Keeper of the Lost Cities is in a doomed state. However, I do have some ideas on how we can fix it. Let's see if the series at long last ends up better than it is currently.
As I wrote in my previous post, readers have recently found Shannon's famous Keepers of the Lost Cities lacking. There are some errors with the writing, the storyline, the plot twists, you name it.
What can we do to address these problems? I have a few ideas for fixing these issues and completing the series without irritating the readers, as abandoning the series halfway is not an option, regardless of the amount of hate it receives.
1) So, one of the major problems in Keeper is the amount of characters. It leads to too much complications and some people just being left out for multiple books in a row as they have no use at the moment. This would be fine if it were a minor character, but some of the most ignored characters are people who have been a crucial part since the beginning.... DEX.
If Shannon somehow creates an enormous battle between the Black Swan and the Neverseen and many die, it would reduce the cluster. The battle can't be the usual pathetic face off we see. I mean a proper battle in which everyone is involved, the Council, the bodyguards, the parents, everyone.
It may seem like an awful storyline - Shannon creating more characters than needed, realising it, then killing them off, but I believe it can save the series.
2) Reveal something personal about the Neverseen characters- maybe some of them have hearts after all, or just an unfortunate past. The Neverseen have mostly been mentioned only with names, not with why they joined the organisation. Most of them don't even have names, according to Shannon.
3) Show some actual character development. Stina is still a bully! No use in her joining the (already too big) gang if she is not even going to be nice about it. Biana? We can't trust the way she became friends with Sophie. I'm not saying Biana doesn't like Sophie, but it just would never happen with real people. Biana befriends Sophie because her dad tells her to, Sophie finds out and then Biana suddenly loves Sophie? Nope! Not buying it.
4) Give Sophie a shock - this is needed so badly. Shake her world up! Let her have her hand amputated, lose her powers due to it and finally realise how much her friends help her. Let her sacrifice something for them. Maybe make her give one of her oh-so important abilities up to save someone (who is not Fitz or Keefe). All her lectures about how others shouldn't put themselves at risk for her, those are all crap! She wouldn't last a day without them, and she knows it. She is a HUGE show it off to be honest.
5) Ok, let me be real. I honestly think the reason Shannon is postponing publishing the actual 10th book and instead working on a graphic novel is that she is out of ideas. I really think she is just looking at all the fanfics and going to choose some of them to put in the book. Mark my words, if the series ends as a success, (not saying it's failing now) it will be because of all the fanfics that WE wrote which she has incorporated in HER story.
In the end, the only thing we can do is wait and see how the story goes. I'm 100% going to get the next book and read it anyway!