Keeper of the Lost Cities #9.5 Unraveled Pre-Order Giveaway + Live Events
Shannon will be signing copies of Unraveled for Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore. The books will ship after the book is published.
Signed Shannon Messenger Books at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore
Naturally, I had to pre-order a signed copy, so now I have a total of four copies of Unraveled pre-ordered. It's excessive, but worth it. This is how it happened. I had previously ordered a Barnes & Noble edition, which I used to submit my information to get the publisher's pre-order giveaway. I have to keep my original order since it's tied to the promotional package. I am then getting a book from each of next week's virtual events. And now, I'm getting a signed book as well. The four books consist of two Barnes & Noble special editions, one regular edition, and one signed regular edition. I will keep one Barnes & Noble special edition and the signed regular edition.
Shannon wrote a guest post for Teen Librarian Toolbox about how the Keeper series got off to a slow start when it was first published.
Surviving the Slow Burn of Middle Grade by Shannon Messenger
I have been reading the series again, for the fourth time, to fully refresh my memory before #9.5 is released. I am now at the beginning of #9 Stellarlune. I will soon be publishing a new series of Keeper posts on my current thoughts and observations.
Beginning here, I comment on some things from late in the set but with no specifics. Nothing is revealed, but the comments could be considered slightly spoilerish. I mention this because some people, like me, prefer to know nothing. If you're like me, then skip until the paragraph just above the first of the two images that are near the end of the post.
I've been mulling over several things. I'm very eager to read the Forgotten Secrets again, and I've already read through the Fintan memory at least twice this month. Right after I finished reading Book 7 again, I was mulling over the Fintan memory as I drove to work one morning. I believe it was on the morning of November 12. Yes, it's weird that I know this, but it was a watershed moment. I thought about that Forgotten Secret and some of the oddness of it. It reminded me of a scene in Book 7, which led me to a significant revelation. While I was pretty sure that I wouldn't forget, I grabbed my phone and dictated a short note about what I had just realized. I was thrilled.
After realizing that I had figured out something significant about one Forgotten Secret, I decided that I would write separate posts about each Forgotten Secret and would pull previous thoughts into those posts in order to better collect my thoughts. That will be a work in progress over the next two or three weeks.
Book 7 is a slog to get through and is widely viewed as the weakest book in the set. It's the book that has driven some readers away from the series. This is a shame, since the secrets begin to be revealed in Book 8.
The thing about Book 7, though, is that there is some very important information in it. One chapter in Book 7 gives information that led to my conclusion about the Fintan Forgotten Secret. And by the way, that conclusion led me to realize something about all of the Forgotten Secrets (well, except for one of them), and I believe it explains the possible inconsistency with one of the Forgotten Secrets. In fact, I know it does, so there's no inconsistency.
It's in this post that I mention the possible inconsistency.
Keeper of the Lost Cities: The Chronological Order of the Forgotten Secrets
It's not an inconsistency if what I believe is true.
Book 7 is extremely important, but the clues are easily missed due to how bloated the book is. Too much time—way too much time—is spent in the Healing Center. It also doesn't help that other parts of the book drag on for too long as well. The joking and circular conversations are also a bit much. Some of it is way too silly and stupid. The flaws in the book cause readers to skim and then they miss the important details.
I skimmed a lot when I read Book 7 the second and third times. Since it had been a year since I had last read it, my tolerance was much higher. I did very little skimming this time. That enabled me to notice more than I had previously. I am so excited that I will read through all of the Forgotten Secrets again this week.
During this reading of the books, I have realized that I truly enjoy the later books in the set. Books 8, 8.5, and 9 are really good, because we begin to learn secrets. The series payoff begins to be doled out in Book 8. We are getting it a little at a time, which is quite satisfying. Book 9 sets up for the Forkle reveal, and I expect we will learn his true identity in Book 10, whenever that book is published.
While I enjoy the main plot and like Sophie and her friends a lot, my focus is on the adult characters, most particularly Forkle, Kenric, and Oralie. All three characters fascinate me, and my interest centers on my search for clues about what motivates these characters. All three are very gray, and gray characters are very interesting.
I unabashedly love Kenric and Oralie.
Back in July, Laura Hollingsworth ran some eBay auctions. In a couple of them, she offered the buyer a marker sketch of any character that she has previously drawn for the Keeper books. I immediately decided that I had to get a sketch of Kenric. After some thought, I realized that I needed Oralie as well so that I would have a matched set of my two favorite characters. I won the two auctions and requested Kenric and Oralie.
This is what Laura Hollingsworth had to say about the sketches on her Instagram.
Marker sketches of Kenric and Oralie from Keeper of the Lost Cities! A buyer won two auctions with sketches and asked for these (My OTP in that series—I am very happy!)
It pleases me that my request made her happy. I love the sketches.
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