As most of you know, I’ve written a middle grade novel in the genre of Urban fantasy so everyone told me: read, read, read in your genre. I told Hannah (my sister and partner on this website) I was looking for similar genres to explore and she bought me this book. Someday I’ll forgive her for it–just kidding, Hannah. I still love you, sis :)  But seriously….my reaction to this book was mixed at best. 

What turned me off from the very beginning:

I was never on board with the Harry Potter fan train, but I read the first few books to compare them with the films. However, Rowling understood one fundamental aspect of setting up a sympathetic main character and that is: Harry Potter’s life is a living hell. The protagonist in The Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry) begins the story at three levels below the bottom of the barrel. His life with the Dursleys is horrible and he’s basically a slave living under the family’s stairplace. Because of his Cinderella-like beginnings we’re eager to see him freed from his situation and see what adventure lies in store. The reader has every reason to wish and pray that he gets out of that situation and calls for better things. Our hero in Keeper of the Lost Cities is Sophie Foster. Let’s look at her humble beginnings and call to action.

• Sophie Foster is an average girl of 12 years old with two parents and a little sister. She’s blonde, thin, not overly odd in any way and not particularly persecuted in her place of education. 

•  Sophie hears thoughts and never feels that she quite “fits in” with her normal family. She meets a mysterious boy named, Fitz, who also hears thoughts and learns that she’s not human; she's actually an elf.

• Sophie decides she doesn't belong in the human world and agrees to leave with Fitz to the Lost Cities. The main consequence being, she’ll never see her human parents again and they won’t remember she ever existed.

Now that I’ve gone over the day in the life and call to action of this character which gets the novel going, let’s look why it completely pushed me away.

• Sophie’s life isn't overly difficult and she has no struggles at the start of the book. She’s described as being pretty, blonde, thin and doesn't fall into the realm of nerd, tomboy, bullied child, wallflower or any other persecuted group in middle school. This isn't to say every character has to fall into one of these tropes, but having them be in a socially awkward or uncared for minority of some kind makes the reader immediately sympathize with the protagonist. Sophie hears thoughts and because of this she calls herself a freak, there’s the occasional mean child but her situation isn't any harsher than most middle schoolers. If the writer doesn't set up the Protagonist as being sympathetic because they’re the odd person out in some way, then it’s down to their circumstances in order to get our empathy. 

• Sophie’s circumstances are pretty good. She has two perfectly normal human parents. Granted, they’re average and don’t quite understand their twelve year old daughter (basically every middle grader's parents) but we have no reason to dislike them or believe they don’t love her. Because Sophie can hear their thoughts she hears all their frustrated desires for her to be normal and stay our of trouble–again, the exact same thing any parents would think of their children. People’s thoughts are going to be harsh, thats why we have a filter from what we say in our brain to what we let people hear. In her parents actions we see them to be a supportive family. When Sophie is missing with Fitz in the early chapters of the book before leaving to the Lost Cities her mother is worried sick on the phone, her father is making dinner and they’re both happy to have her home. Despite her family’s best efforts, Sophie seems dissatisfied with her life not because its difficult but because it’s average:

Sophie followed her mom into the kitchen, feeling unease twist in her stomach. Worn linoleum, pastel walls, tacky knick knacks–it all seemed so ordinary after the glittering cities Fitz had shown her. Could she really belong there? 

Did she really belong here?   (Messenger, pg 35 Keeper of the Lost cities) 

Sophie’s Dad kissed her on the cheek as he set his shabby briefcase on the kitchen table. “And how’s my soybean?” 

Sophie scowled. He’d been calling her that since she was a baby–apparently, she’d had a hard time pronouncing her name–and she’d asked him hundreds, no, thousands of times to stop. He refused to listen. (Messenger, pg 35-36 Keeper of the Lost Cities).

Oh the horror–her father has a cute nickname for her. I’m sorry to be frank, but every other well done middle-grade hero would be telling her to stop whining and appreciate what she has. Percy Jackson was left by his biological father, kicked out of every school he’s been in, bullied, and has an abusive stepfather. Every other demigod in The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series has either one or no parents, their lives are ridden with monster attacks and troubled at best. Luke Castellan lived with a single mentally disturbed mother and was forced to run away from home living on the streets. And lastly, Harry Potter makes Cinderella’s life look charmed. After having read these other characters I didn't sympathize with Sophie. She had things in the beginning of the story that other character’s like the ones I’ve mentioned would pray for. Sophie Foster having a relatively soft life at the start of the novel doesn't mean there couldn't be some tragic or moving event bringing about her call to action which shakes up her normal world. But that’s just it, with Sophie the strongest tragic events in her life at the start of the novel seems to be her normal world. This makes her come off as entitled instead of genuinely troubled.    

