Unrestrained Emotion Unlocked Something Deep Inside

SPOILER ALERT
This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous eight books in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, or don't mind knowing spoilers for them.
SPOILER ALERT

~Unlocked~
Keeper of the Lost Cities
Book 8.5
By Shannon Messenger
Amazon ~ Powell's

In this extra special installment of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, the story picks up right from Legacy’s particularly devastating cliffhanger. But chapters alternate between Sophie and Keefe’s perspectives to give readers deeper insights into both beloved characters. New powers will be discovered. Hard truths from the past will come to light. And all of your favorite characters will find themselves tested in ways they never imagined.


My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I saw the page-count of this book. I was fully intending to have a double-review-week, featuring the latest novellas of two series, but then this one showed up with a 750+ page-count! Luckily there's lots of extra non-story-based extras helping to fill out this "novella," so it shouldn't take nearly as long to finish as I feared. So with the premise clearly established by the devastating cliffhanger from the last book, I jumped in.

This is actually a pretty neat book. If you look at the page count of 752, the novella is actually only 236 pages (which is technically still longer than the actual definition of novella, but as this is much, much shorter than a full Keeper story, I'll let it slide) with the rest of the book being filled with a handy reference guide, some illustrations, and other fun stuff. So if you were blanching at paying full price for a lack of content, this is well worth the the price tag.

I was actually planning on skipping the reference materials, but quickly got sucked in. The book starts out with the elves' Registry, which summarizes known information (history, character quirks, family, and appearance) on all of our favorite elvin characters. I loved that each of these clearly had a person writing them (sometimes clearly more than one) so there is definitely some personality behind the descriptions. For example, one of the section sub-headers for Dex is "A Crush, a Kiss, and Crushing Heartache," so even though readers will find most of this as recap, the information isn't a simple or clinical wiki article (no offense to the Keeper wiki!). And there's plenty of new stuff, like a peek at Keefe's disciplinary record, and Elwin's physicians notes on all of Sophie's check-ins and treatments, which serve as neat behind-the-scenes supplements.

And did I mention there are illustrations of each character?! Not only that, but there are full-page illustrations of families, species, and even scenes from the novels!!! I don't have to tell you how gorgeous this map is, right?

My kindle opened up past this, so be sure to scroll back to the cover if your book doesn't open there.

I was especially grateful for the illustrations of the goblins and ogres, along with the smaller portraits we got of Sophie's other bodyguards. It's been a bit harder to visualize them (especially after a year's break between books) without repeating their descriptors each book. And the scenes Keefe depicts later in the book are just amazing. Admittedly, I would have preferred having the descriptors with or following each picture, but I understand how they're probably printed differently in the physical copy (usually on photo paper) so having them grouped together makes more sense. Still, it would have been a nice perk if the ebook had reformatted it, since "flipping" back and forth isn't as simple there.

But on to the whole reason I picked up this book, the novella. Again, not as much a novella as just a non-full-length Keeper story. Even the author notes that this started out as the beginning to Book 9, but she plucked it out as its own thing. And Sophie's story reads just like that. She's exactly where she was at the end of Legacy, talking with Oralie, and then things move forward just like they would during the first act of a regular book. As such, the ending feels very abrupt, like Sophie hasn't had nearly enough time to grow and change and reach an ending, because she hasn't. She's reached a turning point, but it doesn't feel much different than the initial trip to Exile in book 2—a huge thing just happened that will have overarching ramifications, let's see what happens next. Only this time we have to wait for the next book instead of just the next chapter.

The real draw for this novella is Keefe. Half the story is Keefe's post-transformation reaction, and it is every bit as fascinating and heartbreaking as you can imagine. I don't want to spoil anything (other than it, you know, being heartbreaking) but were it not happening at the same time as Sophie's escapades, he could easily have carried the entire novella. He's got a bit of his own PTSD, though it's not so much panic attacks as it is depression and learning his own new normal with his powers. Elwin's line felt especially poignant:

“It’s not about fixing.” His eyes shifted to Keefe. “You’re not broken, Keefe. I know it feels like it. But right now, you’re just… adjusting.” [pg 599]

Again, I realize what's happening here has a lot of magic and non-allegorical implications, but after being disappointed with Sophie's miraculous recovery, it's somewhat validating to have another shot being taken at exploring mental health struggles.

I also feel like this story might be the start of really delving into the injustices in the elvin sociopolitical climate, specifically regarding inequality and bias. It's been touched on every now and again throughout the series, but is usually overshadowed by Neverseen battles or some other personal drama, but here there is a lengthy conversation in Keefe's part that I think may be the tipping point of actually addressing some issues! It even comes up in the reference sections, so I'm not pulling it out of nowhere. I know this has been something I've harped on multiple times, but I'm really getting excited now. Let's go sociopolitical change for the better!

On the subject of the ending, this novella is anything but self-contained. Though, I suppose that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, given the nature of the rest of the series. Both characters come to major decisions, which promise huge ramifications, but instead of exploring those inciting actions we're instead cut off. Cliffhangers are nothing new for us Keeper fans, but this hits differently. Other books tend to leave off on a huge revelation, like a new piece of information will change everything next time, whereas this one leaves off on a huge decision, which is normally what kicks off each book. So it's a bit of a punch to the gut to have an inciting action but no immediate payoff.

Overall, I think this was a smart move combining an essential, canonical story, bonus materials, art book, and reference guide to make a full-length book. The canonical story gives incentive to casual readers, who are rewarded with bonus goodies, while the collectors might be incentivized by the reference materials and artwork, but are rewarded with the canonical story. The story itself was a little hit and miss for me, with Sophie's half seeming simply cropped out of its book, and Keefe's being a welcome introspective dive into very complex and mature subjects. I guess I'm asking for more Keefe in the future, which I don't see being a problem—maybe another novella down the line? Regardless, fans of the series are sure to love this book and be clamoring for more. And I'll definitely be revisiting this as a handy reminder tool before jumping into the next book (whenever that may be).