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Keeper of the Lost Cities

Written by: Shannon Messenger
Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly
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Publisher's Summary

A New York Times best-selling series
A USA Today best-selling series
A California Young Reader Medal-winning series  

In this riveting debut, a telepathic girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world - before the wrong person finds the answer first. 

Twelve-year-old Sophie has never quite fit into her life. She’s skipped multiple grades and doesn’t really connect with the older kids at school, but she’s not comfortable with her family, either. The reason? Sophie’s a Telepath, someone who can read minds. No one knows her secret - at least, that’s what she thinks....

But the day Sophie meets Fitz, a mysterious (and adorable) boy, she learns she’s not alone. He’s a Telepath too, and it turns out the reason she has never felt at home is that, well...she isn’t. Fitz opens Sophie’s eyes to a shocking truth, and she is forced to leave behind her family for a new life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known. 

But Sophie still has secrets, and they’re buried deep in her memory for good reason: The answers are dangerous and in high demand. What is her true identity, and why was she hidden among humans? The truth could mean life or death - and time is running out.

©2012 Shannon Messenger (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

What listeners love about Keeper of the Lost Cities

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Definitely a very young adult title

cue the young victimized under confident heroine, who has to do it all herself, cause nobody loves her. Ahhhhh. I got so frustrated with this title. yes in many ways it reads like a Harry Potter. But the characters have no character, no personality. To be fair I did finish it. I was so relieved it was over. I would not recommend this audiobook to anyone over 12. The narrator did a remarkable job. that is probably the only reason I finished it.

3 people found this helpful

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Excellent choice for Harry Potter fans...

Looking for an HP style story with a might girl as a main character? Look no further! Sophie is a very compelling character, and this story is gripping for your middle-schooler. I have created a monster - DD who is 9yo blew through the first 3 in the series over Christmas break. I just had to buy more credits to get her book number 4 because she JUST CAN'T WAIT. Buy it, you won't regret it!!

2 people found this helpful

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The most amazing book EVER!!!!!

I love this book so so so so much the story is amazing there is no parts of the story that I don’t like. But fitz is not British! I’m sokeefe all the way btw

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love it

loveeeeeee it it's so SOS so good it's my new fab book so so so gooood

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Bloody awful

I tried. I really did. I listened to almost an hour and a half off this. Sometimes books have a bunch of world building info to dump on you and the going can be rough for the first couple chapters. But this was not that.
First the main character is a telepath. I happen to love stories about telepaths, but in spite of the fact that she has been a telepath for 7 years she has no way of dealing with it. At all. Then she goes to a really crowded place and (surprisingly) can’t deal. So after meeting a complete stranger, she learns she is not human, can’t read this strangers mind, discovers a new not human skill, travels to two different not human cities, and then goes home for supper. Keeps everything from her family, thinks of humans as “other”(literally that’s what it said) and waits for the next day when she can meet this strange boy again. But she doesn’t trust him. But when he won’t tell her where they are going she goes along happily (after being told off for reading his mind to find out where they are going). Everything is really stupid and unbelievable.
The reader must have been told to use more expression. No no. More expression. No I said MORE EXPRESSION!! Everything is sooooo unnnbeeelleevably aaamaaazzing!!!! Weee should juuust be aaaamaaazzzzed by every woooord!!! I finally gave up and quit.
I love YA fiction, but I just couldn’t deal with this

1 person found this helpful

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An enjoyable story, will continue the series

I purchased this to listen to as it was on sale, and my 9 year old daughter is devouring the printed books. I was more interested in ensuring that this is appropriate for her. Turns out, I enjoyed it a lot too; it is well-written, very well narrated, and appropriate for younger audiences who are voracious readers. A good read.

1 person found this helpful

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Love, love, LOVE the keeper of the lost cities!

I loooooooooooove this book! It’s just amazing! To anyone who is trying to find a new series to read, go start the keeper of the lost cities!

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100000/10

I’m so excited to read more of the the narrator was great to read or listen to them all

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BEST BOOK EVER

This book is SO GOOD I was literally up till like 1 o’clock listening to this book I would definitely recommend this book🤩🤩🤩

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Absolutely amazing

Best thing I’ve ever heard
Of all time
Storyline and the characters are amazing. OK shut up.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2018-11-26

Amazing!

This book is amazing because it has humor and I think it made me cry like 14 or 15 times, but also the voices are so gentle if they need to or so scared or angry, if you are sick (I am) this is a nice relaxing book to listen to, really recommend it on audible, you won't regret your lose of cents, truest me. My mom asked me why I like the performance so much? It's because even when they sought they don't acutely scream like in story thieves or in the land of stories even thought both of them are very good. Another thing is if English isn't your first language this is the best thing to improve it, not this book only (even thought this book is AMAZING), audible and reading. Won't spoiler but REALLY RECOMMEND!!!!

