Flashback (Keeper of the Lost Cities, #7) (2024)

not enough keefe

Since my work is done with this book, it's time to mark it as read. I can't wait for you guys to read--I hope you love it. I'll confess, I'm particularly proud of this one.

Oh, and just so we're clear:

WHAT THE TITLE *DOES* MEAN: Memory plays a BIG role in book 7 (which you can probably guess from certain things that happened in NIGHTFALL--please don't spoil)

WHAT THE TITLE DOES *NOT* MEAN: The entire book is one long flashback. Mind you, it'd be fun to mess with you guys that way, but even I'm not *that* evil. 🤣 (this is also not a prequel. this is the seventh book, and a continuation of everything. Calling it flashback will make sense when you read)

sophie is literally so stupid i can't.

there are so many flaws in this book and i don't have enough brain cells to make it into a coherent review.

although, i do really want to rant about how repetitive this whole series is. actually though there's literally just one group of enemies and this series has 7 books with each one being like 800 pages. okay. but i guess that's what happens when the main characters are stupid af (except linh, tam, bianca, and keefe keefe was actually so jealous and repetitive in this book though) and they act like they're eleven when they're actually fifteen?? overall, i just wanna say that every book is literally the same and if you want to keep your sanity never read this series!

ALSO THE LAST SENTENCE IS VERY DRAMATIC AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE OVERALL PLOT OKAY. LIKE WHAT WAS THAT.

i'm just ranting okay sorry

Half of this 800 page book Sophie and Fitz were in a bed so....no thanks lol (still love the series though!)

1.5/2

- This book is over EIGHT HUNDRED PAGES.

- Half of it takes place while the narrator is bedridden.

- We do not get answers to even a quarter of the questions raised in this book, and we only get answers to ONE of the twenty plus lingering questions from previous books.

- Keefe was shortchanged. As were Biana, Dex, and Linh. And Wylie. And all of the adult characters other than Elwin.

- I have never seen romance derail a fantasy book's plot this badly. And I've read a lot of fantasy.

- I KNEW the Neverseen were going to try to recruit Tam. I get why, but it's just unneeded. We've already had someone join the Neverseen, we don't need to go down that road again. There are also so many dangling plot threads and only two books left.

- Fitz has always been a character I have struggled to like (or even just to care about). I think a big part of that is because he really isn’t likeable in the first two books (especially in Book 2), and because I’ve always felt that he has ulterior motives for pretty much everything he does (including his miraculous change of heart in Book 3). I was really hoping this book would endear him to me, but it didn’t. It’s hard for me to feel sorry for him re: Alvar given the terrible family situations the majority of the main cast has to deal with (this is even pointed out within the text). The fact that he’s the oldest main character (I’m pretty certain he’s 17 in this book) makes it even harder for me to swallow his behaviour. I say this as someone who absolutely understands how difficult is to have siblings you don’t like and feel are getting a free pass from your parents. Him making snippy comments to Keefe throughout the book (like that one about Keefe’s mom? Yeah, you don’t say that to a friend, let alone your alleged best friend) and calling Dex’s invention junk didn’t help matters.

- Relatedly, I’ve always felt Fitz's dynamic with Sophie relied a lot more on telling than showing, given that she’s always had a crush on him. Nothing that happened between them felt exciting or compelling because I haven't really been shown their relationship develop, I've been told everything about their relationship. I shouldn't be checking my watch when people are confessing their feelings.

- Gethen trying to cajole Fitz into killing Alvar is easily the most compelling scene in the book. If Fitz had done it, it might have made him an interesting character.

- Fitz admitting to leaving Alvar to drown, however, wasn’t nearly as interesting. It happens off screen, and felt like a bit of a cop-out. And of course, Alvar isn’t actually dead. OF COURSE. And I'm sure that Fitz is going to free pass for that in the next book (because being a cute boy gets you a free pass for everything from verbal abuse to attempted murder in this series!). God forbid we actually get a nuanced discussion about morality and difficult choices!

- That’s the Vacker legacy? Really? Really? I’m pretty sure the Vacker legacy is low blows and "taking the easy way out", as Keefe so aptly put it.

- Umber’s entire character/death reminds me of how George Lucas set Count Dooku up as this ‘epic’ villain, before unceremoniously killing him off five minutes into Revenge of the Sith.

- I have a theory about what's going on between Fitz and Keefe (and Alden...) and if I'm right...oh boy...

Overall: This should have been the first stepping stone to the finale, but it read like a book in the middle of a series. The plot was almost non-existent and the vast majority of the book felt like filler. The romance was a huge drag and the majority of the main cast was sidelined. Whereas the other books I have disliked (Book 1, Book 4, and Book 6) all had strong moments to balance out the bad (especially Book 4), this book didn't.

DD 13 June 2018. I want it now! Gimme my KLT fix!
I don't know how this series managed to have been published under my nose without me knowing about it. I know even less how I managed to stumble upon it, ungracefully, and hardly fall in love with this world. Moarrr!
💝 18 June 2018: I'm SO ready to get my hands on this one! This had better be goooood!
July 2018: 5-star-prerating it: I'm invoking my right of the reader expecting the n-th sequel to a series that has already produced 6 no-nonsense 5-star books... I don't think this one has any chance to be any less excellent than the preceding books.
DD 30 Jan 2019. Yay!

Q
“Ugh, you guys have really out-sparkled yourselves with this place. (c)
Q
“Do you think it’s weird to punish someone for crimes they don’t remember committing?” … Alvar’s future is being decided by a past he doesn’t believe is his.”(c)
Q
for the first time, she understood why people often paired the word “handsome” with “devastating.” His white-blond hair grew to a dramatic widow’s peak, adding a severity to his perfectly chiseled features. But it was his eyes that demanded the most attention. Dark as a midnight sky and shining with an intensity that could only come from millennia of wisdom.(c)
Q
I prefer the solace of home. It’s the only place where my mind doesn’t struggle to separate what is from what used to be. (c)
Q
...things from our past are often more than they seem.(c)
Q
“The lake was so serene at night, the way it reflected the stars. It was the perfect place to let my mind rest after a long day of bending the sun.”(c)
Q
“It’s quite tragic to think how often crucial choices come down to our best guess.”(c)
Q
“Generally, the most powerful plans are also the simplest.”(c)
Q
He was so determined to be angry that it was honestly kind of adorable. (c)
Q
She’d spent weeks stressing about how little they were accomplishing, and Dex had used that same time to build secret weapon stashes? (c)
Q
“How many weeks do you think the new guard would last before they’d run screaming back to Gildingham?” (c)
Q
“Everybody out! Lord Funkyhair needs a pep talk.” (c)
Q
“Um, are you living a double life as a creepy Shade? Because that’s who messed me up.” (c)
Q
“You’re saying this is a sixth element?” Magnate Leto clarified. “Earth, wind, water, fire, quintessence, and... shadowflux?” …
Just as fire hungers and wind breathes and water roars and earth waits. I’ve never been near quintessence, but I hear it pulses. And shadowflux dreams—hovering high above, waiting for something to capture its interest. (c)
Q
Everyone would rather sweep the knowledge away, bury it with the other bits and pieces that don’t fit within the neat box we use to define our world. But that won’t stop it from existing. Just like it won’t stop a few brave souls from reaching for the sky, calling for that pure, raw darkness. (c)
Q
Safe nor deadly. It is all things, waiting to discover how it will be wielded. What you do with it is entirely up to you. (c)
Q
But darkness is vital—and not because it teaches us to appreciate the light. It’s part of everything we know, and we’ve only begun to harness its potential. (c)
Q
A sliver of shade on a scorching day.
The first wisps of a long, quiet night.
The shadow of a perfect hiding space. (c)
Q
There’s greatness in you, Tam. But it will never amount to anything unless you embrace it. (c)
Q
Do you realize you look like a cornered gremlin whenever you have to talk about this?
Gee, thanks.
What? Gremlins are cute. (c)
Q
The motherly alicorn insisted on sorting through Sophie’s recent memories, catching every single one of the doubts and worries that Sophie was trying to bury. And instead of the usual flying dreams, she filled Sophie’s head with images of them galloping through the white-capped rapids of a surging river—cold water crashing into them. The currents tried to drag them under, but they kept their legs moving, kept their heads above the surface because they were stronger and faster and more powerful than anything the river could throw at them. (c)
Q
I guess the imaginary pieces of memory are all in the imaginary box now … (с)
Q
And wait a minute—I just realized we’re Legacy Buddies! We should get matching tunics that say, My Legacy Is Creepier Than Yours! Or I tried to discover my legacy and all I got was this ugly tunic! (c)
Q
The thing is... talking about it made it real. And I didn’t want it to be real. I wanted to pretend my life was as perfect as yours. (c)
Q
“Pretty sure he’s going to be up freaking out anyway. It’ll be way more entertaining if he’s all loopy.” (с)
Q
But if you forget to reach out, I swear Fitz and I will find a way to smack you with our brains. (с)
Q
A song of weathering storms.
An anthem for rising up and growing stronger. (с)

