknown realm where he is currently trying to win back her love. She, having no memories of their time together, is having none of this. Will she be able to escape and resume her throne? Could the Seelie and UnSeelie finally be united in one kingdom? This is one story line that I think has a distinct possibility of being left to dangle. I do hope that the Song of Making is recovered though. As douchey as the Fae are, they should be able to create again.  We will have to just wait and see. 

Cruce

Oh my dear V'Lane/Cruce...what are we going to do with you. No, really. What is going to happen to Cruce? We know he is valiantly fighting to escape his icy prison. Will he escape? Will Papa Roach help him achieve this? Is he really the Book personified, now? Or, was the UK lying about that and he actually felt threatened by Cruce, so he locked him up? Let me rewind for a second, some of Cruce's story I recapped just above. Here's what's missing. Cruce, the UnSeelie King's greatest creation and an UnSeelie prince, had been posing for millenia as V'Lane, a Seelie prince after kidnapping the Concubine. He eventually revealed himself and tried to absorb all of the knowledge contained in the Sinsar Dubh into himself. It is unclear whether or not this was achieved, but our characters were led to believe that it had happened. This makes Cruce a nearly unstoppable force. Immediately after potentially absorbing all of this knowledge, the UK imprisoned Cruce in ice in the depths of the Abbey. However, Cruce has been in cahoots with Papa Roach for some time now and has been working on his exit strategy. He has also had Papa Roach planting the seeds of unification amongst the Fae. Ok, fast forward back to now. Does Cruce actually want to unite the Fae? Or, is he just using the idea as either A) a distraction for Fae and human alike or B) as a means to usurp the UK and possible the Seelie queen, too? Can the UK still defeat Cruce, assuming he did actually absorb the Sinsar Dubh's knowledge? Cruce is a huge wild card on the board right now.

The Sinsar Dubh
The other wild card is the Sinsar Dubh, which is the mother of all wild cards. To recap, the

Sinsar Dubh is a book into which, the UnSeelie King unloaded all of his knowledge. The Book has been wreaking havoc throughout the series, ever since it was released from its prison beneath the Abbey. We have also learned that another copy of the book was....implanted, for lack of a better word, into Mac. Mac has always been very careful to keep the book safely contained in her sidhe seer place inside her. However, the book was getting restless and harder to control. At the end of Feverborn, while trapped in the workshop of the Sweeper, Mac, left with seemingly no other option, released the book in order to free herself and Jada. So, now, the most evil object in existence is on the loose using Mac's body. What will it do? How many people Mac loves will die before it can be put back into containment? Is it possible to achieve that without killing Mac? Could the UnSeelie King remove the Book from Mac, saving her? Could anyone else remove the Book somehow? Is there a way to destroy the Book and it's knowledge, assuming it can be removed from Mac? At the very least, can go back into containment inside Mac's head somehow? Does Mac have the strength and willpower to do it herself? Can Barrons roar her back to herself, as he's done before? Will we ever see Mac in control of her own body again? Will she come back to herself or does she have to sacrifice herself in order to save the ones she loves?

Alina Lane

In Feverborn, Mac's dead sister, Alina, makes a miraculous return from the grave.....maybe. Alina, who died before the start of the series, who's death was the catalyst that sent Mac to Dublin, has somehow, possibly, been restored to life. During the course of Feverborn, Mac begins to see a woman who looks just like Alina around Dublin. Eventually, she tracks her down to Darroc's house. If you recall, Darroc aka the Lord Master, is a fallen Fae who was the one who tore down the walls between the realms. Darroc was killed by one of the Hunters. He was also Alina's boyfriend. Anyway, Mac....detains Alina. She and Barrons interrogate her. As far as anyone can tell, she is completely human and precisely who she says she is. She even claims to have come to herself wearing the outfit Mac buried her in. And, her grave is empty. How did Alina come back? Is she actually back or is this an extremely elaborate illusion that is managing to fool even Barrons? If she is really back from the dead, who did it? Was it the Book, Cruce, the UK, someone else entirely? As a general fiction rule, you can't bring someone back from the dead without consequences, what are the consequences of Alina's reanimation? Are there any? If she is an illusion, who is weaving this spell? How are the alluding even Barrons' detection? How will the illusion be discovered, if it's so good? Will Mac regain Alina only to lose her again? Can her strength survive that blow? Was Alina ever even dead? Was her body an illusion and she was really being held somewhere by someone? I sincerely hope there is some way around any potential consequences of her resurrection and Mac gets Alina back again, for real and for good.


