So, when I talked about my Nerds Year Resolutions (New Years Resolutions), I talked about a series I wanted to finish. Keeper of the Lost Cities was the series, and no I am not done yet. But I am on book four and about done with it. Keeper of the Lost Cities, the first book in the series and the series name, was just a purchase on a whim. The cover looked cool, and reading the back, it sounded like an interesting story. Now, no surprise, I like the series, and the book. But let’s talk about the premise of the book, and why you might like it.

Keeper of the Lost Cities – The Premise

Sophie Foster is not your normal 12 year old girl. She is extremely smart with a photographic memory. But more than that, she is a telepath. It is something that she’s had from a very young age and it’s definitely an annoyance. When her class is on a school trip to the science museum she spots a boy who is watching her. Not from her class, she goes and talks to him.

It turns out that the world she thought existed wasn’t quite what she thought it was. It is a whole lot bigger and she is part of that bigger picture. But what that means for her, as she moves from a world of humans to a world of magic and elves is the adventure she’s about to discover.

What Doesn’t Work?

I don’t find much fault with this series. Shannon Messenger does a really good job of writing this series. Yes, it most definitely is targeted towards the middle grade reader, but it doesn’t pull it’s punches. My only knock on the writing is that it can get a little bit preachy at times. Now, I say at times, in almost four full books, it’s maybe a handful of times. And these aren’t small books. It is more that you can feel the tone or style or writing shift when it happens.

Again, it isn’t much of the books. And it isn’t long sections of the book. Most of the time it is a paragraph of two. So compared to something like the Shannara Chronicles where it is the main focus through large chunks of the book, it doesn’t feel oppressive. It just isn’t blended into the series as well as it should be.

What Works?

Sophie Foster and Friends

There are a lot of things that work in the series. Again, no shock there, I really like the series. Let’s start out with the characters and in particular the main character, Sophie Foster. She is a well developed character. Her life gets turned on it’s head. And while she is most definitely excited about what is happening going forward, she also misses things. She has emotions and she has flaws and all of that gives her depth.

Is she a prototypical hero where things work out for her in the end, yes, generally. But the moments between, she struggles. I compare this series a bit to Harry Potter. Again, starting in middle grade and with magic, it is going to be an obvious comparison. In Harry Potter, he gets away with everything, Sophie gets away with almost nothing. When she does, there is always a cost.

Also, her friends work. A series that I don’t like, Divergent, had interesting side characters, for one book. They overshadowed the main character, so they became more boring. In Keeper of the Lost Cities, because Sophie has depth, the side characters have depth. I might still prefer some of the side characters to Sophie, but not by much. In Divergent it wasn’t even close, the side characters were that much better. This brings them all together in a way that makes them all different and interesting.

The Plot

The plot of all the books is good, that I’ve read thus far. But I mainly am talking about the first one right now. It is kind of a fish out of water story. Sophie Foster, obviously, doesn’t know the world she hasn’t lived in. So the first story is about her finding out about herself. Who she is, why she grew up in the human world. But there is more to the story than that. And Shannon Messenger does a good job of creating a middle grade reading level story that isn’t dumbed down.

It really comes out in further books in the series. But Sophie has a lot of tough stuff happen to her. Again, reading level appropriate, but not shying away from it. I feel like there are a lot of books that dumb it down for their target audience. The Keeper of the Lost Cities certainly does not do that. And the story is so much stronger for it. If it were dumbed down, I think my comment about characters wouldn’t exist.

That said, and this isn’t a negative, be aware of that. Sophie goes through a lot. For some readers, it might be too much at times. But this is also a series that adults will enjoy. So you, if thinking about it for a kid, and preread the first two books to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

Who Is It For?

I want to address this as well, because I think some people will pass it by because it is middle grade. Did you like Harry Potter, I think this is better. Do you still like Harry Potter, I think you will like this. Keeper of the Lost Cities is a well written series, and while it might be lighter reading than what some people normally do, it is still good reading. So while I do recommend that adults maybe check it out to see how intense it gets, I think a lot will want to continue through the whole series.

That said, I know I am a sucker for fantasy. If you aren’t, again, you probably don’t like Harry Potter, this series isn’t likely to change it for you. And I think that some adults or readers outside of the age range, might find it too breezy a read. This is a summer read where you want to read something that has depth but a lot of fast action. Or in Minnesota a winter read, so you don’t stew in the fact it’s cold outside and snowing.

Keeper of the Lost Cities Final Thoughts

This is a really fun and addicting series. I like it when I pick up a series and I want to read the next book and then the next. The Great Library Series that I wrote about not too long ago was like this, but to a lesser extent. The Keeper of the Lost Cities keeps me coming back again and again. And they read so fast. It is one that I can pick-up and read and get far enough into the story in a few minutes that I just want to keep going.

So, like I said four or five times already, I really like this series. I think it works as a whole. There is enough depth to keep me interested. But it isn’t so heavy that I can’t speed through it and just absorb it as I go. For me, that is what I really love about a good book series, I just get so sucked into it, that I don’t ever want to leave. And the world created in Keeper of the Lost Cities, for me, is like that.

My Grade: 9/10

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