Keeper of the Lost Cities - Shannon Messenger, entire series
*Spoiler warnings*
I’m not talking about book one, book
two, or book three. I’m talking about the whole nine-book incomplete series. I
firmly believe that it is really good (although maybe just after the first few
books). Once you get back Sophie Foster's god complex, or rather get used to
it, the rest of the series allows you to pretend the side characters are the
main characters. Sophie is an elf with superpowers, who after spending the
first twelve years of her life in the human world (and reading the dictionary
for fun at age five), gets introduced to the elf world. And of course, she has
to save the world. Nine books later… She's still working on it. Most elves have
one ability (basically a superpower), and she just happens to manifest a new
one every book. Even made up a couple new ones!
You can imagine how entertaining
that would be for a fourth grader. What raises it TWO levels, up to worthy of a
6th-grade read, would be the plot. The Sophie-world of the first three books
can be powered through, and upon the fourth book, one will reach one of the
most intricate plots I know. There are plot twists, deaths, un-deaths, traps in
traps, unknown twins, kidnappings, betrayal, un-betrayals, secret identities,
And More! The main genre of the series is mystery, led by Sophie and actually
solved by her group of friends. Action and fantasy are close seconds. There are
also some explosions, flames, and blood (7th-grade-worthy blood). Each book is
about 550 pages, and given that there are nine of them, there is plenty of time
to develop quality and entertaining plots.
And if the constant cliffhangers and
unsolved mysteries aren’t enough to keep the reader, we also happen to have
some drama. Following protocol, Sophie is the center of it. All three of her
male friends happen to solely have a crush on her. And of course, who could
Sophie have a crush on but the dubbed “Prince”, who supposedly is the
best-looking, most popular, and most powerful teenager in the elf species.
Insufferable with annoying and anger issues, I personally believe they are a
perfect match. However, the other two, Dex and Keefe, are my nominations for
the new main character. Their personalities are far above Sophie and Fitz’s
soggy waffle and actually provide entertainment value apart from just laughing.
At them. As that is the only way to deal with Sophie and her god complex.
However, I am a firm believer that the stupid drama is still entertaining drama
(and even more when Sophie and Fitz finally get together to slowly make each
other insane), and therefore Keepers of the Lost Cities has reached the
must-read list for an 8th-grader.
But…we’re in 9th. It would be stupid
to be caught up in a book only worthy of a Subbie. So here is an introduction
to the UNIVERSALLY APPROVED AND LOVED world-building. The humans actually have
an interesting backstory, once again having proved untrustworthy of power and
gotten kicked out of the smart species clan. Common myths, fairy tales, and all
imaginary and extinct species are all alive in this world, but rather than
being the focus, are just more background information and room to imagine.
Dinosaurs have feathers, everybody is vegan, and the world is about to end. It
belongs on every 4th grader's, middle schooler's, and high schooler's must-read
list.
Should everybody read the series?
Absolutely.
+10/10. It
is so addicting it gets extra positive stars.
Hi Eve, how dare you give it such a high rating. Thank you for being inspired by my formatting. Once the movie comes out, we absolutely need to watch it together and bash Sophie Foster to the ground.
ReplyDeleteWOW. I'm just wondering how a series so long can continue to be interesting. It must take a lot of effort and creativity to do so. I feel like it's one of those situations where a story is "stupid/cringe" yet very compelling.
ReplyDeletereally good review, I'm actually interested in checking out the book myself now
ReplyDelete