Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities

Keeper of the Lost Cities (KotLC) is the first book in the Keeper series written by Shannon Messenger. It was released on October 2, 2012. The cover art shows Dexter Dizznee and Sophie Foster on a bridge in Paris, looking at the hidden leaping crystal on a lamppost.

Synopsis
Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster meets a secret mysterious boy who appears out of nowhere and can also read minds. She discovers there’s a place she does belong, and that staying with her family will place her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a place that is vastly different from anything she has ever known.

Sophie has new rules to learn and new skills to master, and not everyone is thrilled that she has come “home.” She never seems to thinks she belongs, however soon it all changes. There are secrets buried deep in Sophie's memory—secrets about who she really is and why she was hidden among humans—that other people desperately want. Would even kill for.

In this page-turning debut, Shannon Messenger creates a riveting story where one girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world before the wrong person finds the answer first.

Preface
Blurry, fractured images swam through Sophie's mind, but she couldn't piece them together. She tried opening her eyes and found only darkness. Something rough pressed against her wrists and ankles, refusing to let her move.

A wave of cold rushed through her as the horrible realization dawned.

She was a hostage.

A cloth across her lips stifled her cry for help, and a sedative's sweet aroma stung her nose when she inhaled, making her head spin.

Were they going to kill her?

Would the Black Swan really destroy their own creation?

What was the point of Project Moonlark, then? What was the point of Everblaze?

The drug lulled her toward a dreamless oblivion, but she fought back - clinging to the one memory that could shine a tiny spot of light in the thick, inky haze. A pair of beautiful aquamarine eyes.

Fitz's eyes. The first friend in her new life. Her first friend ever.

Maybe if she hadn't noticed him that day in the museum, none of this would have happened.

No. She knew it'd be too late even then. The white fires were already burning - curving toward her city and filling the sky with sticky, sweet smoke.

The spark before the blaze.

Summary
Sophie is listening to her iPod during a field trip, and her teacher, Mr. Sweeney, calls on her to explain what they were talking about. When Sophie answers correctly, her teacher starts muttering how much of a know-it-all she is. The class continues on their field trip. When she leaves class, Sophie spots a boy reading a newspaper about her. The boy asks her if this is her, and she nods, thinking he looks good. This is the beginning of a crush that lasts the entire series. Interrupting their awkward moment, group of kindergartners passes by with shrill mental voices, causing Sophie to reflexively put her hand on her temples to dim the mental pain and notices the boy is doing the same. He asks her if she is a telepath, and Sophie flinches, causing him to realize she is. The boy introduces himself as Fitz and tells her that she is an elf.

Fitz then takes her to the Lost Cities, the cities of the elves, and Sophie is forced to choose to leave the human world. After meeting Alden, Fitz's father, Sophie realizes her family isn't her own and she will have to leave them. Sophie is forced to then drug her family with sleeping gas, taking all her important or sentimental objects, mainly Ella, her bright blue stuffed elephant, so that her parents can have her erased from their memories. She then is immersed in the Lost Cities. Her life is good, but things quickly become strange—and a little bit dangerous. She makes quite a few friends, including Keefe Sencen, Dex Dizznee, and Biana Vacker, sister to Fitz. She also takes in an imp as a pet, and names him Iggy. As soon as things were about to get normal, she gets a deadly allergic reaction to limbium, causing her foster parents, Grady and Edaline Ruewen, to become more protective over her. She is soon subject to her foster parents canceling her adoption, as well as multiple fights with her friends. She then runs away to a cave and hides there, but Dex follows her. They are kidnapped by who they think to rebel group the Black Swan, and tortured for information while the Lost Cities is led to believe that they are dead and hold funerals for them. Then, Sophie's ex-neighbor, Mr. Forkle rescues them, but not for long. Dex and Sophie find themselves abandoned on the streets of Paris, France, and have to find their way back home with the help of a mysterious note. They are again found by the kidnappers, and Sophie discovers that one of them is the elf who tried to take her, back when she lived with humans. Finally, they escape, and light leap away with a hidden leaping crystal. However, as she is leaping, Sophie uses too much concentration to help Dex, and ends up almost fading away. They are saved by Fitz, whom Sophie desperately transmitted to for help, as well as Keefe and Biana. While Sophie is fading, Fitz becomes able to enter her consciousness and transmit thoughts to her, something only a few Black Swan members were able to do before. When Sophie wakes up, she is in the healing center, and a goblin bodyguard named Sandor has been assigned to protect her. She is adopted by Grady and Edaline once again, and the book ends with the narrator saying, "Sophie Foster is going home."

Errors
Kesler Dizznee refers to Timkin and Vika's last name as Logner, when in reality, their last name is Heks.

fr:Tome 1 : Gardiens des cités perdues