The Call to action was weak:

It seemed like Sophie’s inciting incident is her realizing her family is too lame and boring to be her family. Hearing thoughts and realizing she might be an elf are enough to cause her to look into what the boy Fitz is telling her, but not enough to leave behind her entire life and make her family forget she ever existed. Them not being biological parents doesnt discard them from providing and raising her for 12 years. Clark Kent’s parents Ma and Pa Kent aren't his biological parents but they raised him and he respects them while still honoring his Kryptonian family and heritage. It’s the same in Disney’s Hercules–when he leaves home he ensures his adopted parents understand he loves them and they are his family but he has to know more about his abilities and where he came from.

•  The writer could have portrayed Sophie’s journey this way, but instead I got the feeling the character is just dissatisfied with normal living and wants something more “glittering” and superficial. Sophie claims she never fit in being a “slender blonde” with her “chubby brunette family (Messenger, pg 38).” 

• This and many other superficial comments by Sophie make her come off as vain and petty. Are we supposed to feel bad for her because she's a skinny blonde and she doesn't want to be in a family with brown haired chubby people?  Her mother gives her cookies to make her feel better and her father tucks her in–again, what did these people do to make her leave them with no explanation?

•  It would have been better if Sophie had been pushed to leave her adopted parents for some selfless reason. If their lives were in danger, if monsters would come after them because of Sophie in the human world, something–there were hundreds of options. If Sophie had been forced to leave her family and make them forget her it would have been a painful selfless action she had to take which did not benefit her at all or seem superficial. 

But still, this is the time when Sophie goes to the Lost Cities to find where she allegedly belongs. 

Sophie’s love for the lost cities seems entirely unfounded and superficial:

When Sophie arrives in the world of elves she seems marveled at how beautiful and glittering everything is, but aside from receiving help with learning about her abilities nothing about this world seems essential to her. She’s uncomfortable with the idea of being given to elf guardians to watch her because they are strangers but she’s willing to try it because she believes it will be “fun” and better than what she had. Sophie’s motivation isn't selfless, it's to have a fun glittering exciting life. When her elf guardians seem to not want her anymore Sophie gets upset about it and again is mentally whining “she doesn't belong anywhere” but it’s hard for me to sympathize because she already had a home and she quit on it because it was too normal. Anywhere she goes there’s going to be trouble and people who don’t get along with her, so it’s difficult to get on board with the characters goals because they seem flighty and superficial.

Sophie constantly complains inwardly even in the elf world about not fitting in even when every boy she meets seems to like and take interest in her. Sophie’s superficial traits continue when she has a preference for Fitz even though he’s the boy that pays the least attention to her. Sophie seems to invent problems for herself to be stressed about.

• Sophie had a family that wanted her and was worried sick about her, but she leaves them complaining she doesnt “fit in” and disappears from their life for something better and more exciting.

• Sophie has two other boys in the elf world crushing on her and being nice to her, but she wants to be close with Fitz and his family because he’s cute and his mother’s beautiful. Even though she has other people trying to be her friends she always wants something better, prettier, or more exciting. 

The conflict and climax was non-existent:

This book is 488 pages long. Long for a middle grade novel but that typically doesn't bother me. The problem with this book was there was no substance for me. 

• Most of the book is Sophie learning about the elf world, going to magic school, and mentally complaining about all her many struggles (like being blonde, splendor, having lots of boys like her, and living in an elf palace). 

• I don’t recall a lot of compelling characters or character arcs. Sophie is looking for where she belongs–and I’ve already gone into why that fell flat for me. Most of the other characters like the guardians that take her in don’t have a whole lot of character aside from being “beautiful”--which makes it seem like that's the only reason Sophie likes them.

• The relationships were forgettable because they all just made Sophie seem more entitled and spoiled for having all this attention from boys but complaining Fitz doesn't notice her.

• The only conflict which takes place more than halfway through the book, is Sophie being captured by some ambiguous antagonist–there’s little consequences or repercussions for it and it doesn't appear to add much to the plot.

Overall, the protagonist was weak and dislikable to me, the other characters were forgettable at best, and the plotline seemed inconsequential.