Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
Ok, so yes this book has been reviewed by fellow personal book club member Aiden (applaud now) and I guess I finally decided to read the book, which has made a surprising amount of people happy.
Summary: So Sophie Foster is not normal. At all. She is insanely smart, she's about to graduate from her senior year. And she's only twelve. Plus, when she was only 5, and she hit her head, she somehow grew the ability to hear other people's thoughts. But on a museum trip, another kid named Fitz approaches her and tells her something shocking: she's an elf. Now, we're not talking Santa's helpers, because in reality, elves live in the lost cities ( Atlantis/Shangri- la/Etc.), can travel super quickly via light beams, are obviously insanely smart,and have secret superpowers (like the ability to inflict pain or even feel your emotions). After a crazy trip where Fitz takes Sophie to travel to the Lost Cities, she is forced by Alden, Fitz's dad, to give up her human life, because she needs to be trained and grow as an elf, instead of living among the humans. After a tear-jerking breakup with her "family", life in the lost cities is bitter-sweet. Sure there are great moments ("This school is amazing, and Fitz really is good-looking. Does he like me?) but there are a lot of really, really, really sad and intense moments (Well, I've broken the law five times, I've cheated on my exam, I may lose all my friends and flunk out of school, but hey I'm not dead right? Oh...wait...) but overall Shannon Messenger has done a brilliant job to keep this Fantasy-Critic engaged in such an amazing novel.
What I Liked: Ok, if you're reading this, I want you to applaud Shannon Messenger. I mean, I don't know if you haven't realized but I hate fantasy. It's my drive to keep my blog fantasy free, but I don't know, when I read this book, I loved it. Sure it really isn't realistic (I mean, c'mon telepathy?) but I honestly just didn't care. I loved reading about all these really cool powers that each person had and almost everyone in the book had a unique personality, whether it was because of their unique power, or simply because they are just special in their own way (cue the Barney music!) . It mixed in very, very realistic middle school situations and added in this special twist: everyone has a superpower. Sure there are still cliques (sadly, even in fantasy, popular girls don't sit next to nerds), yet even the washouts still had something to brag about. I don't know if it was intended to be this way: but it was also really funny. Like I don't know, I just laughed a lot during this book, although this is one of those books where you actually try and look for the punchlines I'm talking about, you won't get the humor. Finally, I'd like to note the drama. I loved the drama. It was just, drama scene right in the middle of an action scene which was just followed by another drama scene in the middle of an action scene. It all tied in to make the main rising/falling action extremely tense, which any booklover (which includes me) would love.
What I Didn't Like: Oh gosh. Well, normally, there's one somewhat major flaw that bugs me, but...I really can't say anything too bad. I liked the length of it (short books that are good drive me INSANE) and basically everything above as well. Could I be nit picky. I guess so ("I Didn't like the wording on this one specific page y'know) but honestly, I won't be. It's just that good
Rating on 'the scale': 9.8 out of ten.
Why? Yep this is up there. Big Game/Spy School up there. If you need to know why, please re-read my insanely long paragraph about everything amazing about this book.
Related: Ok so actually I've read a...similar book to this, although it's more YA then MG. It's called Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn (This girl can jack into people's minds and stuff) but again it's YA and only availible on eBook. This first book is free though.
Summary: So Sophie Foster is not normal. At all. She is insanely smart, she's about to graduate from her senior year. And she's only twelve. Plus, when she was only 5, and she hit her head, she somehow grew the ability to hear other people's thoughts. But on a museum trip, another kid named Fitz approaches her and tells her something shocking: she's an elf. Now, we're not talking Santa's helpers, because in reality, elves live in the lost cities ( Atlantis/Shangri- la/Etc.), can travel super quickly via light beams, are obviously insanely smart,and have secret superpowers (like the ability to inflict pain or even feel your emotions). After a crazy trip where Fitz takes Sophie to travel to the Lost Cities, she is forced by Alden, Fitz's dad, to give up her human life, because she needs to be trained and grow as an elf, instead of living among the humans. After a tear-jerking breakup with her "family", life in the lost cities is bitter-sweet. Sure there are great moments ("This school is amazing, and Fitz really is good-looking. Does he like me?) but there are a lot of really, really, really sad and intense moments (Well, I've broken the law five times, I've cheated on my exam, I may lose all my friends and flunk out of school, but hey I'm not dead right? Oh...wait...) but overall Shannon Messenger has done a brilliant job to keep this Fantasy-Critic engaged in such an amazing novel.
What I Liked: Ok, if you're reading this, I want you to applaud Shannon Messenger. I mean, I don't know if you haven't realized but I hate fantasy. It's my drive to keep my blog fantasy free, but I don't know, when I read this book, I loved it. Sure it really isn't realistic (I mean, c'mon telepathy?) but I honestly just didn't care. I loved reading about all these really cool powers that each person had and almost everyone in the book had a unique personality, whether it was because of their unique power, or simply because they are just special in their own way (cue the Barney music!) . It mixed in very, very realistic middle school situations and added in this special twist: everyone has a superpower. Sure there are still cliques (sadly, even in fantasy, popular girls don't sit next to nerds), yet even the washouts still had something to brag about. I don't know if it was intended to be this way: but it was also really funny. Like I don't know, I just laughed a lot during this book, although this is one of those books where you actually try and look for the punchlines I'm talking about, you won't get the humor. Finally, I'd like to note the drama. I loved the drama. It was just, drama scene right in the middle of an action scene which was just followed by another drama scene in the middle of an action scene. It all tied in to make the main rising/falling action extremely tense, which any booklover (which includes me) would love.
What I Didn't Like: Oh gosh. Well, normally, there's one somewhat major flaw that bugs me, but...I really can't say anything too bad. I liked the length of it (short books that are good drive me INSANE) and basically everything above as well. Could I be nit picky. I guess so ("I Didn't like the wording on this one specific page y'know) but honestly, I won't be. It's just that good
Rating on 'the scale': 9.8 out of ten.
Why? Yep this is up there. Big Game/Spy School up there. If you need to know why, please re-read my insanely long paragraph about everything amazing about this book.
Related: Ok so actually I've read a...similar book to this, although it's more YA then MG. It's called Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn (This girl can jack into people's minds and stuff) but again it's YA and only availible on eBook. This first book is free though.
OMG YES JUSTIN!!!! I KNEW YOU WOULD LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
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