Keeper of the Lost Cities
Shannon Messenger's Keeper of the Lost Cities is the opener of a long running middle grade fantasy series often described as Harry Potter with elves. Twelve year old Sophie Foster has spent her life feeling like an outsider in her San Diego family. She is a telepath, a child prodigy in a high school chemistry class, and the only person who hears the constant noise of other people's thoughts. When she meets a mysterious teenage boy named Fitz at a museum field trip, she learns that she is actually an elf, that her human family is not biologically hers, and that the Lost Cities of elven civilization, hidden from human knowledge for thousands of years, have been trying to find her for over a decade. Messenger sets up a vivid magical school called Foxfire, a glittering elven world organized into talents like Empath, Pyrokinetic, and Vanisher, and an underlying mystery about who Sophie's biological parents are. The result has launched a beloved nine plus volume series with a passionate fan following.
Where Keeper of the Lost Cities keeps showing up
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What you might want to know about Keeper of the Lost Cities
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Twelve-year-old Sophie has read minds since she was five. A handsome stranger at a museum tells her she is not human, and pulls her into the elvin world she actually came from. First in a long series.
Shannon Messenger has published nine main Keeper of the Lost Cities novels so far, plus a novella collection. The series continues. Messenger has confirmed at least one more main book is in progress.
Keeper of the Lost Cities is middle grade, recommended for readers 9 to 13. The fantasy-school premise and ensemble cast have made it especially popular with kids who finish Harry Potter and want more.
Keeper of the Lost Cities was written by Shannon Messenger, published in 2013 by Simon and Schuster.
Keeper of the Lost Cities is 512 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Keeper of the Lost Cities takes most readers 8 to 11 hours to finish.
Keeper of the Lost Cities is a standalone novel by Shannon Messenger, not part of a series.
Keeper of the Lost Cities is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
