Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 4: Neverseen by Shannon Messenger

Summary from Goodreads:

Sophie Foster is on the run—but at least she's not alone.

Her closest friends from the Lost Cities have gone with her to join the Black Swan. They still have doubts about the shadowy organization, but the only way to find answers is to start working with them. And as they settle into their new lives, they uncover secrets far bigger than anything they’d imagined.

But their enemies are far from done, and unleash a terrifying plague that threatens the safety of an entire species. Sophie and her friends fight with everything they have—with new allies joining them—but every choice has consequences. And trusting the wrong person could prove deadly.

In this game-changing fourth book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, Sophie must question everything to find a truth that will either save her world—or shatter it.

Review:

I know I keep saying this, but I’m so hooked on these books! They are the action-packed fantasy fun distraction I need in my life right now. I’m really trying to postpone binging them all in one swoop, but this is proving to be harder and harder to do. I’m already in the middle of the next book…

This book is neat because the kids spend most of it away from their regular elf school. It’s kind of like Book 7 in the Harry Potter series, where the kids are no longer at Hogwarts…they are in the real world. And the real world is messed up. Except here, the real world is filled with secret society adult mentors, gnomes, a deadly pandemic that I was seriously relating to, tree house hideouts where they are still kind of in magic school, and then they get sent to an exiled magic school any way….(sorry for the semi-spoiler), but it’s a main part of the plot.

This is the book where finally several of the things I guessed from book 1 (or maybe book 2?) now happened, and I wish I had someone to say “I told you so” to, like I do with my husband when I call all the plot twists in advance to the tv shows we watch… I’m glad to know I’m not losing my smarts. I’m also not sure kid/teen me would have guessed all these things that adult me has picked up all the clue/Easter eggs to. I also think younger me would have 5 starred every single of these books, and definitely binged them all in one weekend.

I guess my biggest (maybe only?) issue now as an adult with the series, is seeing through my adult lens and just thinking this is just too unbelievable. Like there’s something about the kids in Harry Potter and Percy Jackson being separated from the adults that make their bravery and danger levels seem somehow more plausible. But these kids staying connected to their families the whole time, just somehow complicates the believability factor for me.  No one’s mother would say, “Yes, go to this enemy land, children. With no adults supervision….And rescue this very important antidote….” Or “Sure, don’t go back to school. I support this.” It all seems so far-fetched to me. I guess the families being more absent in the other book series allowed for some more suspension of this belief for me. However, maybe I wouldn’t really be noticing this if I wasn’t an adult….I don’t know.

I do know this issue isn’t enough to stop me from reading. I’ve become a bit obsessed. I’m definitely Team Keefe. He’s probably my favorite character. I’ve grown to like some of the Black Swan a lot too. I’m hoping to get to know more of the Neverseen soon, maybe. All in all, I can’t wait to read more, adult lenses or no. I give this one an 8/10.