Keeper Of The Lost Cities

''Keeper of the Lost Cities '' is an upper- middle-grade fantasy series by Shannon Messenger that has appeared on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list for a total of ten weeks. The first book in the series was an Association for Library Service to Children tween recommended read in 2013. The series first charted following the release of the 5th installment, ''Lodestar'', on the week of November 20th, 2016. The seventh book in the series ''Flashback'' had a first printing of 150,000 copies and Shannon Messenger's three-week tour to promote the book drew crowds of 200-700 people per event.

Series

Plot

The series tells the story of Sophie Foster, a twelve-year-old high school senior with the ability to read minds. She lives in San Diego, California until a boy named Fitz Vacker comes to tell her that he can read minds too. He reveals that they have a special ability making them telepaths. He tells her that she is an elf (the cause of her ability) and must leave to go live among the rest of the elves in the "Lost Cities", a hidden civilization where elves and other fantasy races live, secret from humans. She is forced to leave her human family behind and stays with an elven couple, Grady and Edaline Ruewen, who later adopt her. She starts school at a prestigious elven academy called Foxfire. She eventually discovers that she has dangerous and illegal secrets hidden in her mind, planted there by the Black Swan, a rebel group who is later revealed to have been the ones to hide Sophie in the human world. The main antagonist group of the series is the Neverseen, an extreme criminal organization.

The story has continued over ten books as of November 2022, with one book released each year, as well as Unlocked—book 8.5—and four short stories in limited editions. The ninth book, the most recent installment, was released on November 8, 2022. The series will conclude with a tenth book in 2023.

Books In The ''Keeper of the Lost Cities'' Series

: Book 1: ''Keeper of the Lost Cities'' (October 2, 2012)
: Book 2: ''Exile'' (October 1, 2013)
: Book 3: ''Everblaze'' (November 4, 2014)
: Book 4: ''Neverseen'' (November 3, 2015)
: Book 5: ''Lodestar'' (November 1, 2016)
: Book 6: ''Nightfall'' (November 7, 2017)
: Book 7: ''Flashback'' (November 6, 2018)
: Book 8: ''Legacy'' (November 5, 2019)
: Book 8.5: ''Unlocked'' (November 17, 2020)
: Book 9: ''Stellarlune'' (November 8, 2022)
: Book 10: ''Title TBA'' (2023)
''Unlocked'' is a novella and considered to be book number 8.5 in the series. It is a departure from the writing style of the previous books, with chapters alternating between multiple characters' perspectives. It also includes a series guide and extras like recipes and official art of the characters, drawn by Laura Hollingsworth.

The Barnes & Noble special editions of ''Nightfall'', ''Flashback'' and ''Legacy'' include short stories from the perspectives of characters Keefe Sencen, Fitz Vacker, and Tam Song, respectively. The paperback edition of ''Flashback'' includes another short story from Keefe's perspective, and the paperback edition of ''Unlocked'' includes a short story from Linh Song's perspective. No other special editions are set to release at this time.

An illustrated and annotated trade paperback edition of the first book was released on August 25, 2020.

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Reception

Reviews to the series have mainly been positive. ''Kirkus Reviews'' said of the first book: "wholesome shading to bland", but "well-stocked with exotic creatures and locales, plus an agreeable cast." '' Booklist Reviews'' called it a "exciting start to a promising series."

Film adaptation

On January 11, 2021, it was announced that Ben Affleck would be directing an adaptation of Keeper of the Lost Cities for Disney. The release date and cast have not been announced, but it is set for around 2023/2024.

Characters

Main characters

* Sophie Foster: The main protagonist of the ''Keeper of the Lost Cities'' series. Her genes were tweaked by a rebel group called the Black Swan (part of something called Project Moonlark), giving her several powerful elven special abilities (DNA-based powers), including telepathy, polyglotism, enhancing, inflicting, and teleportation. She was raised by humans after her experimentation and brought back to the Lost Cities at age twelve to complete her education at the Foxfire Academy.
* Keefe Sencen: Sophie's close friend, and later a love interest, who has a special ability allowing him to detect others' feelings (Empath). He also becomes a polyglot and manifests an unknown ability at the end of book 8.5 (Unlocked).
* Dexter “Dex” Dizznee: Sophie’s best friend, a talented alchemist with a special ability that makes him skillful at dealing with technology (Technopath).
* Fitzroy "Fitz" Vacker: Sophie's close friend and former love interest. He is a Vacker, an elvin family that is described as practically royalty, the son of Alden Vacker and an expert Telepath.
* Biana Vacker: Sophie’s friend and Fitz’s younger sister. She has a special ability allowing her to turn invisible (Vanisher) like her mother, Della.
* Tam Song: Sophie’s friend from Exillium, a school for banished and or "unruly" elves, who has a special ability that lets him manipulate shadows (Shade).
* Linh Song: Tam’s twin sister, also previously a student (or wayward) at Exillium, who has the ability to control water (Hydrokinetic). Her parents were very cruel to her and her brother, forcing them to pretend that they weren’t twins, and did not even try to resist when the Council opted to banish Linh, for she had flooded several cities due to her lack of control.
* Marella Redek:Sophie Foster’s friend, until get into a fight in the 3rd book, wrecking their friendship, but start to become friends again in the 5th and 6th. Marella has a rare, and banned special ability, pyrokintic, letting her summon fire, and bend it to her will.

Supporting characters

* Alden Vacker: Fitz and Biana’s father, and Sophie’s mentor and confidant.
* Edaline Ruewen: Sophie’s adoptive mother, who has the ability to summon items from far away (Conjurer).
* Grady Ruewen: Sophie’s adoptive father, who has the ability to control what others do through hypnotism (Mesmer).
* Sandor: Sophie’s goblin bodyguard, assigned in ''Exile''.
* Errol Loki Forkle: Two members of the Black Swan's collective (their leaders) who were identical twin brothers who share an identity (as well as all of their memories and experiences through telepathy). They were the designers of Project Moonlark as well as Sophie’s secret guardians as she grew up in the human world.
* Prentice Endal: A member of the Black Swan who had the role of storing important information deep in his mind (a thing the elves call being a keeper), who sacrificed his sanity to keep Sophie hidden among humans. Prentice is the father of Wylie Endal.
* Wylie Endal: The son of Prentice and an important member of the Black Swan. Wylie can sense and manipulate colors of light as per his needs (Flasher).
* Jensi Babblos: Sophie’s friend, who meets her on her first day at Foxfire. He has not manifested a special ability at this point in the series.
* Maruca Chebota: Wylie’s cousin and Biana’s former best friend. She manifests the ability to make force fields (Psionipath) in ''Legacy''.
* Stina Heks: A school bully who later warms up to Sophie, enough to be tolerable. She has the ability to, when touching someone, tell what they are feeling (Empath). She gains this ability in ''Lodestar.''

References

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American children's book series
21st-century children's literature
Book series introduced in 2012