Book 5: Lodestar

This article is about Book 5: Lodestar. You may be looking for the Lodestar Initiative or the Lodestar Mirror. The corresponding disambiguation page is Lodestar.

Keeper of the Lost Cities: Lodestar
Author	Shannon Messenger
Illustrator	Jason Chan
Publication Date	November 1, 2016
Publisher	Aladdin
Previous Book	Book 4: Neverseen
Next Book	Book 6: Nightfall

Keeper of the Lost Cities: Lodestar is the fifth book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. It was realesed on November 1st, 2016. The cover shows Fitz (center), Tam (right), Sophie (left), and a cloaked figure with the Neverseen symbol on the left arm. This is when the trio raid one of the Neverseen’s hideouts using the Lodestar symbol.

Synopsis

Dark schemes unfold—and Sophie's loyalty is pushed to the limit—in this thrilling fifth book in the bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series.

Sophie Foster is back in the Lost Cities—but the Lost Cities have changed. The threat of war hangs heavy over her glittering world, and the Neverseen are wreaking havoc.

The lines between friend and enemy are blurred, and Sophie isn't sure whom to trust. But when she's warned that the people she loves most will be the next victims, she knows she has to act.

A mysterious symbol could be the key—if only she knew how to translate it. Every new clue seems to lead deeper into her world's underbelly and the Black Swan aren’t the only ones who have plans. The Neverseen have their own Initiative, and if Sophie doesn’t stop it, they might finally have the ultimate means to control her.

Preface

This is what they want.

The words tumbled through Sophie’s mind as she raced up the spiral staircase, counting her steps, trying to guess which door to take.

The first handle she tried was locked.

Another opened into darkness.

A third revealed a path that glowed with eerie blue balefire sconces.

The floor shook as she hesitated and threads of dust slipped through the ceiling, scratching her throat and making it hurt to breathe.

She followed the flames.

Back and forth the halls snaked—a careful maze, designed to deceive. Swallow. Separate.

The tremors grew with every step, the shifting subtle but unmistakable.

And too far away.

No one else would feel the ripples swelling, like waves gathering speed.

They were too focused on their celebration.

Too caught up in their imagined victory.

Too trusting.

Too blind.

Too late.

The ground rattled harder, the first fissures crackling the stones.

This is what they want.

Plot

• Keefe, who is acting as a double agent and is pretending to be with the Neverseen, destroys part of Foxfire in order to prove his loyalty to the Neverseen but is careful that Sophie is not harmed.
• A 'Lodestar' is found in both Prentice's mind (when Sophie searches his memories) and certain parts on different Neverseen hideouts and cloaks. (i.e. On a disk in Keefe's Neverseen cloak, one part of the Lodestar symbol is found. When he changes hideouts, the part of the Lodestar on the disk changes). It is revealed to be a map of all the different Neverseen hideouts. The code that is found from the area a Neverseen was in (Like the hideout Sophie went to when she was kidnapped) can go into the different lines of the lodestar.
• Alden and Fitz talk about matchmaking.
• An Exillium camp is set up at the new Foxfire buildings. The book suggests they are preparing for a potential war. All elves, of every age, practice their skills. One such skill, Outward Channeling, helps Gethen destroy Lumenaria. At the Exillium training, Sophie runs into Tam and Linh's parents and tells them off for being horrible to their children.
• Sophie, Biana and Fitz go to Rimeshire for a "slumber party" and end up searching Alvar's registry records and cracking the Lodestar code
• Juline Dizznee is Squall, a member of the Black Swan's collective.
• Iggy turns purple.
• Wylie gets kidnapped for information about his mother that he does not know
• Wylie's mother, Cyrah was revealed to have been murdered, most likely by someone throwing off her concentration when she was leaping... and that someone was believed to be Lady Gisela.
• Lady Gisela is revealed to have used Keefe's blood to open a mysterious door which will probably be important in the future.
• Sophie has a "stressful" talk about boys with Grady and Sandor, revolving around Keefe.
• Stina manifests as an Empath
• Maruca is related to Wylie and her mom freaked out when Maruca told her about Wylie's condition after hearing it from Stina, who had eavesdropped on her parents. Maruca requests Sophie to convince the Collective to allow her and her mom to visit Wylie.
• When visiting Gethen, it is revealed that there is a second, unknown prisoner. This prisoner is most likely the one that escaped with the rest of the Neverseen.
• Cyrah was revealed to have been coerced into working with the Neverseen, although reasons why are unknown in Lodestar.
• A band of rebel ogres (not under King Dimitar) attacked Lady Cadence when she was over at Havenfield and everyone else who was there. Only one managed to escape: the one who killed Brielle. Sophie was trying to get information out of Gethen with Mr. Forkle and Oralie, while Sandor waited outside when this happened, as only those attending the Peace Summit were allowed to visit Lumenaria.
• Sophie and her family go to Brielle's funeral since Brielle was Grady's bodyguard. We also get a description of the goblin city and Sandor's house.
• Sandor most likely has a crush on Grizel.
• Marella attempts to trigger her ability with Mr. Forkle's help. At the end of the book, it is unknown.
• Sophie gets a new ability, Enhancer, which ables her to enhance others' abilities through touch, hence her gloves.
• Biana and Tam discover the secret of the Neverseen hideouts and find their secret entrance in the Silver Tower: when looking into the Lodestar Mirror (which reflects pure light) you also see the mirror opposite of that mirror. In the other mirror, which enlarges shadow, Tam controls the shadows to make the mirror's density fluctuate, revealing a secret room behind it with a Lodestar symbol gadget. The gadget allows the user to visit any of the Neverseen's hideouts, if they have a shade.
• Sophie, Tam, and Fitz accidentally go to a Neverseen hideout after discovering the symbol; they come upon Keefe, Alvar, Ruy, and Brant. Ruy traps Fitz and Tam in a force field (the scene on the cover), but Tam is able to break through using the shadows. After defeating them, Sophie, Tam, and Fitz take Alvar, Ruy, and Brant as a prisoner. Sophie urges Keefe to come with them, but refuses and takes Alvar and a leaping crystal to Alluveterre in order to gain more trust.
• King Dimitar requests that the ogres leave the treaty and that the rest leave them and their lands in peace. He also realized that the Neverseen's methods to get the Council's attention were useless, only bringing his people pain, and is not trustful of them anymore.
• The Peace Summit was held at was destroyed by the Neverseen. Gethen, Brant, Ruy and an unknown prisoner, later revealed to be Vespera, escaped. During the escape, Gethen and Brant have a skirmish with Mr. Forkle and Oralie; Brant is crushed by falling debris and Mr. Forkle is stabbed by Gethen. He bleeds out after Sophie and Keefe find him and Oralie in the ruins of the castle.
• Keefe manages to steal Fintan's and Kenric's caches; whether the caches are real or not is unknown at this point.
• Sophie and Fitz almost kiss under Calla's Panake but Keefe interrupts and says he knows who the fourth cloaked figure was. Fitz says that he had to ''step up his game' as an explanation.
• Sophie at the end of the book finds her human sister, Amy Foster/Natalie Freeman. She visits her human home with Fitz and Keefe, finding Amy in a closet. Sophie notices that she seems much older, but still recognizable.
• The book ends with a cliffhanger.

Video

Shannon Messenger Lodestar