.......actual rating 2.1....

*Throws book across the room, and screams in horror*

Oh, sweet baby Jesus, please let this series thrive.

Plot: Sophie is tired of being useless, and after a major accident that almost got Fitz and her killed, she wants to fight back. Alvar is heading back to the Vacker's home, and tension rises within the group. They learn new secretes, and the alicorns come into play. Blah. Blah.

*deep breathes*

I hate everyone in this book. Everyone. Even my beloved Keefe, maybe a little less, but still. I hated them all. Fitz the most though. Ugh.

This book was 800+ pages, and through half the book (that is 400ish pages) was Sophie and Fitz stuck in the medical center. That was all. 400 pages wasted, as nothing happened during those pages. The only thing that happened was some "great" Sophie and Fitz bonding. (gag).

For the next half of the book was basically Sophie "trying" to get her strength back, but she is mostly worrying about if Fitz likes her. Oh no. What shall she do. (gags again).

And when she wanted to fight back, she barely had any training. Like barely. Lame. Lame. Lame.
And she always faints during battles, and acts all weak. LIKE OMG. YOU ARE SO PATHETIC. She always needs Keefe (who she is obviously hurting, as she gives him mixed signals) and Fitz to hold her hand. Aww, wee lamb. *throws up*

What I hated most was how everyone was so immature, even the adults. Like I know this is a Children's book, but Percy Jackson was more mature than these clowns and they are 15-17 years old. Like the adults are so stupid, and keep getting in the way, and are worried about who's dating who. And same with the group, they are more focused on who's dating who. Like omg, stop.
Sophie and her friends act like they are 11 years old, and playing heroes vs. villains. They get nothing done, and when they say they will fight back, they don't!

Annnnd. The betrayal. When Silveny basically lied to Sophie and got her in a trap, to protect her babies. I "liked" how Sophie was totally okay, with the betrayal. And basically no emotion with Tam's betrayal too. But this was so stupid. Like, when Lady Grisel asked to recruit him because of Umber died. Uhhh. Cuz that makes no sense, hun. Cause he is obvi going to go against you, because you blacked mail him and all. But ok...

Anyway. Sophie is disgusting. I hate her. I hate her with a passion. All she was worried about who she likes. She thinks she is an amazing "pep talk" person, when really she isn't. And I hate that she has barely any confidence and the boys find that attractive. When the ending happened and Sophie was "unmatchable", I rolled my eyes. Like great, now she can feel worse about herself. It is so annoying to see someone to put themselves down for the stupidest things. Also, Sophie is such a dumb know-it-all.

And how can Sophie like Fitz? He becomes such a jerk in this book. He is a horrible person to is so called "best friend" and is like so clingy to Sophie. And he whines, and he is such a baby. Like he is suppose to be like 17 but acts like a 10 year old. *major eye roll*. why did she have to choose him? Keefe is way better. Like way better.

Overall this book was a huge disappointment. Nothing happened, no character development. And FITZ VACKER SUCKS

UPDATE:

I've just read the "special extra scene from Keefe's pov" and I have three things to say

1, Alden can f*ck off

2,

Ro rolled her eyes. "Of course you are. That's what you do - sabotage yourself over and over because it's easier than putting youself out there!"
"I'm not sabotaging anything! Sophie's not some prize that Fitz and I get to fight over. And she has her own feelings - and no one knows those feelings better than I do!"

She sighed. "Fine. I'll leave you to your sulking. But just... promise me something, okay? Don't give up."
"I'm not," Keefe said.
And he meant it.
He wasn't giving up.
He was just... waiting.
Being the best friend he could be.
Trying not to wrech anything.
And hoping, hoping, hoping that someday things would change.

Oh god, where to start?

But there’s nothing truly new in this world. Only new combinations and interpretations. Creation is about building upon what exists and making it your own.

It's the 7th book. I'm going into full-on spoiler mode. You have been warned.

First thing first, this book has no buisness being this long. Half the length would be still much considering how little plot it has.

With the previous books I enjoyed the ride more or less, but now it really started to be boring.
The first book was a masterpiece, I was OBSESSED, but since book 2, I can't even tell you what happened, everything is one big blurry mess. The books have no beginnings and no ends, no structure at all. It's like the author just writes it as she goes and forgets to give it to developmental editors.
So much happened since book 1, but it feels like nothing happened at all?

It used to be so much fun guessing what will happen, but now I'm just reading it for the characters and because I want the "bad guys" to win. In quotation marks, because I’m still not sure about their plan.

The middle dragged. Like big time. We were in the school hospital (idk what's it called) for fifteen - you read it right, FIFTEEN - chapters. Nothing happened for fifteen f*cking long chapters. No one thought, “uhmm, maybe we could cut it at least in half”?

When I say Fitz was probably my favorite thing in this book while I don’t like him at all, it says a lot.
It took him 6 books to finally have some personality, but we're getting there. I loved how he was so against Alvar. It’s hard to write this down, but he was the only sane one in this book. The “we are good, so we are better and we forgive” gets old really fast.
Plus Keefe told them Alvar had his reasons and would never leave the Neverseen. He always believed in their cause. So even if he did not get back his memories, the moment he figured out their agenda, nothing could have stopped him to join with them again.

But of course Fitz had to go back to his book 2(?) (idk when was Alden’s mind broken) self. Boy has only two sides to him. 1 being blank, 2 being angry. If I could describe him in only two words, they would be pretty boy, but that’s not a personality trait, so there's that.

Let’s talk about Sophitz, because I hate it so much.

In my opinion Sophie is in love with the IDEA of them being together. It’s a childhood crush. Fitz is pretty and he was the one who introduced her to the Elf world. But they don’t have anything in common other than their abilities. If they stay together they will be the most basic, boring ass couple who either never talk to each other or fight all the time.

Also:

"Guzzling gross elixirs would be way easier than trying to figure out how to apologize to Fitz without the rest of their friends noticing."

Sophie’s shyness and awkwardness when she is with Fitz reminds me a lot of when I didn’t know yet I wasn’t actually interested in guys, but tried to date/fall in love with them. It’s like your mind wants it, the picture you imagined, but your heart and body protests.
And Sohie's body knows she doesn't actually like Fitz. She doesn't even know him, really, because they don't talk to each other.

And here comes my baby Keefe.

Because Sophie is so comfortable with him. And that’s because he is a friend (I dare to say best friend) first, while Fitz is a crush first and friend second.
Keefe and Sophie has a lot of heart-to-hearts, they actually know each other, while Fitz and Sophie don't talk and don't really have an emotional connection either.
Fitz hurts Sophie, while Keefe and Sophie learn and grow together, making each other a better person.

