Keeper of the Lost Cities #2 Exile - Thoughts from 4th and 5th Readings

I read Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 and #2 in June for the 4th time.  I read part of #3, then I became distracted.  My plan all along was to read through the set again just before the release of #9.5.  I finally got myself motivated in October.  I decided to read #1 and #2 again, for the 5th time, before continuing with #3.  This post contains thoughts from both readings.

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

Sophie enters Prentice's mind on page 238.  What Sophie sees on pages 239 and 240 is important, although it makes no sense to first-time readers of the series. 

Trees rained from gray-green clouds, their dark branches reaching for her like clawed hands as they fell. Beasts sprang from a ground lit with stars, bared their fangs, and chased her across the sky-covered hills. Glowing eyes peeked through bushes covered in blue ears, and butterflies with bright red lips whispered sounds like mush. Sophie searched for some clue, some key to translate what she was seeing, but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for anything.

Elysian is described here:

Glowing eyes peeked through bushes covered in blue ears, and butterflies with bright red lips whispered sounds like mush.

This second passage also has something important in it.

The images tangled, coiling around her, pulling her deeper. She whipped through more darkness and fell into the streets of a ruined city. The clouded and cracked crystal buildings were a hodgepodge of structures Sophie had seen throughout the Lost Cities: the swirling castles from Eternalia sandwiched among the silver-tipped spires from Atlantis mixed with gleaming mansions that wrapped around the pyramid of Foxfire. There was a fountain in the center of it all, two golden figures standing in a round pool, holding hands as colored streams of water showered them from every direction.

This description is of the Unity Fountain in Atlantis, featured in #6 Nightfall.

There was a fountain in the center of it all, two golden figures standing in a round pool, holding hands as colored streams of water showered them from every direction.

I noticed that Alvar is very kind to Sophie.  He's a villain who seems redeemable.  The last we see of him in Book 8, he's beaten down and defeated.  I hope we see him again and that he does redeem himself.  [I wrote this in October.  He returns in #9.5 Unraveled, but we don't know for sure whether he will ultimately be redeemed.]

On page 411, Sophie and Tiergan speak about the Black Swan.  Tiergan uses "they" in reference to the Black Swan, and "they" is purposefully emphasized. 

I've mentioned this next passage before.

Page 532   Kenric stepped forward.  "I think perhaps we're focusing on the wrong concern.  Sophie, do you still have the compass that led you to the Black Swan?"

This is another instance of Shannon making sure that the reader knows that Kenric can't be Forkle.  The problem is that we learn later that Forkle is a pair of identical twins.  Kenric can't be ruled out for that reason.

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 - Thoughts from 4th and 5th Readings

I read Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 and #2 in June for the 4th time.  I read part of #3, then I became distracted.  My plan all along was to read through the set again just before the release of #9.5.  I finally got myself motivated in October.  I decided to read #1 and #2 again, for the 5th time, before continuing with #3.  This post contains different thoughts I had during both readings.

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

Page 16:  [Fitz] closed his eyes and vanished.  He was only gone for a second, but it was enough to leave her reeling.

I had forgotten that elves could vanish for one second even if they aren't Vanishers.

Page 41:  "Looking for someone?" [Mr. Forkle] asked from his perch in the middle of his lawn.

This is hilarious.  Mr. Forkle knows very well that Fitz had located Sophie on the previous day.  Sophie is indeed looking for Fitz when she goes outside.  Mr. Forkle is having a little fun.

On page 45, Sophie realizes that she couldn't hear Mr. Forkle's thoughts when he confronts Gethen.  She typically could hear his thoughts.  I assume that Forkle dropped the pretense while he concentrated on getting Gethen to back off.

On my previous reading, I continued to be confused about Quinlan, his eavesdropping secretary, Alden's work with Quinlan, and so on.  This time, it clicked.
 
Alden worked with Quinlan without the Council's knowledge.  Quinlan had Sophie's DNA, and Alden was trying to locate Sophie in the Forbidden Cities.  The eavesdropping secretary let someone (Quinlan and Alden think it was Bronte) on the Council know that Alden was searching for Sophie.  We later learn it was Oralie who was responsible for the eavesdropping secretary.

Oralie must have informed the Black Swan that Alden was looking for Sophie.  This also explains why the Council didn't know that Alden was searching for Sophie.  Only Oralie knew, and she wasn’t about to tell anyone else.  They were wrong about the secretary being there for Bronte.

