Shannon MessengerCritiques
Auteur de Keeper of the Lost Cities
Critiques
Trigger warnings: Death, war themes, blood, grief and loss depiction, physical injury and child abuse, building collapse
Score: Six and a half out of ten.
Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Is it me or has Shannon Messenger plateaued? I enjoyed Keeper of the Lost Cities and the second and third instalments were delightful too, but from there it's only okay. The fourth one, Neverseen, wasn't it--it didn't reach the same level as book one. I wanted an improvement when I read Lodestar but I didn't get that.
It starts (more like continues) with Sophie and other characters picking up after the events of the fourth novel, Neverseen in the opening pages, where nothing much is happening other than the characters processing everything that happened. Remember the issues I found in Neverseen? They're also in Lodestar, but more prominent I don't know where to begin, but I'll try, first, the repetition. I'm tired of the repetitive plot telling me parts of the story I already heard of before like the Black Swan and the Neverseen. The only new subplots introduced in Lodestar are (you guessed it,) the Lodestar, at least the symbol of it, and a special stone that uses blood. The conflict thickens, but not by much as the ogres are the against council, and the Black Swan is supposed to be this benevolent organisation What is the Lodestar supposed to do? The pacing is like Neverseen, but slower as Lodestar spans more than 600 pages, most of which are filler. Removing filler could've tightened the reading experience. I still like the characters like Sophie, but without any character development, I disconnected from them. I can't relate to the characters if they don't have character development. Did Messenger forget to put that in? Please fix it in the sixth part, Nightfall. At least the conclusion has a slightly faster pace but the final pages are predictable since the finish is the same as the other narratives.
Trigger warnings: Death of people in the past mentioned
Score: Seven out of ten.
Find this review on The StoryGraph.
Well. It looks like I finally read Neverseen. I wanted to read it for a while after reading Everblaze but not finding it as enjoyable as Keeper of the Lost Cities. I glanced at the blurb, making Neverseen seem intriguing, and did I mention Neverseen is the fourth book I've read from Shannon Messenger? When I closed the final page, I found it good, but not great.
It starts (more like continues) with Sophie and some other characters, who left Foxfire because of the conflict that has been happening since Keeper of the Lost Cities between the Black Swan and the (you guessed it,) Neverseen. I liked the worldbuilding expansion since I got to see Exilium, the school the characters mentioned in previous instalments after so long, I also liked the characters as usual, and I think they grew on me over time. However, Neverseen has flaws concerning many aspects of the narrative that I don't know where to start, but I'll try, the pacing is slow, making me disengage from the story sometimes. Sometimes slow pacing works when there's a slow burn, but when there's nothing happening, what's the point? Sophie and the other characters' journeys to places in the world can detract from the central plot, but removing subplots would tighten the reading experience. The writing style is enough to keep Neverseen going, though, and at least the conclusion picks up the pace with some action scenes, but I'll head in with lower expectations once I get Lodestar.
Trigger warnings: Physical injury, hospitalisation of a child and death of another person in a fire in the past, car crash, drugging, bullying
Score: Six out of ten.
Find this review on The StoryGraph.
I loved the original version of Keeper of the Lost Cities so I when I saw an illustrated adaptation of it in a library I expected it to be as enjoyable as the first edition. I glanced at the blurb, making it seem similar to the prose edition of Keeper of the Lost Cities, but when I closed the final page, it was not the reading experience I thought I would get.
It starts with Sophie Foster living her typical life or so it seems in the opening pages until I saw Sophie having telepathic and telekinetic abilities but she's not sure why she has that and it's a secret she kept to herself. That is until she stumbles across a character named Fitz who also has magic abilities and takes her to the Lost Cities, a realm full of elves with all sorts of powers. This adaptation shines since it remains faithful to the source material, but I've seen every scene before so it feels more like a recap of what happened, and I didn't feel too engaged to it.