"And Keefe was right where she’d left him—right where he’d said he’d be—his arms stretched out and ready to catch her, like he’d known she’d be dizzy and heaving by the time she finally fled."

To the plot:

They want to reset the timeline with the alicorns, and they happend to have one boy and one girl babies (*eye rolls*), but it's still one family. The only way they won't go extinct if they mate with each other. Which is... whatever, but what about their genetics? Then it has to continue, since there are no other alicorns, so it will be sibling-mating until the end of time? Is it a plothole or what?

And if we are here, I want to complain about their almost death. Of course they were saved. Of. f*cking. course.
It's so irritating at this point, but the only reason I can't be 100% mad, is because the trolls were my other favorite part, they are probably my favorite species in this series now, and we got to know more about them thanks to this incident.
They are so fascinating from their birth to their different phrases of life. Give me a book just about them, please.

But while the alicorn babies were in the biggest danger, and Sophie said they have to be fast, she actually talked with Tarina for half an hour. I mean, same, girl. Priorities. Tarina is an absolute queen. She is smart and determined. We stan. But those babies were dying.

Ro is a genius and my spirit animal. No wonder she and Keefe are such good friends, they are literally the same person. Unbeatable duo. Chef's kiss.

The moment it turned out Alvar was in on the plan and he is still with the Neverseen, he became my new favorite character.
Rue can confirm I was suspicious of him from book 1, so I never liked him, but he delivers! Betrayal, baby!
I'm not even mad he is not dead. I was for a while, because I thought for a second Shannon had the balls to finally kill someone, and I can’t stress enough how annoying it is that everyone lives all the time, but I’m rooting for the Neverseen. Hardcore.
Don't judge me.
At least they have a plan, an agenda.
What the Black Swan has? Whining, that's what.

But if Lady Gisela is so sure everyone will understand and join their cause at the end, why doesn't she just tell them what it is?
Also, wouldn't it be the biggest plot twist if she was right and the Neverseen was the good guys the whole time?

She also couldn’t decide which thought was scarier: that there could be something fundamentally evil in someone that guaranteed they’d turn bad someday, or the idea that any person, under the right circ*mstances, could end up a villain.

Buddy read with Rue

ahhhhhhh another book

the feels!

my heart!

fitz!

sophie!

keefe!

biana!

dex!

tam!

linh!

and of course another two years of suffering

~2 stars~

(Re-read 1/7/21)

This book was not good. As much as I hate to admit it, but it simply was not. It was boring, and way too long. My hand hurts from lifting it up, and this book is best utilized, due to its chuncky size, as a weapon.

I felt like basically nothing happened. We spent a good chunk of the time in the healing center and I had to drag myself through this. The plot is basically going around in circles and we are no closer to the resolution than we were 2 books ago. So many mysteries remain unsolved, and storylines repeated in different ways. And I know that the next book doesn't take us any closer to the end either, which makes me nervous for the finale.

I don't like the main romance. It takes away from the plot and was not at all needed, especially in a middle grade book. We got more of Fitz and Sophie "bonding" than actual action scenes. It's not a healthy relationship either, and Sophie just annoyed me in this book. She lacked confidence and was so unsure of herself, and needed validation. And that validation had to come from a guy liking her back. Also a big NO to the love triangle.

Fitz was also extra annoying. He litterly just spent the entire book screwing everything up with his anger issues, and everyone forgives him so easily. But now at least, having read the extra story in the back of this book, know he gets his emotional manipulation gene from his father. Alden is slowly starting to get on my bad side.

The writing was repetitive. This is something that made me dock the rating for other books in the series. There is too much smirking, blushing, winking etc. and I don't like it. I like the writing style as a whole as it is easy, but this aspect has to be my biggest pet peeve when it comes to this series.

The Neverseen is still thriving, the best characters were in this book too little, and I was so bored, that I willingly took breaks from this book to do homework. But it had a few merits, and a few scenes I enjoyed which made me bump it up to 2 stars. Thank you Ro for singlehandedly saving this book, and I just want to say, that I would sell my soul to be able to read Keefe's A Ballad of Bo and Ro. Goodbye.

Well, this series has hit a new low. Flashback removes everything that was still entertaining about this series and instead gives us endless discussions of logistics, medical treatments, and more Fitzphie than I can handle.

So. Much. Boring. Filler.
Have you ever wanted to read an extensive novel about a character in a hospital stay that details every mundane detail of their treatment? No? Me neither! And yet, early on in Flashback, Sophie and Fitz get injured and have to stay in the hospital wing (or whatever it's called in this series) at Foxfire for an extended period of time. To be specific, they spend 8hrs and 40 min of the 23hr and 9min long audiobook in the hospital. That is 37.5% of this 848 page book. 37.5% of a book late in the series not accomplishing anything.

Instead of plot progression or character development for any of the long-neglected side characters, we are graced with endless descriptions of injuries and treatments and Sophie and Fitz being disgustingly mushy. After they finally get out, we shift to endless bodyguard logistics discussions. Why? WHY?! Why waste hundreds of pages on nothing? Why not just fast forward through the hospital stay? And why are we wasting time talking about more bodyguards when we all know they won't be able to protect Sophie? She will obviously have to face the Neverseen again because plot (or lack there of).

Everyone but Sophie and Fitz get the shaft in this book. All the wonderful side characters are almost completely absent until the final fight, and in its place we get the Neverending Fitzphie Show. When anyone else is actually present, they are reduced to commenting on the love triangle. Why can't Tam, Linh, Marella, Wylie, Dex, and Biana have their own side plots and character development? Why can't we ever see Sophie interact with people who aren't love interests? Can anyone talk about anything other than who Sophie's dating? Even Keefe, the shining light of this series, is written out of most of this novel in the stupidest way.

Fitz has somehow become an even more terrible character. Fitz, who has managed to be incredibly perfect and boring this entire series, has doubled down hard on his one defining character trait: anger. This character has had some serious anger management issues since book 2, and though we saw some resurgence of it towards Keefe back during his Neverseen days, it has come back in full force in this book. And yet everyone just hand waves it away! Remember how much grief everyone gave Keefe for being reckless? None of that for perfect boy Fitz. Let's take a look at a couple excerpts, shall we?

Fitz whipped around. "So then you guys knew this was happening?"
"Fitz..." Della tried.
He shook his head, turning to Sophie and Keefe. "Did you know too? Is that why you're here?"
-----------------------------
"If we didn't let them use Everglen, they would've found somewhere else."
"Fine by me!" Fitz shouted.
"I dunno," Keefe jumped in. "Wouldn't you rather be able to keep an eye on Alvar?"
Fitz reeled on him. "You're on their side? Is that why you just sat there and talked about your stupid hair?"
"Okay, first? We both know my hair is awesome," Keefe said with his hugest smirk yet. "And second: it's not like they're setting your brother free. Were you listening to Dizznee? I'm pretty sure if Alvar breathes too hard, Dex'll zap him."
"Don't even get me started on Dex," Fitz muttered.
"I know," Biana said quietly. "I can't believe he knew for a week and didn't tell us."
Sophie opened her mouth to defend Dex but swallowed back the words. She could tell Fitz and Biana weren't ready to hear them.
Fitz must've noticed, though, because he reeled toward her. "Don't tell me you're okay with this."
"'Okay' isn't the right word," she mumbled. "I think... it's a hard call."
"A hard call," Fitz repeated. "That's it? I thought for this of all things, we'd be on the same side."
"We are," Sophie promised, reaching for him.
He jerked away. "No, we're--"
Keefe stepped between them......
-----------------------------
"It's killing them you know," Biana said quietly. "Knowing you're here, still recovering, and don't want to see them. I catch mom crying all the time."
"Good," Fitz said.
"Don't be like that," she told him.
"And don't tell me you're on their side now!"