41 people found this helpful

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  • Yvonne den Besten
  • 2019-07-03

Impressive Start

Another book I read because of a Harry Potter-esque recommendation. I don’t know what it is about it, but this book felt very epic to me. I am getting ahead of myself though. This is about a 12 year old girl, Sophie Foster, who has been able to read minds since she was five. One day she meets a boy at a museum whose thoughts she can’t hear, and he tells her they have been looking for her for twelve years. And he also happened to mention he’s an elf, and by the way—so is she.
Sophie now needs to contend with who she always thought she was and who she will turn out to be, a whole new world, with not only a vast set of possibilities (Magic! Immortality!) but a set of strict rules too. As she tries to find her place in a new society and at a new school, where she really needs to work to keep her head above water, it slowly begins to look like there is even more mystery surrounding who she is than she initially thought. Also, there are these mysterious fires popping up threatening to kill humans, and nobody seems too bothered about stopping it from happening…

I like Sophie’s character a lot. She is brave and tenacious and outspoken, all of the characters in here are very likeable, except when they’re clearly not supposed to. Most characters are a lot less whimsical than in Harry Poter, and like Harry Potter it’s very clear who are supposed to be the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ and like Harry Potter the school setting is at times fun and a little ridiculous at times. It really like how the world and the magic is described, you get a very clear picture of how some of it works, and how it all looks.

But there are two things I really didn’t like, and those were the insta-crushing on the cute boys, and how she went from being a moderately ok student in some subjects, to being a boss in all the things, without showing the reader how she made that progression

I think this book sets up the series very well, and I think it will only get more interesting as the characters age with the story. I’m hoping things will get less black and white as this tale progresses, and the thought processes and conflicts get more intricate.
Excited to continue the series. If you loved the pranks in Harry Potter (which I personally didn’t), a very driven main character, school rivalries, fun friendships, even if they are still a little superficial, another beautiful and lush world to discover, and a very colorful magic system, a compelling mystery, and adorable creatures to boot, I would recommend this to you!


I think the narration for this was very good. It matched the stateliness of the older Elves, and all the characters; personalities shone through, but I think she made Sophie's character sound a little whinier at atimes. That could also be because she is really young in this book

17 people found this helpful

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  • Daniel
  • 2019-03-06

Love love love

Originally I bought this book for my niece and nephew at Costco because it looked pretty cool and I want them to be interested in what they are reading but then I was interested in reading it and I end up finishing up before they did. I’m on the second book and I’m loving it so far. great book!

17 people found this helpful

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  • Denae C
  • 2018-12-17

exciting and inventive

I didn't like that the book kept emphasizing how much of a genius Sophie and the other elves were. They didn't act like geniuses. It took her too long to think about her family and too long to put clues together. The elf children at the school didn't act like elite, talented beings who would live forever. They acted like middle schoolers with drama and pranks and complaining about studying.
Other than that, no problems. I loved that Sophie actually got in trouble when she did something wrong (like using telepathy to cheat!), and I love that she confessed and was tempted to misuse her abilities and kept trying to involve adults despite them keeping secrets.

11 people found this helpful

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  • cool bird
  • 2019-12-26

OMG

I love this book Omg it made me cry so much it’s an amazing story!

8 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2021-07-02

Exciting fantasy story perfect for middle school

If you liked Harry Potter, this is a story for you! It's perfect for middle school aged and up. It has a female protagonist but plenty of supporting male characters, so good for everyone. Loved it!

6 people found this helpful

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  • Kiran Kumar Gunda
  • 2020-04-13

AMAZING!!

The book was awesome!! The only thing I suggest is that the person reading can imitate Sophie’s voice a tad bit better. She sounded like Sophie was a 8 year old with a high pitch voice! But still the book was five stars!!! I would really recommend reading it!

5 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2021-03-24

Read this review through to the end, it will surely alter your decision on whether or not to buy this audible.

Listening to this book pains me, but only because I wish so strongly that is was reality.

I would like to give my utmost gratitude to Shannon Messenger, writer of this book, and Caitlin Kelly, reader of the audio book.

4 people found this helpful

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  • Rebecca
  • 2019-07-03

And enjoyable read, could have better narrator

I liked this book, it was a quick light listen. The world was interesting although the plot doesn’t feel like its building and things fall into place at the end. I mostly took issue with the narrator at points, particularly at the end dramatic parts. She makes the main character have a very whiny voice and the villains sound cheesily sinister. I would give the story a 3.75 but I’ll continue because i hear it improves in subsequent books

4 people found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2021-02-06

Great Story with Great Narration

I had read the book some time ago and loved the story then. I was looking for something to listen to on a long trip when I decided to revisit this story on Audible. And it didn't disappoint. It was good to go back to the beginning, after having read the other 7 books currently in publication. The narrator did a great job reading in different tones/dialects to differentiate the characters. And it was interesting to see what elvin word I was saying incorrectly.

The story of Sophie finding out she is an elf(after living with humans for 12 years), trying to fit in with a new culture, making new friends, gaining a new family, and all the trails that come with it, was well written. Yes, you can find similarities to other young reader book series out there. But there is enough that is different to keep you intrigued. I encourage you to read this book and this series. It will pull you in and entertain you for hours.

3 people found this helpful