Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Upcoming Keeper of the Lost Cities Posts

Yesterday I finished reading through the Keeper of the Lost Cities series for the second time.  I read through the entire series twice from March 13 through yesterday, May 22, a total of 10 weeks.  I have been completely obsessed this entire time.

This post contains no spoilers.

I mentioned in my previous posts my frustration with online discussions and reviews of this series.  Many readers are blind to the clues and don't see what is really going on.  Many of them have come up with bizarre theories that cannot possibly be true.  For instance, a number of people think one of the two most evil characters in the series must be Sophie's biological father.  Um, I'm sorry, but this series isn't going to end with a "Luke, I am your father" moment.

My dad read through the books after I had finishing reading them for the first time.  (By the way, after taking a break for a week, he just started reading through them for the second time.)  I kept checking with him to see how far he had gotten.  Finally, he announced that he had finished with the Forgotten Memories part of Book 9.  He immediately added, "It's obvious that _______ is Sophie's biological father."  I threw my hands in the air and exclaimed, "THANK YOU!"

The clues in the Forgotten Memories are rather obviously leading us to a certain conclusion which these people commenting online refuse to see.  I think that's in part because they must not have read the Forgotten Memories since many of them say that the entire Forgotten Memories part of Book 9 is boring.  Okay, whatever.

Around two weeks ago, I thought of Goodreads reviews, which I hadn't thought to check.  I thought maybe there were some good discussions there.  I didn't make it very far.  I saw more of the same complaints about how the Forgotten Memories are SO BORING in Book 9 (how can clues to the BIG SECRET be boring?!).  Ugh.  I saw a scathing review about how elves are stupid.  These elves are NOT STUPID.  I saw insults about how the books are a ripoff of Harry Potter.  

While there are unmistakable similarities to Harry Potter, how is that bad?  It's like how Nancy Drew is similar to the Hardy Boys, or Merivale Mall is similar to Sweet Valley High.  Um, fans of one type of book tend to like the ones that are very similar to it.  I love Harry Potter, and I tend to really like books that are similar to Harry Potter.  I fail to see a problem.

So my failure to find any semblance of decent, satisfying discussion of this series has caused me to spend over two months figuring it out for myself.  I decided to hash it all out in this blog.  I have a total of 12 posts on the Keeper of the Lost Cities series.  They are as follows.

Keeper of the Lost Cities:  The Identity of Sophie's Creator
Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 Kindle Notes
Keeper of the Lost Cities #2 Exile Kindle Notes
Keeper of the Lost Cities #3 Everblaze Kindle Notes
Keeper of the Lost Cities #4 Neverseen Kindle Notes
Keeper of the Lost Cities #5 Lodestar Kindle Notes
Keeper of the Lost Cities #6 Nightfall Kindle Notes
Keeper of the Lost Cities #7 Flashback Kindle Notes
Keeper of the Lost Cities #8 Legacy Kindle Notes
Keeper of the Lost Cities #8.5 Unlocked Kindle Notes
Keeper of the Lost Cities #9 Stellarlune Kindle Notes
Keeper of the Lost Cities #9 The Forgotten Memories

These posts are long (as in really long) and contain major series spoilers.  I will have each post flagged with a spoiler warning advising how far a reader must have read in order not to be spoiled by the comments I make.  The post on Sophie's creator plus the posts for #8, #8.5, and both posts for #9 will contain major late series spoilers.

If you are interested in reading these books, you won't want to read any of these posts ahead of time.  You can, however, read my previous posts on this series.  Please do, as I'd like to get more people interested in these books.  I love them So. Very. Much.  (I mimic the author a bit in these posts.  I can't help it since I have been immersed for over two months.)

My Keeper of the Lost Cities Obsession
Overview of the Keeper of the Lost Cities Series by Shannon Messenger
More on Keeper of the Lost Cities

Around 10 days ago, I received a message from Amazon about a $3.00 Kindle book credit expiring in 24 hours, which I earned from my purchase of the later books in the Keeper set.  Oh, no!  I wasn't interested in buying any Kindle books, since I was still reading these books again.  But then I realized.  (Yeah, author mimic time, sorry.)  Shannon Messenger has a short young adult series as well.  I figured that considering how much I love the Keeper books that the young adult series had to be worthwhile.  I went to Amazon and purchased the first book in that set to read when finished with rereading the Keeper books.

I started Let the Sky Fall last night.  It's good so far.  It's definitely a young adult book rather than a children's book.  I love both genres.  Actually, for modern books, I lean towards young adult in what I prefer to read.

Oh, I should also mention that the Keeper books are more of an upper level children's book.  That makes a difference, as well.  I can't say enough good things about the books.

Please try the Keeper series.  Oh, how I love them! 

2 comments:

lemoned said...

I'm still reading these great books, thanks to you. I look forward to reading all of the upcoming posts, but will have to wait until I'm finished reading all the released titles in order to avoid spoilers. I just started book three. Thanks again for recommending these!

Jennifer White said...

You're welcome! I'm SO glad that you are enjoying the books. They were such a wonderful surprise to me. Yes, definitely wait to read the posts until after you finish. All of them have major spoilers in them. I will be getting all of the posts up within the next two weeks so that they will be there for anyone who has finished the books. It will be worth the wait. :)