I also find it weird how often we are told Fitz and Keefe are best friends, because I cannot remember ever seeing Fitz act like it. He lashes out at Keefe a lot, and refused to give him the benefit of the doubt throughout the entirety of his time in the Neverseen.

Let's also not forget Fitz has been repeatedly pressuring Sophie to sign up for the match, and implied he wouldn't date her if she didn't because he didn't want to be in a bad match. Yeah... Can you feel the love?

Still no sign of any plot progression. I'm not even sure if the author knows where this series is supposed to go anymore. What has been the point of the last 4 books? There's a scene early on where Keefe goes over all the stuff they don't know about the Neverseen, which is basically everything. And then the author even reverses one of the Black Swan's only accomplishments of the last 4 books. Making the caches fake was incredibly unnecessary and infuriating. What was even the point of the entire story arc of Keefe joining the Neverseen for anyway? How can this be book 7/9 (or possibly 10 as I have recently heard)?

I'm starting to get really sick of the Neverseen outsmarting everyone. This goes way beyond your standard making-your-villains-clever-to-make-the-good-guys-underdogs stuff. The Neverseen literally know everything the good guys are going to do. Everytime. Conflict scenes are not even suspenseful anymore. Because I know the Neverseen have predicted everything that will happen and it will be revealed they manipulated Sophie and Co. the whole time and this was all part of their plan, etc., etc. Since every scene of the good guys "winning" has been reversed to be all part of the evil plan all along, what does it even matter anymore.

Looking back the plot of every book has basically been:
1) Sophie and Co. investigate Neverseen stuff.
2) Obnoxious love triangle nonsense ensues.
3) All interesting side characters get to do nothing.
4) Sophie and Co. discuss the most recently introduced convoluted plot point.
5) Hundreds of pages of filler ensue.
6) Sophie and Co. confront the Neverseen.
7) Everything was part of the Neverseen's plan all along because they predicted everything ever.
8) Sophie and/or one other friend gets injured, but they all escape because plot armor.
9) We learn nothing of the Neverseen's goals. The End.

I'm sorry, but this is just not gonna fly anymore. We are 3/4 of the way into this series (supposedly)! This series needs to get its act together and start building towards something. Or completing character arcs. Or making an actual point. Or resolving the many unresolved mysteries. Or something. How many more books is it going to take?

So much convoluted detail! It seems like the author has gotten lost in details. Details can be great, but not at the expense of the plot. Which is weird, because despite the fact these characters talk about almost nothing but the plot, we have still gotten nowhere. Instead we have to talk about the 73rd jewelry gadget Sophie has acquired, or the endless, stupid love triangle, or a million what-ifs about the Neverseen's plans, or Sophie freaking out, or the latest addition to the mess of convolution, shadow flux. Yep. As if there weren't enough stupid random convoluted things our heroes have to deal with, something called shadow flux is introduced here, and you will hear a lot about it. Far more than you will ever hear about the Neverseen's motivations, or character development for all the side characters, or the good guys actually accomplishing something.

It's Spoiler Time!
Nothing is accomplished. What a shock. To no one's surprise, nothing of note is accomplished in Flashback, except another member of the Neverseen is conveniently killed by accident (not through our heroes' wits, of which they have none). I'm disappointed. Umber was really built up in this book, and she didn't really do much at all before being snuffed out.

Even after all Sophie talks big about this time being the time they will be prepared, and this time they will fight back, and this time they will win and blah blah, Sophie and Co. are once again outwitted by the Neverseen and get captured almost instantly. The bodyguards are once again basically useless. Sophie literally falls into every trap the Neverseen set, yet again.

This time, Lady Gisela beat them.

Alright, let's talk about Fitz again. I hate Fitz. I have always hated his character and after this book I now REALLY hate him. He does at least finally get some character development related to his anger management. Here are a few more excerpts:

Biana looked convinced, especially when Keefe told him, "He's telling the truth. I'd be able to tell if he wasn't." Fitz snorted. "Right - like you could tell with your mom." Which was a super low blow.
-----------------------------
Fitz had his arm pressed to Alvar's throat. Cutting off his air supply. "TELL ME WHAT YOU WERE DOING OUT HERE!" he demanded ...... When neither of them seemed to get through to him, Sophie stepped closer, whispering in Fitz's ear, "You have to be careful of your echo."
-----------------------------
Before Dex could answer, Fitz let out a frustrated growl and yanked the bracelet off his wrist, flinging it into the darkness as hard as he could.
-----------------------------
But when she told Fitz that Keefe also thought he should wait, Fitz's mental voice sharpened. "Well that's convenient."
"What is?" she asked.
"Keefe siding with you. I wonder why he'd do that."
-----------------------------
"There was a moment, as the cubby was filling. Alvar was pounding on the glass, shouting things. And... I looked at the panel and realized one of the buttons probably opened up a drain. And I stopped pressing things." Sophie's mouth went dry with the confession, and her insides twisted all kinds of horrible ways. But, she knew what he needed ...... "Life is series of hard choices."

Sophie is frustratingly calm in reacting to Fitz's anger issues. These are some extreme red flags about his character. When he literally nearly murders Alvar, she's just like "oh, be careful of your echo, sweetie." She actually apologizes to him at one point. She APOLOGIZES when she did nothing wrong! This has some serious abusive relationship red flags. I am horrified that the author is not analyzing this. This is middle-grade for goodness sake. After Fitz actually murders Alvar, she just says "life choices are hard." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Finally, after the life choices comment she gets understandably freaked out by him and runs into Keefe's arms. But if I thought that would be the end of the horrible love triangle plot, then... well I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore. There was a minute I thought Keefe and Sophie would discuss it. Or at least Sophie and Fitz might. But nope! After ALL THAT Sophie just carries on like nothing has changed between her and Fitz and she's still in love with him? Really? REALLY?! Are you f*cking kidding me?

Oh but PSYCH! Alvar is alive and escapes because no one dies in this series except unimportant characters. But alive or not, let's not forget Fitz did not just contemplate, but attempted to murder someone. And didn't regret it. We're not going to analyze this at all? Just right back to Fitzphie blushes and giggles? I want to vomit.

Sophie still has these random moments when she turns into a complete unlikeable asshole. She still gets jealous anytime Fitz and Linh are even in the same room. And then there is this scene:

Sophie glanced at Fitz, wishing they were trusting people she actually liked. But they'd lost enough time. "Okay," she said. "Let's go." Under different circ*mstances, Sophie might've enjoyed how much the Hekses flailed and screamed when she made them plummet into the void - or the way they landed in a heap among the grassy dunes.

Her obnoxious self-importance is in full view not much later as well, when she is throwing her weight around in front of all the veterinary experts, hysterically insisting they are not trying hard enough and that there must be a way to save Silveny's babies just because she wants there to be. Even though all the experts are doing all they can. Clearly the calm-mindedness one would hope for in a leader.

On an unrelated note, I was pissed Keefe wasn't present for the whole Silveny incident. He is the character who was with Sophie for all of the Silveny stuff thus far, it seems a bit unfair to not let him take part in helping her after all that, just so we can have stupid Fitzphie be alone.

But since nothing sad is ever permanent in this series, Tarina pulls a deus ex machina out of her butt.

Poor Tam. Because this series is determined to accomplish nothing and reverse any accomplishments that actually occur (ie. the fake caches reveal that destroyed Keefe's character arc), apparently we now have to watch Tam go through literally the same character arc Keefe just went through. Are you kidding me? One angsty-good-guy-joins-the-bad-guys arc is enough for a series, thank you very much. And now I'm sure we're now going to have to waste the whole of the next book to wrap up this Tam plotline.

I wanted Tam to get some of his own character development, sure, but not the same character development as Keefe! And despite all the talking to Vespera and Gisela, you'll never guess what we still don't know about.

