To Hell & Back

By Olga the Awesome.

Phew, readers. It's been a hell of a ride. It took me a while to decompress after Fevercon in NOLA. But here I am, ready to talk about Feversong and tell you why you should be reading it. And loving it. And crying with me. 

In case you need a recap, read my Burned review here, and Feverborn review here, and spoilery discussion here. And then dive in and let's talk Feversong! 

It'll be okay!

There will be no main plot spoilers in this review! At most a few mildly spoilery quotes that won't give anything away. I'm saving that goodness for our super spoilery discussion coming very soon!

Click through to read more!


There are maybe 3 authors I trust so completely as Karen Marie Moning. If she takes me to the edge of a cliff and I can't see the bottom, I will trust her so wholly she can push me off the edge and I'll just close my eyes and go with it. Enjoy the fall while it lasts. And trust she had a landing in mind for me. A few scrapes and bruises on the way down I can handle. I believe every story that is worth telling leaves the reader at least a little bruised. Affected by what happened. If you aren't wincing in pain at something that happened at least a few times, what's the point? (Readers can be such masochists!)

Me, to authors.

But my point is, I trust her. Which is why I don't form expectations in my head about what *I* want to happen in the books. I don't do predictions. I don't think about how it will end. (Human beings suck at dealing with endings anyway. I've noticed readers are almost never happy with series endings because they build everything up in their heads way too much. Sometimes you have to let go of all that to truly enjoy a journey.) I just take her hand and follow her into Dublin and the rest is pure magic.

Feversong picks up exactly where we left off in Feverborn, except we're with the Book now, not Mac. And boy, is it a petty asshole. It is a textbook (ha!) narcissist, so you can imagine what it's like being inside it's head. Not fun.

"It is in breaking things that you understand them. I've always been a curious sort."

I will say this, the Sinsar Dubh did a lot more horrific stuff than I thought it would and I was WORRIED about Mac and Barrons. It was unpredictable and bloodthirsty and so very bitter & sulky. So that was definitely a suspenseful read. I liked the way Mac dealt with this issue, though, and I really appreciate it not being drawn out unnecessarily, especially with everything else that was going on. 

Barrons was right. There is a monster inside me. And she's beautiful.

Speaking of Mac, she was AMAZING in Feversong. And you guys know I've loved Mac from page one, day one. Every single version of her, from her weakest to her strongest, and the stumbles in between, to now. Her absolute best. There's a certain serenity that goes with truly accepting yourself, every part of yourself, and the things you're capable of on your best and worst days, and being okay with it. We should all be so lucky. And Mac finally attains that serenity with such grace. Goddammit, she's earned it! Mac who has been willing to sacrifice herself a hundred times over for everyone else. Mac who has been to hell and back. Mac who just wants to live, love, and laugh. Mac who has evolved into something we all knew she could be. With Barrons by her side. 

"You came to my couch and joined me in my hell."

He smiles faintly. "Maybe you came to mine."

And Barrons. It's so hard not to just curse incessantly before saying this, but MY EFFING GOD. HOW IS BARRONS BETTER EVERY TIME A NEW BOOK COMES OUT?! How is this possible?! Every book I swear no other Alpha in any series ever comes close, and there's no way he can get better, and every subsequent book I'm proven wrong. Barrons in Feversong basically had me lying in a pool of my own tears wondering what the point of life was if I couldn't have a Barrons. 

*SIGH* Barrons

"No," Barrons said, dangerously soft. "I've lost many things. Mac will never be one of them."

I will probably never be able to say I'm done with Mac and Barrons and mean it. But their ending in this was just that... a beautiful ending. Out of all the endless possibilities those two vast, magnificent beings could have ended with, this one made sense in this world of balances and regenerations. Every choice, every word, every interaction, it all brought them to this moment. Together. And it was perfect. 

I really enjoyed the Aoibheal POV chapters. I've always been fascinated by the Unseelie King and his ill fated lover, all the little bits of information about them in previous books always had me wanting more. And I got a lot of juicy info about them in Feversong. Aoibheal's past and her realizations about it felt like something we all needed to know. Instead of having her trapped forever in a room without knowing what happened to her, again, we get to live in her head a little and, maybe, see how things might change for her. And not necessarily in a way some might like. Her story kinda merges with someone else's for a bit towards the end. And it's so hard to not give stuff away, you guys. But I loved it. 

Dancer... my dear, sweet Dancer. It's pretty much on record that I really liked Dancer and wanted him to be exactly who he said he was because I wanted our Dani to never have her heart broken by him. Reading my old ICED review here, I realized I've always loved the relative normalcy he brought into Dani's super everything existence. (I apparently also had a bad feeling about his future.) I could take a secret or two, or something that wouldn't shatter her trust in him, I didn't want her broken. And I guess, in a way, I wasn't disappointed. Everything suddenly made sense. But it also hurt like a motherfucking bitch. And I cannot give stuff away, so I'll shut up. (This is why we do the super spoilery discussions.)

