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Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

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Brief synopsis (no spoilers):
Elves are real, but they are much more "normal" than humans think. No North Pole mess, or magic. They just have very advanced technology. Sophie Foster lives in the human world, but she's actually an elf. She learns this fact when another elf finds her and introduces her to the rest of the elf world. Sophie also has telepathy, the ability to read minds. Living in the human world, and having a special power both make her special.

Category:
Teen fiction, tween fiction

Why I chose this book:
Several of my kids love them

My personal opinion:
This is a pretty classic teen or pre-teen story. The main character is very young- probably too young to be allowed to do the things she feels she must do, but adults around her enable her. She wants desperately to be special- even more special than she already is, just being very smart. And she's practically invincible, so her "fight scenes" (no actual fighting) are pretty much "yawn". One question no one in her world seems to be asking: when Sophie eventually turns out to be more powerful than the entire Council, how will they ever stop her from doing whatever she wants? I'm not too wild about invincible characters (like Superman), and about everything just working out exactly how the main character wants. There should be more struggle.
That said, the story is clean and engaging. I like that my kids like it. It was a fun, quick read. I will probably read more of the series. I do recommend it to all readers, but it won't make my personal "Top 10" best series list.

Warnings
Language: None that I recall
Violence: Kidnapping, arguing
"Adult" situations: None
Death: None

Movie rating equivalent:
PG

Protagonist description:
Sophie is an exceptionally bright 12-year old

Point of view of story:
Third person, focused on Sophie

Book length:
Medium

Story flow:
Pretty fast

Grammar and spelling issues:
None

Character connection (no spoilers):
The adults closest to Sophie seem like they might have interesting stories

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