"The day will come when you'll finally understand what we're truly working toward..."

Yep. That's right. After 7 books, SEVEN BOOKS, we still don't know what they Neverseen's plans are. *flips table*

The Match
Really? After all the pain the Match has caused Jolie and Dex's parents, Sophie just registers for the Match anyway? Just like that? Because Fitz gives you flutters, we're giving up on all our morals and any attempt to make a point with these books?

Random Thoughts
---"Keeping track of dates in the lost cities was impossible." ...Tell me about it.
---Best quote of this book: "Why do clothes never have enough pockets? There should always be lots of pockets."
---Do these elves eat anything other than sugary sweets?
---Sophie learns to throw daggers in 30 min? Really? Really?
---Seems kind of hypocritical and racist (species-ist?) that the elves talk about ogres/goblins kissing as something "gross." Maybe the ogres and goblins are sick of watching the will-they-won't-they nonsense going on with Sophie? I know I am.
---Not a fan of how a normal thing like birth is treated as something disgusting by Sophie.
---I'm getting a bit tired of how all powerful Ruy is.
---No one assumed the villains would notice them training with weapons in plain sight?
---How do the trolls keep the newborns from murdering each other?
---Isn't it pathetic that human fingerprint sensors are more secure than the stupid elves' DNA sensors that apparently open to any trace of someone's very easily stealable DNA?
---Marella gets shafted as expected, just like Tam, Linh, Biana, Dex, and Wylie. Despite her manifesting as a pyrokinetic being a plot development with huge potential.
---For all the powers Super Special Snowflake Sophie has, she doesn't use them much. Or effectively.
---Freaking horrible love triangle has hijacked the plot. No one likes love triangles.

Keefe is 100% right that the Alvar-opens-the-gate plan was long-winded, convoluted, and could have been accomplished much easier. What a great analogy for this series.

Flashback is my new least favorite book in this series. I honestly can't think of anything I liked about this book. Which is sad, because every book so far has at least had some parts I enjoyed. This book had some huge pacing problems, and that is saying something for this series. I still think overall this series is ~2.5 stars, and I would've given this book 2 stars, if only for Keefe and my other favorite side characters occasionally making a cameo, but I'm subtracting another for her not analyzing Fitz's actions. First the gnome slavery thing and now this. I don't know right now if I can stand to keep going unless she reverses the Fitzphie stuff. Not analyzing the potentially abusive tendencies of Fitz is downright dangerous.

What this series needs
I still think this series has potential to be decent, but it has increasingly focused on the worst aspects of itself over the past few books. This is what needs to happen to get this sh*t back on track:
---Have Sophie stop hand waving Fitz's anger issues and realize that Fitz lashing out, accusing her of taking sides, pressuring her into the match, acting extremely jealous, showing violent tendencies, etc is not healthy or normal relationship behavior. And no amount of cute boy can make it ok. This is extremely horrifying to me, seeing how often these traits are rationalized in real life. It doesn't matter that he's sweet sometimes. Manipulative behavior intermixed with sweetness is textbook abusive relationship. Please don't let this stand, please back pedal on this plot.
---Just end the horrible love triangle already. No one likes love triangles.
---Let all the wonderful side characters have character development and let them talk about things other than the love triangle or the Neverseen.
---Pick up the pacing A LOT. Start solving mysteries, have our heroes accomplish something, stop reversing deaths. We are 7 books in. It's time to build to the finale.
---Stop shuffling the villains and tell us what the Neverseen's goals are. PLEASE.
---Decide on your message and stick to it. Is the message prejudice is bad? Then make sending this message a priority.
---Be aware of the real world implications of your writing when you get into topics like slavery, racism, abusive relationships, abortion, science, vaccines, etc.

Can this series still be salvaged? I don't know. But I'm not super hopeful right now.

I am aware that this definitely won't be a popular opinion and that a lot of people are gonna disagree with me but...

PLEASE GIVE DEX AND BIANA MORE LOVE.

I loved the book and have been in the fandom since Exile came out and I gotta say, I really loved the Keefe Sencen back in KOTLC and Exile better. From Neverseen, we can clearly see how much development Shannon has given Keefe. And I get that he has been flirting with Sophie since KOTLC and I honestly don't mind it but too much of anything is never good. Maybe it's just me but I feel that there's just too much of Keefe lately and not enough Fitz, Dex, Biana lately.

PLEASE GIVE US SOME GURL LOVE.

Sophie technically only is close to Fitz and Keefe and ever since the infamous kiss (actually since Neverseen), Dex has been rarely mentioned unless they needed help with his abilities.

I can't say much about the plot but for relationships wise, IF THE ROMANCE WAS TONED DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY AND SOPHIES PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH BIANA AND DEX ARE IMPROVED I WOULD EXPLODE WITH GIDDINESS.

Also, Fitz. Keefe had his fair share (okay, not really fair) of development but IT'S TIME FITZ HAD SOME TOO. (Besides the time in exile where we literally only learnt that Fitz's default was 'angry' and that he gives gifts and are cognates with Sophie)

Okay, now for the twins. I absolutely adore Tam and how he overprotects Linh because THAT IS THE MOST ADORABLE THING EVER. Linh is also an absolute cinnamon roll and no one can convince me otherwise.

This series has been amazing so far and even though the love square/triangle makes it frustrating at times, the plot is amazing and the idea of the Lost Cities itself is enough to keep me hooked.

SO THIS SERIES IS STILL AS AMAZING AS EVER AND IF YOU HADN'T READ IT, GIVE IT A GO. AS LONG AS THERE'S MORE LOVE BETWEEN BIANA AND SOPHIE I'M GOOD.

4.5
Out of all the books in the series, so far this has to be my least favourite. It still was very good, but it wasn't as good as the previous books in the series. I may be bias about some aspects which I'll get to in a few moments, but even without those I still think this will be my least favourite book in the series. (btw, if you ship Sophitz prepare for some enlightenment. I'm joking, mostly, but I want everybody who ships Sophie with Fitz that I mean no offense, I'm just stating my opinions. And I'll probably make a lot of jokes while doing so.)

This book could have been a little bit shorter. It has eight hundred pages! And more than two hundred of those Sophie spends in the Healing Centre. TWO HUNDRED. There were things happening during that part of the book, but it still felt like it was dragging. It got so annoying at some point, especially since Fitz was in a lot of those scenes while at the Healing Centre. In the first books I was neutral about his character. I liked the friendship between him and Sophie, but in this book he became so annoying, I wanted to punch him in almost every scene that he was in.

And here comes me rant about why Sokeefe is better than Sophitz. Enjoy! And maybe if you ship Sophitz, I'll be able to enlighten you! So let's start. Why do I ship Sophie with Keefe instead of Fitz?

• Towards the end of the book, Keefe was doing everything in his power, to help and comfort Sophie, and make her feel better, and what was Fitz doing? Being mad at her, even though he continued saying he wasn't mad, it was clear that he was. Keefe cares about Sophie more than he cares about himself, while Fitz cares mostly about him and what he feels. It is shown through out the books that he cares for Sophie, I don't deny it, but whenever he faces a dilema, that doesn't only affect him, but also others, he only cares about himself! He never does anything to help Sophie, if that problem affects him too!

• Fitz has serious anger issues. Whenever he gets angry he threats Sophie so badly. What happened during Exile is proof of that. At the beginning of this book, if Keefe didn't stop him he would have unleashed his anger on Sophie, again.

• Fitz is so jealous and overprotective! He is so jealous of the friendship (although we all now it's more than that) between Sophie and Keefe. We can see from early on in the series how jealous he is because of that.

