Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
Hi, I’m Dash and I’m in 8th grade. In my spare time, I like to read, play tennis, hike, bike, and play ultimate frisbee. I’m 14 years old.
Keeper of the Lost Cities (book one) tells a compelling story about a girl named Sophie, whose life gets uprooted when she discovers she is an elf and that all elves reside in the shimmering, crystallized Lost Cities. But not all is as it seems. In the beginning, I thought that it would just be the story of a girl learning to adapt to a completely new life, but the story is laced with mystery as Sophie struggles to find out who she truly is in a world where no one will tell her anything. And as she digs into her past, she unearths secrets that she isn’t ready to find: not everything is as perfect as it seems, and a mysterious group called the Black Swan is trying to control her . . . but why?
When I first read it, I didn’t grasp that this story also serves as a subtle social commentary. It highlights how the elves without “special abilities” (telepathy, phasing through walls, reading emotions, etc.) are restricted to the working-class cities and how the Nobility (those with special abilities) look down upon them.
Overall, this is an excellent book that I would recommend for ages 12-15. The only criticism I have is that the school system of the humans and the school system of the immortal elves are too similar. Overall, a great read.
