Review: Keeper of the lost cities introduces readers to a magical world

Tatjana and Thiemo Hanne have both loved this book series and often recommend it their friends.

Review: Keeper of the Lost Cities
by Shannon Messenger

For a book about a girl living in an unremarkable family in an unremarkable city, this book is surprisingly remarkable.

Sophie Foster is the 12-year-old heroine of this book, and the following eight more in the series, and she is immediately both likeable and relatable.

While Sophie might live in an unremarkable, perfectly average city with a family to match, she herself is used to feeling different.

Since she bumped her head when she was 5 years old, Sophie has been blessed, or cursed, with the ability to hear the thoughts of everyone around her.

While she has never discussed her telepathic skills with anyone, that all changes when she meets a mysterious boy called Fitz who also reads minds.

Fitz tells Sophie she is actually a magical being, an elf, and takes her to Lumenaria, the land of the elves.

There she attends a school for elves, Foxfire, which has some strong similarities to a certain school of witchcraft and wizardry many readers will be familiar with.

As Sophie navigates her way through this new, mysterious world, along with her new friends Fitz, Dex, Marella and Keefe, she takes the reader on a gripping, magical adventure that will have them begging to finish "just one more chapter" before bed.

Even the most reluctant reader will find themselves engrossed in the story, and adults picking up the book might also find they quickly lose themselves in the mystery and adventure it contains.

As any avid reader knows, finding a new series is always a treasure, as it guarantees many happy hours of reading in the future as they move through the books in the series, and with all these books already in bookstores, there is no painful wait for the next one to be released.

The series is best suited to readers aged 8 and above, and any fans of the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson books are sure to find plenty to love in this series as well.

Win: Thanks to Margie and the gorgeous girls at Stratford Paper Plus, we have one copy of Keeper of the Lost Cities to give away to one lucky reader. To be in to win, simply email editor@stratfordpress.co.nz with the words Lost Cities in the subject line. Include your name and contact details please. Competition closes at noon on Friday, February 4, and the winner will be contacted soon afterwards. Prize is to be collected from Stratford Paper Plus.