Keeper of the Lost Cities - Shannon Messenger [Review]

Title: Keeper of the Lost Cities [Keeper of the Lost Cities #1]

Author: Shannon Messenger

Genre: Middle grade, Fantasy, Fiction

Publisher: Aladdin

Publishing date: October 2nd, 2012

Pages: 496

Rating

★★★★✩

Hello everyone, I read this book last year, actually, I read the first 3 books of this series last year but

haven’t had time of reviewing them till now. Keeper of the Lost Cities is a middle grade, fantasy series, I found out about it last year during Comic Con, Shannon Messenger was signing books, but there was none in line, so I approached her and asked her which one was the first book, there was Keeper of the Lost Cities and the Sky Fall trilogy, they hadn’t the first book of the trilogy, so I bought this one. Messenger signed it before I paid for it and told me not to run away with it xD This book rested in my bookshelf for a while, I had no actual intention of reading it, but when I found out the fifth installment was going to be released and she would be in tour near my home, I decided to read it to know what the story was about… and I loved it.

             

            Keeper of the Lost Cities tells us the story of a 12 year old girl named Sophie Foster, she tries as hard as she can to live a normal life, but that is nearly impossible because she is super intelligent, she is in high school despite being 12, she has photographic memory and also, she can read people’s minds since she’s five. One day, during a field trip to a museum, a handsome and mysterious boy approaches her and she discovers he can read minds too. This boy, Fitz, helps her to discover the truth: Sophie is an elf, just like him. Fitz’s father has been looking for her to return to the Elvin world, where she belongs. At the same time, there are mysterious fires around San Diego, none knows who start them or why, but it is related to a secret organization named Black Swan, an organization that’s supposedly altering the peace of the Elvin world and that knows the origins and everything about Sophie.  

Sophie´s best friend.

            There are so many things I want to say about this book, first of all, I didn’t expect to like it this much because it’s rated as a children’s book, I wasn’t expecting much of it. Messenger created and extensive and awesome world, she explains how the Elvin world (Lost Cities) is hidden from humans (Forbidden Cities), and how things in the Elvin world became myth for humans, like Atlantis and the existence of creatures already extinct. There are so many customs, social rules, status and abilities, creatures and foods that at first is kind of hard to understand or imagine how everything works, but some chapters in it’s really easy to imagine and remember everything.

            What I mentioned about the Elvin world reminded me a lot of Harry Potter, there are several similarities, but at the same time everything is different. Thus KOTLC gives me the same feeling I had while reading the first two books of Harry Potter.

            The book is narrated in third person, which is something I personally prefer, but still we can’t know what other characters are doing, the narrator only follows Sophie.

            The characters are lovely, seriously, they have different personalities but still are likeable, well, the ones that are supposed to be likeable, there are annoying ones, but that’s how they’re supposed to be. We have serious, mischievous, funny, and kindhearted characters, and it’s easy to connect with them. Something that I didn’t like at all is that Sophie, despite being a good main character, very likeable and easy to understand, is way too special and too powerful, I know it’s part

of the plot, but I can’t help but to think is a kind of Mary sue thing. Also, I couldn’t stop thinking about the similarities between Sophie and Shannon. Messenger put too much of her personality in Sophie, they have the same eye and hair color, sleep with the same blue elephant and tug their eyelashes when are nervous. That reinforced the Mary sue thing in my mind, because you know, in fanfics a Mary sue is usually a character that accomplish the fantasies of the writer, and usually are too powerful or beautiful, and way too perfect. 

            I liked the positive messages the book has, like the power of love expressed in different ways like friendship, and family love, find where you belong, believe in yourself, those messages are strong in these books. There is no romance, but you can start making your ships.

            The beginning is interesting and makes you want to know what happens next, even thou there isn’t much action in most of the book, it’s still interesting to see the world building and the interactions of Sophie with other characters and the Elvin world, I definitely couldn’t put it down.

            Keeper of the Lost Cities is a good introductory book, it has an interesting story, a complex setting, likeable characters, funny, cute, and sad moments, and also some action. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a light but interesting read set in a marvelous fantasy world. I don’t rate it with five stars because I’m pretty sure the following books will be even better.