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august970's review against another edition
5.0
God, where do I start? This book-its amazing!! Its definitely one of my favs. Why did I not read this before?? 5 stars def!!! I just love the whole elf thing!! This is the perfect book for people who love fantasy! (Which is me) And I loveeee the characters Especially Keefe and Dex!! (KEEFE <333)
Anywho, Hajar logging off!
Anywho, Hajar logging off!
sareasley's review against another edition
3.0
My students love this so I figured I'd try it. It started out well but turned out to be another book about the special-est kid who goes to a special school to learn about their special abilities and aw-shucks around while everyone freaks out about their specialness. The more interesting plot points are barely touched on and I'm NOT reading 8 more books to solve the mystery.
aoife_taylors_version2413's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
roseyathena's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
wonderwhitman's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
betonylark's review against another edition
1.0
My main complaint is that this author seems to lean far too heavily on the "everyone knows what's going on except the main character and no one will tell her anything" tactic. In very small quantities it can be a fairly good tool. Use it too much, however, and readers get really annoyed. One character in this book (an elf named Alden) seems to know what's going on from the very beginning of the book, but he doesn't tell the main character Sophie anything until the very end. This got real old real fast. There's one point towards the beginning of the book where he says he's going to tell Sophie the truth. I was pretty tired of Alden withholding vital info at that point, and was thrilled that he was finally going to explain everything. He took Sophie to his office, sat down, and told her pretty much nothing. He said that she would have to leave her family, and that's it. It was incredibly frustrating, and as I said before, he never really did tell her anything until the end of the book, when it would have been super easy (and more helpful for himself as well as Sophie) to just tell her everything. It's just not a very effective way to keep things a mystery and only left me feeling annoyed. A better tactic would be for no one to know much, making it so that Sophie would have to discover it herself.
Another complaint I have is that while the world of "Keeper of the Lost Cities" is very colorful and imaginative, it doesn't seem to mesh together very well. Messenger calls the primary beings in her story "elves," which feels very fantasy-esque to me (and many of the creatures also have a distinctly fantasy type feel to them). However, the rest of the world strikes me as science fiction. Fantasy and sci fi can mix, but you have to be a very talented author to do so effectively, and you have to be careful with how you go about it. To me, the fantasy elements seemed quite out of place among the far more plentiful sci fi elements. I think it would have worked a lot better to take out the whole "elf" thing and make the story completely science fiction. It would have made the story seem far more plausible.
While I did like the different powers and the role they played with the plot and the characters, I felt like Messenger used them as a crutch every now and then. I feel that if the powers were all explained at the beginning of the story (rather than introduced randomly throughout), and if there weren't quite as many of them, it would have worked much better. It wasn't too bad, but not as good as it could have been.
As far as the plot goes, the book kept me turning the pages, but I feel that it wasn't woven tight enough. I like to think that writing a book is like weaving a tapestry. Every thread has to be pulled tight, and no matter a thread's individual color it still has to work with the other threads to become one giant picture. To me it felt like Messenger didn't pull her individual threads tight enough as she wove her tapestry. If the story was woven more tightly and distinctly around the plot, I would have enjoyed it much more, because it really was an excellent plot idea.
As for the characters, I felt that they were quite well developed. They all seemed like distinct and interesting people. I think that's one area Messenger is really good at.
To summarize, I feel like Messenger is an author with a lot of potential, but she may have gotten published too soon. I think that if Messenger hadn't gotten this book published and had instead gone on to write a new novel, that one would have been a really good read. In other words, I think she just needs more practice.
Another complaint I have is that while the world of "Keeper of the Lost Cities" is very colorful and imaginative, it doesn't seem to mesh together very well. Messenger calls the primary beings in her story "elves," which feels very fantasy-esque to me (and many of the creatures also have a distinctly fantasy type feel to them). However, the rest of the world strikes me as science fiction. Fantasy and sci fi can mix, but you have to be a very talented author to do so effectively, and you have to be careful with how you go about it. To me, the fantasy elements seemed quite out of place among the far more plentiful sci fi elements. I think it would have worked a lot better to take out the whole "elf" thing and make the story completely science fiction. It would have made the story seem far more plausible.
While I did like the different powers and the role they played with the plot and the characters, I felt like Messenger used them as a crutch every now and then. I feel that if the powers were all explained at the beginning of the story (rather than introduced randomly throughout), and if there weren't quite as many of them, it would have worked much better. It wasn't too bad, but not as good as it could have been.
As far as the plot goes, the book kept me turning the pages, but I feel that it wasn't woven tight enough. I like to think that writing a book is like weaving a tapestry. Every thread has to be pulled tight, and no matter a thread's individual color it still has to work with the other threads to become one giant picture. To me it felt like Messenger didn't pull her individual threads tight enough as she wove her tapestry. If the story was woven more tightly and distinctly around the plot, I would have enjoyed it much more, because it really was an excellent plot idea.
As for the characters, I felt that they were quite well developed. They all seemed like distinct and interesting people. I think that's one area Messenger is really good at.
To summarize, I feel like Messenger is an author with a lot of potential, but she may have gotten published too soon. I think that if Messenger hadn't gotten this book published and had instead gone on to write a new novel, that one would have been a really good read. In other words, I think she just needs more practice.
ofbooksandtwins's review against another edition
4.0
This book healed my heart after Dark Age broke it
kojicic's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25