Christian MacKeltar
Speaking of getting someone back, I'd like Christian to be back to his old self by the end of

the series. Or, at least as close as we can get. When last we saw him, Christian had sprouted wings, was able to sift, and was slowly losing his grip on his sanity. He also is obsessed with Dani and has an insatiable sex drive. Is there a way to reverse his change into a prince? At the very least, is there a way to make him a little more sane through this whole process? His obsession with Dani needs to be dealt with as well. Had Christian ever given her a second though before he was thrown into the Silvers? Is this obsession coming from the UnSeelie prince side of him? Or, did he have any thoughts or feelings about Dani before he started the change? Now that there is an UnSeelie princess, can she help Christian out with his unquenchable need for sex? He can no longer have sex with human women without killing them. Would any Fae be a help to him, or would it have to be a princess? What's going to happen to Christian if he makes the complete change to Fae? I really hope that I'm wrong, but Christian's arc seems very much on the path of sacrificing himself for the greater good. We've already done that once when he took on the Crimson Hag, but I'm not sure we're done with the youngest Ketlar's sacrifices yet. I do hope I'm wrong, though. I really would love to see Christian restored to his normal dashing Highlander self and settled down, maybe with a sidhe seer or a Scottish lass of his own.

Daegus MacKeltar

Another of our beloved Highlanders has been left hanging as well. When we left Daegus, he had been killed by the Crimson Hag and brought back by Ryodan. He had been made into of them, one of the nine. They are ten now. Currently, Daegus is locked in the basement of Chester's trying to adjust to his new state of being. This mostly consisted of a lot of roaring, smashing things, and extremely painful changes into his beast. He's basically in a completely animalistic state since the change. Will we get to see Daegus back to himself before book's end or will he remain a mindless beast? Will Chloe and/or the other Keltars discover Daegus is alive? Will Chloe be the one who can bring him back from the Beast? Will the "Council" that apparently rules the Nine discover that Ryodan made another one of them? Lor says that if they find out, the Council will kill Daegus for good. How? Until that moment, the only way we knew of to kill one of the Nine was K'Vruck. And, potentially, a spell contained within the Sinsar Dubh. Does the Council have another way to kill them? What is it? Is it a weapon like the Sword or Spear or a spell? Who are the Council? Where are they? How would they hear about Daegus? Could it be from Daegus himself? When he comes back to himself, will he want to be what he is? Watch his family, his beloved Chloe grow old and die? Could he decide that he doesn't want to live as one of the Ten and turn himself in to the Council? 

Shazam
Another mystery to solve is where is Shazam? We need to save him!! Or do we? Jada is

adamant that she left Shazam behind in the Silvers and has been using a stuffed animal as a Shazam substitute since she got out. But, is that actually the case? Is there really a real, live Shazam hiding somewhere in the Silvers, not so patiently waiting Jada's return? To recap, we think that Shazam is a creature that Jada encountered in the Silvers. He taught her about the slipstream and how to freeze frame without crashing into everything. He was her constant companion on her journey Silverside. We were led to believe that Shazam had traveled with Jada out of the Silvers and she was hiding him in her suite of rooms. However, we learned at the end of the book that this Shazam, the one in our world, was just a stuffed animal. Jada had been imagining (to be nicer about it) that he had been with her the whole time. She confesses to having to leave him in the Silvers while she escaped. Knowing what we now know about Dani/Jada, you have to wonder if Shazam was ever real. Was he just another coping mechanism developed in the Silvers? Possibly worse yet, is he another personality? I really and truly hope the Shazam is real and not just a figment of Dani/Jada's imagination. I really would like them to find him and reunite him with Jada. I can't help but wonder if that will come to pass.

