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