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cahnA. really likes me to read books that he enjoyed, and will keep gently pushing until I do (including adorably setting up a little reading nook for me with a pillow and book holder), so along with many Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, I have now read the first Keeper of the Lost Cities books (and am maybe a quarter of the way through the second one).
I first became aware of these books maybe five years ago, when D's niece told me how much she loved them (which then led to a rather distressing conversation with D's sister in which she said she didn't see the point of fantasy -- I need hardly say that D does not share this sentiment -- and in which she was probably not expecting my passionate defense of fantasy; to be fair to her, she has not objected to my giving her daughters fantasy books for Christmas almost every year since then). I read the first chapter and could see the appeal. Sophie, the main/POV character, is a 12-year-old blonde genius with a photographic memory who can read minds; she has never quite fit in with either her family or her world. In that first chapter, she meets a mysterious and strangely attractive boy who reveals to her that she is not human, but an elf!!
Yes, it is basically every wish-fulfillment and Special Snowflake trope you could hope for, all rolled into one; I can see why it has such appeal for the middle-school age group (which this is solidly aimed towards). I stopped reading there. When E was in sixth grade these books swept over her class like wildfire, and even E. who is impervious to her peers tried them out and liked them; however, because E. does not care at all whether I read the books she likes or not, I didn't read more until A. wanted me to.
In subsequent chapters, Sophie is taken to live in the elven cities (it's not entirely clear to me or to my kids where these cities are... one of them is Atlantis but others seem to be sort of... on Earth but I guess hidden really really well or in a pocket dimension or something??) which feature the beautiful, super-intelligent, magical elves who all wear fancy clothes all the time, eat super delicious food all the time, and also where there are dinosaurs and other such exciting creatures. Sophie, of course, is Super Special even within elven society; her telepathy is so strong they've never seen the like before. I think my favorite part is the bit where Sophie has brown eyes, but it turns out that this is exotic in elven society, where everyone has blue eyes. (I note that the author appears to have brown eyes.) Anyway, she then goes to elven school ("Foxfire") where she takes classes, attempts to catch up to many years of living with humans instead of other elves, and makes friends with the other elven students, all while trying to figure out her mysterious backstory that other adult characters will allude to without actually telling her things except when she manages to figure out enough stuff to confront them.
(If this is giving you super Harry Potter vibes, well... yeah, I was getting those too.)
Elven society appears to be extremely classist. There are "nobles": whether you are noble seems to hinge on a) whether you can get into Foxfire, the school that trains nobles; b) whether you have a Special Ability (not all elves do; Sophie, of course, turns out later to have more than one); c) whether you can pass all your Foxfire classes. If you aren't noble, you have significantly less status, you can't be in the government and such, and other noble elves will be mean to you about it. Also, if your parents are a "bad match" (it has not yet been explained what that means), that also lowers your status dramatically. So maybe eugenics in there too? I don't know whether this will be followed up on or whether we're supposed to conclude from the fancy clothes and delicious food that everything is A-OK with the way the society is structured, though I suspect the latter. (There are certainly hints, and eventually more than hints, that the society is not entirely stable, although I don't think the instability has to do with the rampant classicism. Maybe I will be proved wrong in subsequent books, though.)
The target audience is definitely middle school, and an adult might, er, have other opinions (about elven society, say; or the parallels to HP) than the ones a middle schooler might have. But I will say that Messenger does write compellingly, and it wasn't nearly as much as a slog as I was fearing. Which is good because there are, like, 9 of these (so far), and I think A. wants me to read them all.
I first became aware of these books maybe five years ago, when D's niece told me how much she loved them (which then led to a rather distressing conversation with D's sister in which she said she didn't see the point of fantasy -- I need hardly say that D does not share this sentiment -- and in which she was probably not expecting my passionate defense of fantasy; to be fair to her, she has not objected to my giving her daughters fantasy books for Christmas almost every year since then). I read the first chapter and could see the appeal. Sophie, the main/POV character, is a 12-year-old blonde genius with a photographic memory who can read minds; she has never quite fit in with either her family or her world. In that first chapter, she meets a mysterious and strangely attractive boy who reveals to her that she is not human, but an elf!!
Yes, it is basically every wish-fulfillment and Special Snowflake trope you could hope for, all rolled into one; I can see why it has such appeal for the middle-school age group (which this is solidly aimed towards). I stopped reading there. When E was in sixth grade these books swept over her class like wildfire, and even E. who is impervious to her peers tried them out and liked them; however, because E. does not care at all whether I read the books she likes or not, I didn't read more until A. wanted me to.