• Keefe has always been so considered and there for Sophie. ALWAYS. He may have done a few bad choice, but everything his done, he has done because he wants to make everything right. He feels the need to redeem himself because of the Neverseen (if you read the series up to know you probably know what I mean). Whenever Sophie needs help he is there for her. I'm so mad that everybody knows that he has a crush on her, except Sophie (and most likely Fitz)

Ok, I feel like I already talked wayyyy to much on this topic. Hopefully, Sophitz shippers, I have enlightened you since Team Foster-Keefe will forever be superior!

I really wish we got more of the other characters. This book was mainly focused on Sophitz. Keefe was pretty present in this book but not as much as would have liked. Ideally, he would have been more present that Fitz, but, alas, the annoying Fitz had more page time. I feel like Dex is getting less and less page time as the series progresses and I'm not okay with that!

The short story at the end with Keefe and Alden made me so mad. I trusted you Alden! You disappointed me. I love Alden's character as a parental figure in this book, but he annoyed me to no end in that little story. He should have stayed quiet and let things unfold on their own!

That ending. That freaking ending. I already started Legacy and I can say, it's not getting better. But as everybody keeps saying. Things have to get worse before they get better. (Question, does anybody know how many books will be in this series in total?)

Although I feel like I said a lot of negative thoughts in this review, there were still a lot of things that I loved this book. But Fitz is an annoying jerk and I really needed to rant about that. I think I said enough about this book and about Sophitz, for now. I'm pretty sure you'll see another rant in my review for Legacy once I finish it.

Feel free to rant with me about anything related with this series in the comments and tell me any thoughst that you have. But if you have not read thsi series yet and you're still here. What. Are. You. Doing. Pick this series up!

3 1/2 stars

Every time Sophie thought his name, she could hear her human parents’ voices in her mind, explaining all the reasons she should never play with fire. And yet, here she was, stepping right back into Fintan’s game.

I couldn't sleep last night because I was thinking about the last 10% of the book so much. UGH. This book is really hard to rate; the first 50% was slow and tedious, and even though Sophie and Fitz's bonding time during this period was important (and appreciated!), it made me doubt the rest of the book.

I was wrong to ever doubt Messenger's storytelling skills.

Yes, the first half is boring, but the second half is wild and introduces the heart-stopping action readers have been hoping for. The "sitting and talking" stage that took place throughout the duration of the two previous books is over, and I expect the next book to continue the fast-paced, exhilarating plot lines.

“If I fall in, you're not allowed to laugh.”
“I would never. I'll even give you my cape to dry off.”

What made the second half of the book far more appealing than the two previous books was the fact that the love triangle is finally solved! Sophitz, being canon, (unless something really bad happens) makes room for more severe problems and eases tensions between the characters. Now, Sophie and Fitz are able to focus on forwarding their relationship and dealing with their demons together. Meanwhile, Keefe and Sophie's relationship becomes more defined; their friendship reminisces of old times, and I find it suits the both of them, specifically Sophie, because she is lacking that strong, platonic bond.

Speaking of platonic bonds- where in the world were Dex and Biana? Dex has been missing through big chunks of previous books, but Biana seems to have followed suit. I hope Messenger gives her an important role to play in the next book because I believe female friendships are crucial- and without Biana, Sophie doesn't seem to have any.

"What if I told you I stopped pressing buttons?"
"I . . . don’t know what that means."
"There was a moment, as the cubby was filling. Alvar was pounding on the glass, shouting things. And . . . I looked at the panel and realized one of the buttons probably opened up a drain. And I stopped pressing things."

The hive scene. The greatest scene Messenger has ever written. I'm not lying when I say I was light-headed- nauseous, even- when I read this. It's this specific scene that kept me up at night because this is Fitz we're talking about. Fitz, the Golden Boy; Fitz, the boy with the teal eyes and perfect smile. His anger issues have been explored in the past few books, but it really makes an appearance in Flashback. Although I wholeheartedly agree that these darker emotions are needed in order to make Fitz a well-defined character, I find it hard to believe how much his hatred toward Alvar has increased. As a matter of fact, I noted it to be a little too intense, although it would make sense if Alvar and Fitz's relationship previous to the betrayal were explained more.

A few lines after this scene, Sophie is so shocked by Fitz's actions, that, despite attempting to hold his hand, she is unable to, and runs outside to Keefe. At this point, I was worried the newly created Sophie/Fitz romantic relationship was destroyed and Messenger had intended to show how Sophie was picking Keefe. However, this was not the case, and the two eventually apologized and continued supporting each other. This is a proper relationship, and Messenger writes it well; I am eager for what she has in store for the couple.

"No, I’M sorry. I shouldn’t make this about me. And . . . I know there were a bunch of times yesterday when I was a total jerk and—"
"Don’t. It was a horrible day. No one handles situations like that perfectly. But we got through it, and now . . . we just keep going."

The ending was a little predictable, but still saddening. It works as a segue to the second "chapter" of the Sophitz relationship- Fitz choosing between Sophie or the Vacker legacy. Knowing Fitz, I have a feeling he will choose the former because he has proven himself countless times that he is loyal to those he loves.

Sophie, on the other hand, has changed the elvin world countless times. I won't be surprised if she changes the world once more.

First to write a review! Even though none of us have read it and my page may have not of refreshed.
Who else is dying of excitement????!!!!

I’m upset. This was my number one most anticipated release of the year, and I was heavily let down. The first 100 pages were a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️. The next 600 pages ⭐️. The last 100 pages ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. And although I really don’t like Fitz as a person, I was excited to see him have to to deal with the consequences of him “killing” Alvar. I was pumped: “Finally! A main character that has somewhat negative traits other than anger!” Alas, Alvar just had to escape; which I kind of think is a cheap shot on the reader. I’m pretty over Alvar’s story line, especially since he just sucks . I believe that if Fitz was forced to face guilt over killing Alvar, he would have become a much more complex and interesting character, and a character I have stood to read about. But no, he’s innocent, as is every mother F-ING member of Sophie’s group.

[5] Things I Hate About [Flashback]

1. FITZPHIE: So.Much. Annoying. Romance. If you couldn’t tell, I ship Keefe and Sophie, and this book is basically a Team Foster-Keefe nightmare. The chemistry between Fitz and Sophie feels so forced. Like Fitz has no characteristics other than getting mad and being attractive.

2. FILLER: This is very obviously a filler book. The cliffhanger at the end sets the reader up for an interesting story in book 8, but ultimately leaves book 7 to be full of nothing. There is at least 200 of Sophie in the hospital. And it was her-moping. This book was a BIG YAWN.

3. DEX: Dex? Who’s that? I miss book one, where Dex actually got to be a part of the story. He was such a sweet cinnamon roll of a character and now he’s thrown in as a major side character. Give at least 100 pages of Fitz to Dex; he deserves it a lot more. For example, Dex possesses actual character traits. What? That’s a thing?! Because after reading this book, I’ve realized the only characters with an actual personality are Dex, Keefe, Tam, and (I guess) Sophie. So, either give me more of them, or give me character arcs DIRECTLY relating to the other characters, having nothing to do with their sibling.

4. PERFECT CHARACTERS: Ok, I think I was reading about this in my KOTLC discord chat, but I can’t not talk about this. This kind of relates to what I talked about in the opening, but everyone in Sophie’s main group possesses no negative qualities. Absolutely. None. The characters face immense grief about stupid things that never come up in the story again after a chapter, yet after a battle where two of the Neverseen die, they’re unfazed. Someone got a scratch? WE MUST TRAIN UNTIL WE DIE. Speaking of training, it was absolutely useless. I was excited to see Sophie and her friends being badasses, but was instead greeted with hospital scenes.

