starkiwi 's review for:

Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

4.0

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Such a fun, light-hearted fantasy read with just enough complicated secret plot to keep you wanting to find out more. I wish I had found this book back when I was a kid. It has so many great aspects that are slowly making me fall in love. In essence, it gives Harry Potter vibes; a kid taken from their family to go live in a magical world finds out they are the chosen one. Only in this book feels a lot more real, delving into aspects about this Harry Potter fails to address. Additionally (though I was a little scared sometimes) there is not a heavy focus on romance even though the main character has multiple friends who are boys. I greatly appreciate the room this leaves for exploration of the world around her and who exactly she is as the 'chosen' one. The only reason I did not give this book five stars is because it was not earth-shatteringly good (although it was good) and there was one character I kinda started to not like near the end for reasons unrelated to the book itself.