Keeper of the Lost Cities: Legacy by Shannon Messenger
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Blurb (on back of book):
Illusions shatter—and Sophie and her friends face impossible choices—in this astonishing eighth book in the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series.
Sophie Foster wants answers. But after a lifetime of lies, sometimes the truth is the most dangerous discovery. Even the smallest secret comes with terrifying new responsibilities.
And Sophie’s not the only one with blank spots in her past, or mysteries surrounding her family. She and her friends are part of something much bigger than they imagined—and their roles have already been chosen for them.
Every clue drags them deeper into the conspiracy. Every memory forces them to question everything—especially one another. And the harder they fight, the more the lines blur between friend and enemy
MY OPINION: ****
I know that I've hit the age where I have severely outgrown this series and these books. I first started reading them when I was in fifth grade and now, almost five years later, I have continued to read them along with my select group of friends who have been addicted for years as well. That being said, I have been finding them less and less enjoyable as time has gone on mainly because of the target age of the books.
These are strictly middle grade novels. They do not even hit the edges of the realm of young adult and so they are slightly immature. The language is targeted for middle school at most and the things they say are slightly cringy. However, I did enjoy reading this book mainly because of the nostalgia it brings back to me to think about these characters.
I've basically grown up with them. I'm too young to have grown up with Harry Potter and KOTLC is the next big phenomenon for me personally. I have written fanfiction for these books (which surprisingly are still being read today), and they have played a large part in my childhood.
I have always been a hardcore Sophitz (Sophie and Fitz) shipper to the point where I wrote a fifty chapter fanfic called "Sophitz Forever" (I know, don't judge me). However, after reading this book, I have officially switched to Team Foster-Keefe, despite the bias I will always have towards Fitz seeing as he was one of my main literary crushes back in the day.
The character development of Keefe Sencen has been my favorite part of these books so far. From the first book to this one, he has grown so much. He hides his pain behind jokes and masks his fears behind humor. I just wanted to give him a hug throughout the entire novel. Plus, he definitely has a crush on Sophie but she's too oblivious to see it! The fact that he lets her date his best friend and doesn't speak up about his own feelings because Fitz supposedly makes Sophie happy shows how caring and kind Keefe is. This book in particular centered around Keefe and his "legacy" that was built for him by his evil mother and I liked getting to see more about Keefe.
I also loved the character development of Stina Heks, the mean-girl-turned-nice elf. We have always hated her as a fandom mainly because of how rude she and her family was to Sophie and her friends. However, this book cast a completely different light on her and I liked seeing her change into a nicer person worthy of being in Team Valiant.
This book has very similar structure to the other ones. We uncover a bazillion new secrets and abilities and fail against the Neverseen yet again and we end on a cliffhanger. I think that the series could definitely have been condensed into way less books. However, I enjoy knowing that there's going to be a new one every year as it's become a sort of tradition for me to read each and every one.
Sophie has grown so much since the first book. She's braver, stronger, and more willing to admit to her mistakes. She's still fairly reckless and impulsive but she's learned to work together with a team, even one that has been put together for her. This book explores a lot of her boy troubles which I personally enjoyed reading about because that's one of the main reasons I continue to read (I just NEED to know who she's going to end up with!). Sophie is unmatchable as she doesn't know who her genetic parents are and this causes a lot of problems in her new relationship with Fitz. We do find out one genetic parent and I cannot say I was surprised because it was fairly obvious if you just read the book.
I loved getting to see the minor characters become more major in this book, especially because of Team Valiant.
The book was extremely long (800 pages!) and I wish that it would have been more shorter and faster-paced in the beginning. The first 200 pages were kind of pointless to be completely honest and could have been shortened into a mere 75 pages or so.
Overall, I think I have outgrown this series. Nevertheless, I continue to read and enjoy all of them! It would have so much potential if it were a young adult series rather than middle grade but in the end, I would recommend this book to readers looking for a fantasy, middle grade, adventure-esque novel!
Main Character: Sophie
Sidekick(s): Fitz, Keefe, Biana, Dex, Linh, Wylie, Marella, Maruca, etc
Villain(s): Neverseen, etc
Fantasy Elements: This book had a lot of fantasy creatures, settings, characters, etc
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