Book 6: Nightfall

Nightfall Disambiguation page.

Nightfall is the sixth book of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series written by Shannon Messenger. It came out on the 7th of November, 2017.

Nightfall is the first book in the series to have a Barnes and Noble-exclusive edition. The limited collector's edition of Nightfall contains beautifully illustrated endpapers drawn personally by the author, as well as an exclusive story from Keefe's point of view that will reveal some of Keefe's deepest thoughts—including thoughts about Sophie!—to readers.

To read a short excerpt of the book, click here.

To read the Keefe's Short Story, click here and scroll down.

Synopsis
Sophie Foster is struggling. Grieving. Scrambling. But she knows one thing: she will not be defeated.

The Neverseen have had their victories—but the battle is far from over. It's time to change tactics. Make sacrifices. Re-examine everything. Maybe even time for Sophie to trust her enemies.

All paths lead to Nightfall—an ominous door to an even more ominous place—and Sophie and her friends strike a dangerous bargain to get there. But nothing can prepare them for what they discover. The problems they’re facing stretch deep into their history. And with time running out, and mistakes catching up with them, Sophie and her allies must join forces in ways they never have before.

In this spectacular sixth book in the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series, Sophie must uncover the truth about the Lost Cities’ insidious past, before it repeats itself and changes reality. 

Cover
The cover of Nightfall illustrates (from left to right) Keefe Sencen, Linh Song, and Sophie Foster holding hands to form a circle. They are floating above Atlantis. This is from the scene where the dome above Atlantis has a hole in it, and they're holding back the water to keep the people safe while Psionipaths are on the way. There is a giant ball of water above them.

The three of them are dressed up formally (since they are elves): Sophie is wearing a white, frilly dress with bell sleeves and a green militar-style vest (she wore that when she went to Ravagog to infiltrate Dimitar); Linh is wearing a jade green silk coat dress with Chinese button knots sewn on her left side, with black stockings; Keefe is wearing a dark red coat, lined with golden buttons and with pockets on the sides, over a long-sleeved white blouse, and a pair of ankle-length tapered black pants. Sophie and Keefe are both wearing ankle boots.

Sophie is seen to have a slight flush, and she is staring at how she is holding Keefe's hand (or how high up they are; maybe she is enhancing him) Keefe is staring at Sophie's face and he has a bright smile. Linh is staring into empty space. Her eyebrows are furrowed in concentration.

It can be noted that Sophie does not have her Enhancer gloves on, because she is enhancing Linh so that Linh has the strength to control such a large amount of water.

Plot
Sophie Foster, Fitz Vacker, and Keefe Sencen (Sense-in) talk to Amy Foster, who remembers Sophie. As they make plans to bring Amy to the Lost Cities, Alden, Sandor, and Grizel take charge of matters. Alden uses the same device that Sophie used to sedate her family before leaving the Forbidden Cities to sedate Sophie, Fitz, Keefe, and Amy. Sophie is originally mad at Alden Vacker after waking, but after him explaining her his reasons she accepts what he did was okay. She then has to explain to Amy the entire elvin world, including her friends, Fitzroy Avery Vacker, Keefe Sencen, Dexter Alvin Dizznee, and Biana Vacker.

Following that, she contacts Lady Gisela a lot, sometimes with or without Keefe. She instructs them to do a lot of tasks, which Sophie finds irritating due to her lack of explanations, particularly about Cyrah Endal's death. She eventually tells them, but Sophie is annoyed that Lady Gisela took so long. Her first task is to deliver a note from Lady Gisela to King Dimitar, and get the starstone hairclip that belonged to her. The note explained that she wanted King Dimitar to fight Keefe to see if he was worthy of his daughter being his bodyguard. This causes a lot of conflict between Sandor and Princess Ro (Romhilda is her given name, but she took up Ro).

King Dimitar fights Keefe, and Keefe wins but suffers serious injuries, which Elwin manages to heal, although Keefe is on bed rest for a week. One might notice that Sophie is feeling very disoriented during this journey, and that can be blamed on a kiss that she shared with Dex. This possibly could have ruined their friendship, and Sophie doesn't know what to do. The kiss officially sunk the romantic ship of Sophex/Dexphie.

Sophie and her friends set out to rescue her parents from Nightfall. They discover that there were multiple Nightfalls, and visit both attempting to rescue them. In the first, they find Alvar unconscious and bring him to Choralmere. At the second, they fight Vespera and find out the original purpose of Nightfall: human experimentation. This means that the humans may have had good reason to start a war with the elves, and cutting them out of the treaties was wrong.

After this, Lady Gisela and Ruy Ignis trap Vespera in a Psionipath shield. Lady Gisela then makes Vespera join her, and Ruy rips open a part in the Psionipath shield around Atlantis, causing it to flood. Sophie then enhances Linh's abilities so that she can suck all the water out of Atlantis and keep it out until the Psionipaths arrive so that they can patch the hole with their abilities.

Sophie's family receives the cure after striking a deal with Fintan, and Amy chooses to keep her memories in the end, partly thanks to Sophie's enhancer abilities. Bronte is a big help, and Sophie shares a touching moment with her surrogate mother.

At the end of the book, Alvar wakes up, but upon questioning he asks "Who's Alvar?" which ends the book.

Short Story
The exclusive Barnes and Nobles Keefe short story takes place during the time that Keefe is sent away to heal after he is wounded in the battle with King Dimitar. It logs what he does in the six days that he is out of action.

Day 1: Keefe is checked up by Elwin. He insists that he is okay but eventually gives in.

Day 2: Ro catches Keefe trying to levitate out the window. She threatens him with flesh-eating bacteria.

Day 3: Keefe convinces Ro to go to Candleshade to smash things. Ro is excited to destroy.

Day 4: Keefe makes Ro mad with clinking the pieces she found in his father's desk.

Day 5: Keefe annoys Ro with clinking again. Ro talks to Keefe about Sophie being oblivious to his crush on her. He confesses that he knows she is oblivious. Ro advises Keefe to get Sophie a present and be her friend.

Day 6: Keefe figures out how to put together the metal pieces. Keefe figures out what he will give Sophie to make it up to her: the paintings. Keefe decides he will be "whatever Sophie needed". He would be her friend, "Until she was ready for more."

Trivia

 * The hardcover edition of the book has 91 chapters and 800 pages (including the title pages, copyright pages, and the acknowledgment pages).