First Pages: Keeper of the Lost Cities

From Little Lion:

Keeper of the Lost Cities is truly indescribable. Each page of each book is amazing. So many small details, amazing plot lines, realistic characters, and magical new worlds burst out of the book the minute you begin. Sophie has realistic problems and, of course, nonrealistic problems, since they tend to include elves, traveling at the speed of light, and evil organizations. These books are long, but every part of them is filled with humor and plot twists, where the Sophie and her friends find out the villain's plans or fall into a trap or run away after the tenth time breaking the law. The amazing thing about the villains in this story is that sometimes they win, and Sophie and her friends get injured, and they have to find a new way to win next time. New characters are constantly being added, from unearthing a new villain to meeting someone new at school. My personal favorite is book 6, Nightfall, because Shannon Messenger brings back old characters into Sophie's new world, and you can tell that she puts so much love into these books. I can't stop rereading them, so most of this year I have spent reading these over and over and over again, until I've practically memorized each page and can tell you exactly what will happen next. These books are truly the best. 

First Pages with Doctor Bookworm:

This post has been a long time coming. Little Lion first started reading the KOTLC books a few years ago but she stalled. Last year when I was at the school library (how I miss going to the school library in the mornings!), I overheard one of my friends talking to our librarian, Mrs. M, about the latest book. And I was surprised I hadn’t heard about it before in our house, even though I’d heard about the books. Cue pandemic. Well, actually Little Lion had re-started the books last February and by the time the school shut down in March, she brought two of the books home. Book 5 and 6 because Mrs. M let her take extra books home since we were going to start this new thing called ‘distance learning’. Which we all thought would last two weeks, four weeks tops. Or maybe it would be an unfathomable-at-the-time SEVEN weeks like we heard was happening in China.

Well, it’s been a bit longer than that. About ten months so far, and in that time Little Lion has read the KOTLC series about 20 times. No exaggeration. She’s counted, and then lost count. And she’s a fast reader.

Prologues are tricky to review because by their very nature, they are meant to draw you in and want to find out what happens next. Shannon Messenger’s start to this well-loved series is no different. We start with Sophie getting kidnapped….and then of course we have to wonder why anyone would want to kidnap an ordinary girl.

Cue chapter one and where we find out that Sophie is anything but ordinary. Messenger sets the scene without a lot of expository—Sophie is on a school field trip, has a photographic memory, can read minds, and is much younger than her counterparts in school who resent her intellectual capabilities. The tone, voice, and intrigue are spot on and pulls the reader to the action right away.

Tell Dr. Bookworm!

Would you want to have telepathy? Or another supernatural ability?

What book series have your read over and over again? Let me know in the comment section below.

The photo slide show below shows Little Lion making ripplefluffs. Shannon Messenger kindly posted KOTLC recipes on her site.