Since Oralie had informed the Black Swan that Alden was searching for Sophie, Forkle sent the newspaper article about the child prodigy to Alden so that he would find Sophie.  This all makes sense to me now.

On page 89, Tiergan is angry that Alden summoned him.  I continue to wonder how much of Tiergan's behavior is acting.  Surely Tiergan knew that the Black Swan were bringing the Moonlark to the Lost Cities.  It cannot be just coincidence that Tiergan ends up as Sophie's Telepathy mentor.  After all, in book 4 on page 670 Tiergan tells Sophie, "The surest way to protect you was to be in your life."

Page 115:  She wasn't ready to hear about the family who'd abandoned her.

Sophie is traumatized by everything that has happened to her.  Keeping this in mind helps the reader understand why Sophie turns against Oralie when she learns that Oralie is her mother.

Page 306:  "Sir Astin," Emery said, and Sir Astin jumped out of his chair.  Oralie returned to her throne.  A Telepath could monitor Sir Astin's thoughts for honesty.  His mind wasn't impenetrable, like Sophie's.

Ah, but Sir Astin's mind is impenetrable, since he is Mr. Forkle.

Page 307:  Emery closed his eyes.  "Can you repeat those one more time, slower."  She did, noticing that Kenric was plotting the stars on a map.  He sucked in a breath.  "Who created this list?" Emery demanded, glancing at Kenric.  "I'm not certain," Sir Astin admitted, cowering.  "All the Universe Mentors submit them, and it wasn't one of the lists I made."

We know that Sir Astin is lying, since he created the list for Sophie.  We learn later that Mr. Forkle can duplicate his consciousness, which means that he can keep his lies from being detected. 

Having Kenric and Astin present at the same time ostensibly establishes that Kenric cannot be Forkle.  However, we later learn that Forkle is a pair of identical twins.  Kenric and Astin certainly could be Forkle and present at the same time. 

The purpose of the stars assignment is to get Sophie's memory of Elementine to be triggered so that she can bottle Quintessence. 

On page 323, we learn that Tiergan has a blue crystal because he used to work for the Council.  He tells Sophie, "Mine was issued back when I worked for the Council, and I 'forgot' to give it back when I resigned.  So this trip is our little secret, okay?"

Interesting.  I had failed to take notice of the fact that Tiergan had worked for the Council at some point in time.

On page 465, Alden says that the Council doesn't "want to believe that [Fintan] tried to single-handedly wipe out the human race" when he started the Everblaze fires.  The Councillors are in complete denial during the early books in the series. 

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

Upcoming Blog Posts

I am in the mood to read some modern young adult mystery or suspense books.  Around a week ago, I found a YA book on Amazon that sounded like I would enjoy it.  I held off trying it until after the new Keeper of the Lost Cities book was released. 

I have read now the new Keeper book twice and have a rough draft of what I want to say about the book.  I still want to read the YA book that I found a week ago, and perhaps I will begin tomorrow.

By the way, I looked a few reviews of that YA book.  One person complained about the dialogue being too juvenile.  Ah, another snobbish review by someone who doesn't like YA but inexplicably decided to read a YA book.  So typical.  I still don't understand why these people keeping reading YA when they don't like reading YA.  I don't have trouble avoiding books that aren't the kind I enjoy.  I simply don't read them.

If I succeed in getting back into reading books, then I should end up with some book reviews in the next few months.  In the meantime, I wrote up a bunch of new Keeper posts as I read through the set this fall.  I mention this because most of you likely have no interest whatsoever in seeing a bunch of Keeper posts.  As of now, I have 21(!) Keeper posts that will publish in the next couple of months or so, depending upon how I space them out.

I have partially written a few posts or have ideas for posts. I have an idea for a new Hidden Clues post that I think I will be motivated enough to finish.  I have a situation with some extremely musty books that I plan to write up once I know my degree of success (or failure) in reducing the musty odor.

I have written a post about the Nancy Drew action figures and my thoughts on trying to sell my extras. 

I also have a couple of posts that I've written about the current state of series books.  Both of those posts are completely finished, but I'm keeping them unpublished for now for a certain reason.  

Mainly, I want to forewarn you that a flood of Keeper posts are coming, but there will be some other stuff hopefully mixed in every so often.  Bear with me.