Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

Rating: 5/5 Starry Eyes

Release Date: October 2nd, 2012
Publisher: Aladdin
Pages: 496
Source: Bought
Series: Keeper of the Lost Cities #1

First, a quick summary from Goodreads:

" Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret. She’s a Telepath—someone who hears the thoughts of everyone around her. It’s a talent she’s never known how to explain.

Everything changes the day she meets Fitz, a mysterious boy who appears out of nowhere and also reads minds. She discovers there’s a place she does belong, and that staying with her family will place her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a place that is vastly different from anything she has ever known.

Sophie has new rules to learn and new skills to master, and not everyone is thrilled that she has come “home.” There are secrets buried deep in Sophie’s memory—secrets about who she really is and why she was hidden among humans—that other people desperately want. Would even kill for.

In this page-turning debut, Shannon Messenger creates a riveting story where one girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world, before the wrong person finds the answer first." 

My Review:

While Keeper of the Lost Cities has a slow start, once it takes off, does it ever take off. I absolutely loved this book from start to finish, even though the writing was a tad bit juvenile. 

Sophie is an amazingly strong girl considering she's only 12 years old. She's never fit in at her school and even with her family she's felt out of place. But it's no wonder she feels that way when she finds out that she's an ELF. 

This is not the only things Fitz tells her when he finds her. But that they've been looking for her for twelve years. 

If that doesn't pull you in and make you want to read it, listen to me when I say that this book is just plain amazing. The world is fantastic and described so well. I found it very easy to imagine all of these things Messenger introduced us to in the book.

I just... This book! You need to read it, really. It's taking all of my power right now not to sound like a gushing fan-girl. If you're fans of the PJO series or Harry Potter series, you will definitely enjoy this book. I am not saying that this book is trying to be like those books, because it's complete on it's own page. But the way it sucks you in and gracefully shows you the world of the Elves, it's just a great book. It's along the same lines of HP and PJO in the sense that it's packed full of adventure and questing and intricate plot twist and just.... Fantastic pacing! 

While it was a bit... Info-dumpy? No, I don't think it was quite that. More like... You were thrust into the world a little too suddenly. To the point where I felt over-whelmed. But that's what Messenger was trying to convey! Sophie was extremely over-whelmed by all of this as well, and it just works out perfectly and this book is just AWESOME AND YOU NEED TO READ IT!