At least the characters are likable, but they're not that relatable, and by itself the adaptation's worldbuilding is lacking (but I can understand why as it's only the beginning and I can read other KOTLC books to answer worldbuilding questions.) Like the original, the pacing is fast for a book over 300 pages and the plot is decent but it ends abruptly, so I have to wait for the second part to release. The illustrations are a new perspective on the same narrative but I think prose does the better job since I can picture everything more clearly when it's in that writing style. Sophie has to leave her human world behind as she more fully integrates into her new life by meeting her new parents and going to a new school, but it feels rushed like the author wanted to get it over with swiftly. If you liked Keeper of the Lost Cities but want to look at it in a different way, then get this one, but I'd prefer reading the original prose creations.
I wish the twists weren't so obviously foreshadowed, but it still didn't ruin the very emotional story. I am curious where the story will go from here on as the ending was a bit surprising. I also felt that this one was a bit darker.
Trigger warnings: Death of a person in a fire, explosion, building collapse, near-death experiences, physical assault and injury, blood, grief and loss depiction
Score: Seven points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.
At last. I wanted to read this book which is the third instalment in the series and after reading and enjoying Keeper of the Lost Cities and Exile I hoped that would be the same for this one. For so long but I put it off for a few months, and eventually, I finally picked it up and read it. When I finished it, I thought it was only okay and not at the same level as the first two novels. It starts (more like continues) with the main character (who needs no introduction at this point) Sophie and from there I pick up from the events of the second part I read previously. The first few pages brimmed with action but soon the pace slowed from there. Here's where the flaws surface: there's not much of anything to keep the plot moving. Other than the clues from the Black Swan, the threat of the Neverseen and the mystery behind Jolie. Did I mention that the series gets darker from here? There's a bit of action in the middle and the end but I wished there could've been more, and the characters missed the mark, especially Sophie (I rooted for her and the other people once but now I feel disconnected from them. Shame.) I hope Neverseen (the fourth book, not the organisation) is better.
But the day Sophie meets Fitz, a mysterious (and adorable) boy, she learns she's not alone. He's a Telepath too, and it turns out the reason she has never felt at home is that, well...she isn't. Fitz opens Sophie's eyes to a shocking truth, and she is forced to leave behind her family for a new life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known.
But Sophie still has secrets, and they're buried deep in her memory for good reason: The answers are dangerous and in high-demand. What is her true identity, and why was she hidden among humans? The truth could mean life or death--and time is running out.
Sophie is over-powered and oh-so special, all the boys want her, and everyone wants to be her friend. You could say Mary-sue, or you can see this as a cute, juvenile female power fantasy.
Judging by the graphic adaptation, it’s an easy story to follow along and I see why there are so many books in the series.
Overall, I liked the art style as it was very cute and Disney meets Winx Club. The development with Biana, who I thought was going to be a one-note mean girl, was good as well. They gave her an understandable motivation behind her frostiness. Sir Tiergan was one of my favorite characters. That man was not for the shenanigans. Keefe was much more interesting than Fitz to me.
Sadly, this might be my least-favourite Keeper book. The first 60% was one battle and a LOT of just.... talking. Things pick up a little bit from 60-90%, and then the last 10% was awesome!
Also, once Dex dismantled the null, WHY DIDN'T HE PRESS THE BUTTON AGAIN?!?!? PRESS IT!!! PRESSSSS ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!
Oh man, my heart needs time to recover from this one. SO MUCH happened at the end!
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I went in cold, not knowing the storyline and was mildly surprised that elves were involved.
Overall, it felt very much like a Harry Potter read-a-like to me, with not just magic but with friendships/rivalries/romances/bullies/nice teachers/mean teachers, etc.
This graphic novelization Keeper of the Lost Cities The Graphic Novel Part 1: Volume 1 was only Volume 1, so I will have to pick up Book 1 of the actual series Keeper of the Lost Citiesto see how things progress, as The Keeper of the Lost Cities: The Graphic Novel Volume 2 is not yet available.