SOPHIES RESPONSE TO THIS LINE: “So I just wanted to say: you don’t have to act like it’s a secret. Because it’s not. Never really has been, honestly. I’ve been waiting for you guys to figure it out for years. I am pretty sure our whole group has, between all the blushing and the cute little gifts and the ‘look at us, aren’t we the cutest cognates ever?’ and the ‘let’s stare into each other’s eyes and do some trust exercises,’ and the ‘ teal is my favorite color in the whole world but no one realizes why’ “ (676)

I read this this and thought: BIG FACTS.

What was Sophie’s response?

“‘Wow. Okay. Not sure why you’re being such a jerk about it, but...’”

Sophie.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

In conclusion, Flashback was a big rip in the chat.

4/12/20
hi! so as I look back at this review, I still stand by the points in which I made, but please excuse the fact that I wrote them like an angry teenager (i was one while writing this review last year )

2/26/18
Ok so I’m still on book two and I already spoiled half the series but I just want Sophie and Keefe to be together OK?!?! And WE HAVE A DESCRIPTION

3/12/18
COVER!!!!!!!!

4/30/18
I was about to start this with “ok so” again, and then I realized that my writing skills having plummeted since last semester because I haven’t written an essay or anything in 5 months and I can’t pronounce anything anymore but whatever.

Ok, enough about me. 800 PAGES. I’m shooketh. @shannon messenger, if you wanted to send me an ARC of this, I would very much appreciate #icantwaitfivemonths

I am so tired of this Lady Gisela chick.

I’ll admit that this was probably my least favorite of the series so far. Mainly because at the beginning, Sophie and the group are attacked and seriously hurt. Seriously hurt as in the bones in Sophie’s right hand are basically shattered. So there’s a lot of healing that has to happen and it takes about half the book.

As far as Fitz vs Keefe. I still really don’t have an opinion on who I think is better for Sophie. I really like Sophie and while I do like both of the boys (really the whole group), I think they need to work on different things (Keefe needing true confidence and willing to put the past hurts behind him & Fitz not being so angry when things don’t go the way he wants and looses his temper too often) before I would ship either of them fully with Sophie. There’s moments with both of them with Sophie in this book that are cute, but again, I don’t prefer one over the other. I will say that I’m super curious about the matchmaking as the ending of this book was exactly how I was expecting.

(Also, that bonus scene at the end? Um, oww. Like literally, ow. I hate love triangles for this reason. Someone is always going to get hurt.)

I will continue to say that I do not recommend this series for middle grade readers (8-12) and that it’s better for 13/14+ because of the villains and many near death experiences and such.

Main Content
Once again, this book is about the same as all of the prior books, but it definitely starts out strong with Sophie and some of the bunch being attacked by the Neverseen and seriously hurt; The bones Sophie's hand are basically shattered and Fitz's leg is broken badly (but thanks to Elvin medicine they'll be okay in a few weeks). Because of this attack, Sophie and the bunch decide to learn how to fight & potentially kill an enemy (Sophie struggles with the idea of taking a life, but it's explained that the enemy wouldn't hesitate to kill her and they can't take down the enemy by relying just on their abilities; “Killing will always feel a little wrong—and in some ways, that’s a good thing. It helps us know where to draw the line. But it could also cost someone’s life, so I’ve trained my mind to focus on the reasons I’m fighting, rather than the fight itself.” (said by Sandor); The villains aren't afraid to cause harm to these young teenagers and it's pretty despicable how they taunt Sophie with harming her loved ones (one of the villains is pretty hung up on the fact that Sophie isn't be ruthless like she is); The training and fighting parts are easily semi-detailed and Sandor makes it real for them by adding red juice when they hit the target). Sophie has PTSD from past attacks and kidnappings.

A death (the person is crushed, up to semi-detailed). Assuming a person was killed (in a drowning-like scenario, up to semi-detailed); Others are attacked by mutant-like creatures & deaths of the creatures and who was fighting them ((also a couple mentions of the creatures eating their kill, barely-above-not-detailed), else wise up to semi-detailed). Two animals are tased (up to semi-detailed); Sophie has the after-effects of being attacked by a Shade which causes there to be a "monster" in her head (it's not really a monster, but that's how her brain categorizes it, she's told) and she struggles with negative thoughts which grows the "monster" ( At the end, she's able to control the shadows and it's said to be "just something else that lived inside her. Something she could embrace..

Fitz attacks his brother & thinks about even killing him at one point (Fitz is very upset about Alvar not remembering all the past evil he's done); Many mentions of torture, those who were tortured & left to die, pain, blood/bleeding, injuries, etc. (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of murders from prior books.

Continuing mentions of the parents-of-the-year (Keefe's parents and the Song parents) and their verbal abuse towards their kids (including a time where Keefe's dad threw a glass of wine at him); Fitz is very mad at his parents for allowing his brother to come home & pushes them away while saying hurtful things; One of Sophie's new bodyguards is very quick with coming up with lies and cover stories, which makes Sophie wonder if she's impressed or unnerved by it; Sophie's parents tell her that they know she's doing a lot and that they never want to get in her way or put her in a position where she feels forced to lie to them, so they ask her to at least make sure she informs someone with what's going on and know that they are always there for her.

Language such as "what the--" and "gah" are used up to a couple times each; Mentions of curses (not written out).

More crushes and boys stuff than the prior books as there's a confession and the start of not-dating (they call it "waiting" and will do that until it doesn't feel so scary) in this book; Touches, Nearness, Embraces, & Hand holding; Noticing & Blushes; A couple almost kisses & a cheek kiss; A few mentions of a past kiss; Mentions of animal labor & the very high possibility losing the baby (barely-above-not-detailed).

Some Shades (those who controls the shadows) are obsessed with the darkness (because that's where they can gather shadows) and look down on those interested in the light or those who control the light (One Shade says that the light will always be weaker than shadows).

A couple mentions of elves living for thousands of years and could possibly live millions of years (but no one knows because there's never been an elf that dies of old age); Mentions of evolution-based animals and prehistoric bugs; A couple mentions of someone looking like a goddess; "There’s nothing truly new in this world. Only new combinations and interpretations. Creation is about building upon what exists and making it your own." is said by a side character.

I can't believe I've been a fan of this godforsaken series for four years.

WELL THEN.

Probably 3.75 stars (it was too long and THAT WHOLE THING AT THE END WAS NOT OKAY AT ALL, plus MY KEEFE CHILD WAS NOT IN THIS ENOUGH AND NO ONE CARES ABOUT HIM ANYMORE thanks to stupid Fitzphie) but still really really good. Not my favorite of the series, that's all xD

Buddy read with Nicole Dust!

This is the first time I've felt a bit meh about these books, which made me sad.

It was still a good book, entertaining and captivating as all the others, but there were a few things that made me less enthusiastic about the book than normal.

First of all, I think the pacing in this book wasn't very good. It started pretty well, but then after some action it dragged and dragged on for a while. The scenes in the hospital were tedious, and I didn't like the whole deal with the echoes. It felt kind of like the author realized she had made Elf medicine too powerful and needed to think of this very complex reason why Sophie had to stay in the hospital for a while.

Then there was also the fact that this book introduced a lot of new elements, which made it feel less cohesive and a little messy. I'm not sure how relevant this will all be in the long run, and I had a hard time getting myself to care about it. I didn't care for Sophie's new bodyguard group, and didn't really feel like the troll stuff was all that interesting, even when it came up in the story's conclusion.

My biggest gripe is probably the romance. I've never been a fan of how it was handled in these books. There was a love square (now triangle) that Sophie seemed somewhat aware of but never really acknowledged, and even now that some stuff has started happening, she keeps seeming willfully oblivious. Not only that, but the plot keeps providing reasons why she can't just be together with one person, when it's obvious the two like each other. I'm not particularly fond of the Sophie/Fitz ship, but then again I don't think I'm very fond of Sophie/Keefe either. I like her relationship with them both, but I prefer to explore them in a platonic way rather than focus on the crushes. That said, there's no good reason why Sophie and Fitz aren't just dating, when it's so clear they like each other and they even said so in this book. It feels to me like the author doesn't want them to get together yet, but keeps having to invent reasons to keep that from happening. Another problem I had with this aspect of the story was that Sophie barely seemed to get any time with her friends that aren't potential love interests. Dex is again largely missing from this book, as he seems to have disappeared a little since getting over his crush on Sophie. It's like he's not important anymore now that he's not a 'candidate' for the position of Sophie's boyfriend. For example, I would love to see her interact more with her female friends, or Wylie or Tam. But that barely seems to happen.