In subsequent chapters, Sophie is taken to live in the elven cities (it's not entirely clear to me or to my kids where these cities are... one of them is Atlantis but others seem to be sort of... on Earth but I guess hidden really really well or in a pocket dimension or something??) which feature the beautiful, super-intelligent, magical elves who all wear fancy clothes all the time, eat super delicious food all the time, and also where there are dinosaurs and other such exciting creatures. Sophie, of course, is Super Special even within elven society; her telepathy is so strong they've never seen the like before. I think my favorite part is the bit where Sophie has brown eyes, but it turns out that this is exotic in elven society, where everyone has blue eyes. (I note that the author appears to have brown eyes.) Anyway, she then goes to elven school ("Foxfire") where she takes classes, attempts to catch up to many years of living with humans instead of other elves, and makes friends with the other elven students, all while trying to figure out her mysterious backstory that other adult characters will allude to without actually telling her things except when she manages to figure out enough stuff to confront them.
(If this is giving you super Harry Potter vibes, well... yeah, I was getting those too.)
Elven society appears to be extremely classist. There are "nobles": whether you are noble seems to hinge on a) whether you can get into Foxfire, the school that trains nobles; b) whether you have a Special Ability (not all elves do; Sophie, of course, turns out later to have more than one); c) whether you can pass all your Foxfire classes. If you aren't noble, you have significantly less status, you can't be in the government and such, and other noble elves will be mean to you about it. Also, if your parents are a "bad match" (it has not yet been explained what that means), that also lowers your status dramatically. So maybe eugenics in there too? I don't know whether this will be followed up on or whether we're supposed to conclude from the fancy clothes and delicious food that everything is A-OK with the way the society is structured, though I suspect the latter. (There are certainly hints, and eventually more than hints, that the society is not entirely stable, although I don't think the instability has to do with the rampant classicism. Maybe I will be proved wrong in subsequent books, though.)
The target audience is definitely middle school, and an adult might, er, have other opinions (about elven society, say; or the parallels to HP) than the ones a middle schooler might have. But I will say that Messenger does write compellingly, and it wasn't nearly as much as a slog as I was fearing. Which is good because there are, like, 9 of these (so far), and I think A. wants me to read them all.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-01 06:12 am (UTC)Aww! That's the best.
Reason read these all at once (maybe two years ago?) from the library and told me that I wouldn't want to read them. I think that's correct :) and I salute your digging in.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-03 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-01 06:27 am (UTC)Hey, A is me!
(including adorably setting up a little reading nook for me with a pillow and book holder)
Oh, is *that* what I'm missing? :'D
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Date: 2024-04-03 02:46 am (UTC)But seriously, it's the continued suggestion that does it. (I don't necessarily take well to continued suggestion for a lot of things, but for books, yes.) Although A's cuteness helps :)
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Date: 2024-04-03 02:57 am (UTC)I can't do cute, but repeated suggestion is right up my alley! Massie, Massie, Massie...
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Date: 2024-04-03 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-03 03:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-03 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-03 05:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-01 06:57 am (UTC)Aww, that is adorable!
And yeah, I was definitely getting Elven Harry Potter vibes, which, you know what, valid.
You are a braver reader than I am, because while I tried several series my children wanted me to -- for a while they were really into the Sanderson Alcatraz and the Librarians thing, and O was mad about the Ranger's Apprentice books, I only actually stuck with the ones I enjoyed. And none of those were 9 books long XD
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Date: 2024-04-03 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-01 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-03 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-03 09:14 am (UTC)They do serve a handy purpose in giving kids who are learning to read books that they can read themselves and are repetitive and predictable and inspire reading confidence. Parents should never have to read them aloud and the kids should eventually move on to something else. Though as there are 170-something Beast Quest books perhaps some don't and if they are happy collecting Beast Quest, that is fine as long as I don't have to read them. Son had a brief Beast Quest phase but moved on to books about Romans.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-06 08:19 pm (UTC)WOW. Yeah, that's... something.
We also had the Magic Schoolhouse books, did you have those? E. liked them when she was in those early grades -- I read one and it had so many factual errors that I was pretty unhappy. Fortunately A. didn't like them at all. I then passed ours on to a friend whose kid loved them, but the parents joked that they weren't thanking me for them because their kid wanted to read it with them every night.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-02 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-03 02:50 am (UTC)I do think that there could be some great fic written from a more adult viewpoint, though I imagine it's not the kind of fic that people who go looking for Keeper of the Lost Cities fanfic want to read...
no subject
Date: 2024-04-06 05:02 am (UTC)Interesting! Def don't wanna read those books but I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts if you do go on! And yeah I can totally see why they appeal.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-06 08:19 pm (UTC)