Shannon Messenger's latest book in her Keeper of the Lost Cities series, "Nightfall," came out in November. I finally got the chance to read it, and once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.
There are so many things about this particular book that I would love to talk about, but this is the challenge with books in a series ... I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't yet read it. So instead I will focus on why I think you should read this series. Keeper of the Lost Cities is about a 12-year-old girl, Sophie, who discovers she is an elf. It has a Harry Potter feel to it as she was surprised by the revelation "you are an elf," and there's a whole secret elf world that humans do not know about. It incorporates things like the lost city of Atlantis into the story ... an entire story on how it is lost to humans but is not actually lost, which sounds confusing but makes complete sense when you read this series. Elves have an interesting and complicated world that Messenger manages to make easy to follow without losing details of their unique world.
The story is filled with action, adventure, twists and turns, and has enough male characters who support the female main character so that both boys and girls would enjoy this story. This series has brought me to tears over characters, kept me up reading well past my bedtime, and inspired me to share the books with friends. I would definitely recommend the entire series to anyone reading this (and once you get to book six let me know ... I need to talk about it!).
Happy reading!
B