This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous books, Keeper of the Lost Cities and Exile, or don't mind knowing spoilers for them.
SPOILER ALERT
Sophie Foster is ready to fight back.
Her talents are getting stronger, and with the elusive Black Swan group ignoring her calls for help, she’s determined to find her kidnappers—before they come after her again.
But a daring mistake leaves her world teetering on the edge of war, and causes many to fear that she has finally gone too far. And the deeper Sophie searches, the farther the conspiracy stretches, proving that her most dangerous enemy might be closer than she realizes.
In this nail-biting third book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, Sophie must fight the flames of rebellion, before they destroy everyone and everything she loves.
Well, I was expecting things to heat up, but this was a little more than I bargained for. Dad jokes aside, I was excited to continue Sophie's saga and see where things headed to next. Only book 3 of this 8+ book series, and we're already approaching Deathly Hallows territory.
First things first: I have no idea where this love quadrangle is leaning. On the one hand, you have Sophie learning to trust Fitz unconditionally, then you have her being terrified of being related to Dex, plus the non-stop flirting from Keefe, and I just don't know who to root for anymore. Okay, that's a lie, I'm still slightly on Team Dex, though Keefe is a very, very close second. Fitz just seems too vanilla, even with his little dragon pal.
Now that that priority is out of the way (*wink*), we can talk about the rest of the book.
This series is not progressing how I thought it would. Not that that's a bad thing, by any means. But for all the comparisons you can easily make to Harry Potter, this series is certainly progressing at a much faster pace. As I said before, we're only three books in and it already looks like Deathly Hallows is about to start: we've just had two surprise villain reveals, two firefights with kids involved, and our main characters threatening to leave school/society and join the vigilantes. Formulaic these ain't. Which is great, but it also means I'm not getting as much magic school as I was craving, so that's kind of a bummer. But I'll live.
I don't know how to feel about Sophie yet. On the one hand, she's older than she seems with all the responsibilities her powers are exposing her to, but on the other hand, she's still a 13-year-old who doesn't always think before she acts. It's just hard reconciliating the two sometimes, especially when she's been explicitly taught that what she's about to do is highly illegal and immoral, despite whatever good intentions she might have. Not only that, but her motivations seem to come out of nowhere, hearkening back to something that hasn't been addressed in days/chapters. It felt a bit forced, if I'm being honest.
That's not to say I don't understand Sophie's reasoning, I just wish her actions fit a bit more organically to the moment. Perhaps if she'd had some reminder of Silveny that morning, or someone had mentioned the Sanctuary? I don't know, it just seemed awfully convenient that Sophie would do something stupid, which would in turn kick off the rest of the events of the book. And when your main catalyst for the story is your main character doing something stupid, it's hard to feel too sorry for what happens later.
Did I mention the firefights in this book? Because there are firefights and there's also fighting fires. For a book so filled with flames, it is surprisingly dark (ba dum chuck). There are deaths, near-deaths, and maimings, not to mention family upheaval and betrayal on display, front and center. I'll admit that with the death being fire-related, in that they never found the body, I'm not fully convinced they won't make a surprise comeback at some point, but since the world treats it as confirmed then it's still a death for all intents and purposes. And the family issues and betrayal definitely hit close to home, as these kids are discovering that blood doesn't have to be a defining factor of your family (though, Sophie should have more of a handle on that, being adopted and all).
Speaking of adoption and blood relations, we finally got a bit more information about the Elves' world. I've been begging for more background on the Elves' society for forever, since it's hard to pick apart a Utopia unless you know exactly how things work. I mean, if finances aren't ever an issue (each Elf is given a birth fund with more money than they'll ever need), then what else could possibly spark a rebellion? Well, for one thing, the Elf population is relatively small, so matchmaking is pretty essential for marriage/procreation in order to ensure not only good abilities/genes being advanced, but that you don't end up accidentally inbreeding. And while those less romantically inclined might groan about how matchmaking factors into Sophie's romantic interests, I was impressed at how this one seemingly minor aspect of their society became integral to the entire backstory and plot of this book.
If the last book's main topic was mental health, this one's focus falls on regulation. How much can a government ask of a private citizen? How much control can it place over its citizens? In regards to matchmaking, can it regulate love? Can you—should you regulate a person's abilities? Even if it's for the safety of others? How do you decide what is and isn't okay? Who is and isn't okay? Even though this book came out in 2014, it seems more timely than ever to teach kids to question the status quo. If things aren't working, it's time for change. And that change is coming.
Overall, I think this was a great continuation and expansion of the series. Even though its main characters are still young, it doesn't shy away from adult issues, which makes me believe it will transition to YA status in the very near future, if it hasn't already. Really my only complaint was with Sophie's impulsiveness being the crux of the plot, and I'm hoping that won't repeat in the future. As I said before, I have no idea where this series is headed, but with at least 5 more books to go I'm excited to see what Messenger has in store for us.
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