With the newest addition to the Keeper of the Lost Cities series still being recent, I found it an ideal time to write a review on the book that started it off. Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger follows the human-raised elf, Sophie Foster. The series kicks off with 12-year-old Sophie as a high school senior and a girl that can read minds. The first book is all about Sophie finding her place in this new world, or at least that’s what she did until she got kidnapped. Upon her and her friend’s return to the Lost Cities, they find out that it wasn’t the group that had supposedly created her responsible for the kidnapping but a second rebel group.

The book is more aimed toward a younger crowd, however, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t well written or a great way to start a series. Messenger’s story brings out three sides to a building suspense, and a curiosity if Sophie will manage to find her way out of this mess, drawing readers into the rest of the series. While the first book wasn’t my favorite out of the entire series, it is an important building block to the plot of the series and the wonders of the world of the Lost Cities. If you have the patience to read a 10 books (unfinished) series, I fully recommend this series if you haven’t read it already.