I first read this book when I was eleven, but I think anyone nine or older is at a good age to start this series. The story is simple and the writing is easy to understand (unlike another story with elves in it, Lord of the Rings). Sophie is a likeable main character, and her friends are actually nice people most of the time.

Though the story is similar to Harry Potter and Twilight, there are still things that make it unique, and it's a fun read. The first book, the one I'm reviewing right now, is, in my opinion, the easiest and fastest to read out of the series. I sometimes thought I'd never get through that much of this series, because the books are very long, with lots of characters, lots of things to remember, and often have overly long action scenes that can get pretty boring. I can't believe I finally finished reading the sixth book (I know there are at least eight now, but I only bought six of them). Overall, I rate this a 5/5 because I think it's an amazing series and a must read. We still don't know how they fix it-because the series isn't done, but it is one of the main points of the series. A very large part of the series is about how the Lost Cities aren't perfect and how there are a lot of flaws in its system too. The villian group that kidnapped Sophie (the Neverseen) rebelled for some of these reasons, and the whole point of the Black Swan is to fix things like this in the Lost Cities. Although they have moved past many things the humans struggle with, they are far from perfect, and things like the match-making system are perfect examples. Others ask why all the characters in such an 'enlightened' society would be straight, or why there are still so many stereotypes in their world.

I know most of the characters are white, but in later books more characters of various backgrounds become very important. There is some violence, and it gets slightly more intense as the series continues, but is about what you should expect from a fantasy novel.Ī lot of people are complaining that Keeper of the Lost Cities has stereotypes. There is no swearing, and the main character has a crush on some other characters, but that's it. In addition, I feel like it is more aimed at kids in grades 6,7,8,9 than younger grades. I said age 11+ for this because although younger kids (9 or 10) might be fine with this book, the series gets slightly older as it goes on. This is probably my favourite book series right now, and I'm proud to say I've read all 8.5 books multiple times.

The keeper of the lost cities book 2