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dragongstone 's review for:
Keeper of the Lost Cities
by Shannon Messenger
I really enjoyed this book. It is very much the "not like other girls" and "chosen one" trope. To say this is very along the lines of Harry Potter in the way characters and relationships are developed would not be a stretch. No, I don't say that about every middle grade. It follows a very similar kind of character development formula and I can't quantify it any better than that. In this case, you are following the Hermione like character rather than a Harry character, but that's neither here nor there. Not to mention that Shannon Messenger is not a raging bigot, so that helps. The world, the plot and ultimately characters themselves are all own in the end and I really appreciate that. My major complaint is that there was a bit of deus ex machina near the end and everything wraps up way too nicely in the end even for a middle grade, but that did not prevent me from enjoying it.