Devastated? Maybe.

"Holy psychotic PCs, Robin, we've a murderous MacBook on the loose!"

I absolutely love seeing Ryo through an older, wiser Dani's eyes. And through Mac's eyes as well. I feel like we saw a very small side of him through pre Silvers Dani's eyes (and earlier Mac.) Where she had made him into this superhero with barely anything else going for him but machismo, witty one liners, and sexy laughs (swoon, though) but for the past 3 books, the Ryo we see has layers, has so.much.heart it makes me ache for him. This is the Ryodan I would read a million chapters about. This is the guy who could possibly distract me from Barrons (..maybe, not for long though.) This is the multi dimensional man I want to know more about. It's also wonderful seeing a Ryo no longer dealing with a teenager anymore, to see him dealing with a spectacular woman. A woman who is starting to see him as more than just the superhero, the man behind the muscles and the desk. A woman who can handle him without getting burned. And a woman who is his equal on the playing field. 

Dani. My God. Dani. She always makes me go back to Mac's thoughts about her “I never wanted to see that exuberant, flippant spark extinguished by my hand, or any other.” and just how strongly I feel that too. Jada, Dani, I just need her to exist. To be alive, and kicking, and brilliant. We get more details about her horrific childhood, her mother, and her time in the Silvers. She opens up a little more to certain people. And we hear more about Shazam. Yes, I cried a little. My heart hurt for Dani for so many reasons. And like Mac, I wanted to reach out and hug more than a few times. If strong people are forged from adversity, Dani is adamantium. Inside and out. Wolverine ain't got nothing on her. 

My girl won't break.

After everything that happens in Feversong, I have high hopes for Dani's story. I can't wait. She has a lot to deal with, but for the first time, I feel like she has some good to hold on to, to recall and cherish when the chips are down. And sometimes, we all need to remember the light when it's dark around us and we can't find the light switch. I can't wait for her story. 

There was so much else going on. A lot of questions are answered. We even meet a few new characters. Maybe the potential for some new story lines. There wasn't nearly enough Christian, but what there was I was happy with. And I'm interested to see if we'll get more of his story. I know I'm not the only one who has wanted Christian to have SOME shred of happiness since forever. 

Cruce: there is a lot of Cruce. As a character, he has to be one of the best in the series. Truly complex. There is so much to him. And it's absolutely fascinating. Watching Mac come to terms with dealing with him, at the possible end of the world, seeing beyond herself and her very real pain, in a way, was pretty empowering. And as always, the possibility of what would have happened had she met him first intrigues me. One step in another direction and we could have been reading a totally different series and that fascinates me. I can't believe I'm saying this, but there are some absolutely incredible interactions between Mac and Cruce, where they finally see each other for all that they are, and it was riveting.

Cruce and Mac as equals.

There were so many moments where I just sat there in awe of KMM. When I was reading something and it suddenly clicked with me where it connected to something we had read before in the series. Moments where I just sat and stared at the pages because Mac or Barrons or Dani or Ryodan or even fucking Cruce were knocking my socks off with what was happening. 

More than anything, the amount of sheer wisdom in Feversong was enough to make my head spin. If I had been reading it on my Kindle, I'm pretty sure almost everything would be highlighted. Moning has a way of imbuing her stories with so much wisdom you always turn the last page feeling way more enlightened than you were when you started. Small things that make you think of the world today, big things that might make you think of personal struggles and battles, or just something that strikes a chord within you and stays with you long after you put the book away.

This series is absolutely one of my favorite reads of all time. I thought I'd be heartbroken, sad, needing more after finishing Feversong, but strangely, I wasn't. It was the oddest feeling. But I was mostly at peace. I trusted Karen, I went with the tide she created, felt the waves and the crashes to my very core, and when I gently washed up on shore, I was at peace. And wow, that's a beautiful way to end a story.  I eagerly await Dani's story, we've always loved her here. We've always seen her potential, her greatness, her brilliance. And we cannot wait to read what's in store for our Mega next. She'll always make us proud. 

More Dani!

Good stories make you think about them fondly from time to time. Great stories take up permanent space in your heart and head without even asking. Much like the Sinsar Dubh, but without all the narcissism and murder... I hope. This truly is one of those stories, each and every rise and fall Mac has been through is so much a part of me now that I can't help but feel like I know her. I feel for Dani more than I do for some people in real life. These characters are family, in a way. And this story is one I will always return to. 

I'm going to leave you with a line from the book that made me laugh. Guess who?

All caps make it look like you're shouting at me. Don't. It pisses me off.

This Wench rates it: