By Shannon Messenger

Overview: So much awesome adventure and mystery and suspense is packed in here! This was soooo good! It’s my absolute favorite. The series is so complicated and the worldbuilding was so good that even after reading and rereading all the books over ten times I still find stuff that I didn’t see the first times through. Perfect for 8 and up. This book is middle grade and there are no bad words or mature topics. However, there is a lot of violence, though the elves can’t kill people or even hurt people because they will go insane, so I guess that teaches kids not to do bad stuff? The book definitely is for younger kids, though it feels like it gets older and older as the series goes on.

What’s it about? Sophie Foster lives a completely normal life- except for the fact that she can read minds and happens to be a twelve years old high school senior. One day, she meets Fitz, an elf! Turns out, elves are not the silly little creatures we think they are. They are beautiful, powerful beings who keep The Lost Cities hidden from humans. Sophie finds out that she herself is an elf, and Fitz brings her to the Lost Cities, where she finds out the glittering elven words isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

My thoughts: There are no words to describe how amazing this book is. In fact, I think I’ll review each book separately, because that it what KOTLC deserves. Anyway, book one is the perfect start to the series. The characters are all multi-faceted and the setting and elven environment is so rich and imaginative, it feels like you are really there. Everything is so complex, and there are little breadcrumbs here and there that correspond to foreshadowing for later events and- AUGH! This was soooo good! It’s my absolute favorite. The series is so complicated and the worldbuilding was so good that even after reading and rereading all the books over ten times I still find stuff that I didn’t see the first times through.

There are currently 8.5 books out (the 8.5 book is half story, half companion novel) and all of them are wonderful! I’ll stick to reviewing the first book though… 😉 The whole idea is so creative, and Shannon Messenger has definitely created a masterpiece. There isn’t much representation of other races or body shapes or pretty much anything, but it gets better as the series goes on, I think. Otherwise, this series is probably the best thing I’ve ever read, including better than Harry Potter. (In my opinion) The dynamic between the characters is so interesting (and gets more interesting in later books) and Keefe Sencen is the best. ever. Read the series to find out who he is! I promise, you won’t regret it.