Dani/Jada

I don't know if Shazam can be saved. If he is another part of Dani/Jada's psyche, then maybe not. Even if he is real, the conundrum of Dani and Jada needs to be resolved, even if that means following in Mac's tentative footsteps and accepting that Dani is gone. To recap this portion of the story, Mac chased Dani into the Silvers where she remained trapped for about a month or so in our time. For her, it was five years. That means, she went in as an exuberant, awkward, gangly, almost 14 year old girl and emerged a cold, calm, and beautiful almost 20 year old woman, who, superpowers aside, is nothing like the spunky kid that went in. We learned from Ryodan and Rowena's journals, that Dani has Dissociative Identity Disorder stemming from her time spent in a cage as a young child. In times of great need, Dani would retreat and Jada would emerge. During her time in the Silvers, it seems as though Jada has emerged as the dominate personality. She, however, maintains that this is just what she grew into during her time in the Silvers. Typical to someone with this disorder (at least in my limited pop culture experience with it) she denies that there is any other personality involved. Is she right? I don't think she is, though it is possible. I would be extremely sad to never hear Dani say "feck" or "dude" again. Working from the assumption that she does have DID, is there a way to retrieve the Dani part of her? Or, will they have to compel Dani to break free, in a manner of speaking, and come to the surface? Even if there is a way to do that, will she be even close to the same Dani we knew and loved before? Jada does have some merit in the world they are in. She's cold and calculating, where Dani was compassionate and impulsive. She's a great leader, where Dani was not. Can Dani retain some of those traits without having to relinquish herself? Either way, when this catastrophe is over and Kat comes back to the Abbey, will Dani/Jada remain the woman in charge? Or will Kat take that spot back? Personally, I don't think there should be one person in charge. I think they should elect a parliament or congress and make decisions by vote. Anyway, I really hope we can get the Dani we know and love back to us. She was going to do great things.

Dani & Ryodan
In addition to (hopefully) getting Dani back, one of the biggest threads left to play out is

whether or not Dani and Ryodan will end up together. Since Iced, that seems to be the direction Ryodan has been going. Dani is too young, but some day, she won't be. That's when he'll make his move. Is this actually the case? Will he ever make his move? It seemed like he wanted to in Chester's. He certainly gets jealous of Christian and Dancer. He obviously already thinks of Dani as his. Will he (or maybe she) take the next step and begin a physical relationship before the end of the series? Can Ryodan feel the same thing for Jada that he did for Dani? Will she let him feel those things? Is Jada too closed off to allow anyone in like that? Is that what the Sweeper was trying to fix in her heart when he took her? What will happen when Dani/Jada gets old and dies? Will Ryodan make her one of them as well? Or, do something like the elixir to extend her life like Mac? And, what about Christian and Dancer? Christian is unhealthily obsessed with her and Dancer wants her to be more than a friend too. Who will win Dani or Jada's heart? If they are able to reverse the UnSeelie Prince half of Christian will he still be obsessed with Dani or did that come with the UnSeelie Prince part of him? What about Dancer? Does he still have feelings for Dani now that she's Jada? Do I trust Dancer enough to be with Dani? No, I don't. Personally, I'm decidedly on Team Christian. But, for Dani and Jada, I think Ryodan is the best man for her. Is he brave enough to change the nature of their relationship? That remains to be seen.


Honorable Mentions
Kat 
She's pregnant and off possibly falling in love with Kasteo, while being trained to control her emotional telepathy. Who's the father? Is it Sean? Is it Cruce? Also, I have a somewhat crack pot theory that Cruce got all of the sidhe seers pregnant, but they are all too ashamed to admit it to one another. Will that wind up being true?

The Sweeper
What is up with this thing? What is the Sweeper? Is there a way to defeat him? Who else does he want to "fix" and why? Will Mac unleashing the Book help Jada escape his clutches?

Jo and Lor
Will they become the world's most unexpected HEA? Or, will one of them break it off once Lor is done teaching Jo how to construct a mind palace?



Well, that does it for me, Saucy Readers. I think I've covered all of the major story lines that are still unresolved. Like I said, I don't think Karen will resolve all of these. That's not her style. But, hopefully, at least some of them will be resolved. Did I miss any plot lines that you are looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!