That all said, I still did enjoy the book. For such a long book, I flew through it and really wanted to keep reading and see what was happening. But I think that's largely because I've grown invested in the characters over the past books, and not so much the plot of this particular book. I do feel sad that I now have to wait for the next one, though. I am really curious where the plot goes after this, but I hope it's a bit more focused. This book felt a little like a filler in some places, even though it did introduce a lot of new information as well.

Originally I gave this five stars. But I have since lowered it to two after further thinking.

Literally, after seven books, no progress has been made in the series at all.

A list of plot points that turned out completely useless:

Saving Prentice. Whoops! He doesn't remember a single thing.

Joining the Neverseen to be a spy and stealing to do so. Turns out they didn't give him ANY information AND it turns out they don't have two caches or even one cache but instead, they have none.

Breaking Fintan's mind.

Healing Fintan. Turns out that Fintan got away and now one of the only good characters on the earth is dead. But they also learned nothing.

Saving the trolls. They haven't done anything.

Saving the gnomes. They ALSO haven't done anything.

Bodyguards. Literally, what's the point of bodyguards? She gets captured JUST AS MUCH as before.

Invading the ogre city for a cure. Turns out there wasn't one

Have 5625 abilities. They barely use them. Why does Sophie even have that many (and why does she just keep getting more?) Why do the elves even need them when they already have about 15 universal abilities?

That just became a rant. I'm hoping in book eight they will make one inch of progress towards winning. And maybe also a little character development for literally all the heroes.

Non-Spoilers:

I'm very upset, but I can't say why because this is the Non spoiler section. I really did like this book. Maybe not as much as others, but still amazing! A certain thing I would change, but you know.
Fitz go super annoying in the book before, and now I full on hate him. Or at least dislike him. His anger issues NEED TO be solved. And I hear he's worse in Legacy. So you know, I'm scared.

TAM!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

My poor Keefe! He's gone through so much heartbeat. why do authors torture our favorite characters? Or sideline them? I'll never know.
Grady and Edeline are so cute when it comes to Sophie's love life. Speaking of which WTF DID THAT CLIFFHANGER MEAN???! AHHH!!!

Spoilers!!

Sophie's Character Analysis:

I have said this in pretty much every review since it started liking Sophie. But she's amazing! She doesn't make the best choices sometimes, especially in the love department. Nevertheless, She's still a great character. I would jump in front of a freaking train for her with absolutely no hesitation.
Anyways, I do not agree with her and Fitz. She deserves better. Like a certain guy that starts with the K, has great hair, and he's really sassy. I wonder what it means when it says she's "unmatchable." It makes me wonder what it means for Sophie. Well signed up with anyone? Will it be with Keefe? Will she end up alone?
Her powers are just growing and growing, And it makes me happy that she's not a pyrotechnik. He doesn't get all the glory, or all the special powers. (Though she kind of still does) I hope to see more of her sister, cause I really enjoyed the interaction a few books ago.
Her character development is unmatched. Maybe that's what it meant. Because it's true.

Fitz Character Analysis:

Congratulations! You have undone all the loyalty, all the love that you have built up from me and the past few books. I really did appreciate your character, and you really just messed it up in this book. You need. To get. Your anger issues. Under control! I'm done with the. With them you are toxic and I'm I'm done with it. With some you are toxic and undeserving of any of these amazing characters. of any of these amazing characters. And whoopee! I hear you got even worse in legacy. So that's great. His character development was really good, it's not the best, but it is a good example of good character development. And he just can't completely And he just completely unraveled that.

Ro Character Analysis:

I had to do her, purely because she's such a good character. I know what she's not a huge main character, which are the ones that I usually do for these character analysis. But I couldn't just not do one.
Ro is sassy and smart and funny. She's super loyal, and can and will kick your butt. I love her so much comment and I truly think she's one of Shannon's best characters.
Anyways, just had to do her because I just love her so much and she does have the shout out!

Keefe Character Analysis:

Oh boy. He's gone through so much, and doesn't deserve the emotional heartbreak that Shannon is giving him right now. It's so obvious that you like Sophie and she's just so oblivious to it. And then she and Fitz are just rubbing it in his face. I don't know where Shannon is going with Sophie's relationship come out which I'm usually able to do. I've only been wrong about who gets together with who a couple of times in my life. Which I am proud of. But for these books, I don't know. I guess we'll find out.

Thoughts On Plot:

It was very interesting, and you really do never know what the never seen his planning. Even as the read are you get to experience with the same thing that the Characters are going so which I feel is a very unique experience and books. I can sometimes guess what's gonna happen, like with Alvar's betrayal in Neverseen. But that's very rare, especially for these books. I had no idea, which made it much more interesting.

Final Thoughts:

The ending was VERY CONFUSING WHAT'S GOING ON??? I'M SCARED!!!

It pains me to give such a low rating to a Keeper of the Lost Cities book, but I honestly didn't realize how many problems it had until this reread. I skipped the entire time Sophie and Fitz were in the Healing Center, which is HALF THE BOOK, and if I was someone who was just reading this book for the first time, I would only be confused about a couple things that could've been explained in maybe a couple chapters. So I would say it's just filler, but Shannon doesn't need filler. If they had only been in the Healing Center for maybe 100 pages, the book would still be around 500 pages and that's plenty long for the amount of actually important things that happen here. So why did she think it'd be a good idea to describe what happened during their recovery in FULL. DETAIL. STEP. BY. STEP.

WHYYYYY.

And even if you cut that out, there's still just too much meaningless talking, planning, and internal monologue. I found myself skimming a lot and missing absolutely nothing. If that's not a sign that this book needs major editing, I don't know what is.

Anyhow, the other reason it's my new least favorite book in the series is because of the Fitzphie content. Fitz is such a toxic boyfriend. And they're just gross.

BUT THEN, there's Keefe. *takes deep breath* Let's think about Keefe Sencen, shall we?

Keefe grew up his entire life with two verbally abusive parents and a best friend who was constantly showing him up. Then, he found out his mom was a leader of the Neverseen, thought she was dead, discovered that all of the horrible things his mom was doing were 'for him,' all the while keeping up a selfless, lighthearted personality while he slowly broke inside, then when he made bad choices to try to fix his mom's mess, instead of being comforted and told it wasn't his fault he was blamed and guilted by his entire friend group.

AND NOW. He has to watch his best friend win over the girl he loves more than anything else in the world and try to be happy for them. HE WANTS HER TO BE HAPPY, EVEN IF THAT MEANS SHE CHOOSES SOMEONE ELSE.

And she did.

So, um, if I was Keefe I would've run away from my life and its problems long before Unlocked.

Bottom line: Keefe is carrying this entire series on his back 😟

So zäh wie ich Teil sechs stellenweise fand, so sehr habe ich den siebten Teil der Reihe geliebt. Wobei ich eigentlich gar nicht so wirklich verstehen kann wieso eigentlich, denn die meiste Zeit über liegen Sophie und Fitz krank in ihren Betten und dementsprechend spielt sich die Handlung überwiegend im Heilungs-Center der Foxfire Academy ab. Allerdings beginnt das Buch mit einem großen Knall und der hallt sehr sehr lange nach. Mit einem ähnlich großen Knall endet das Buch dann quasi auch und diese Art des Aufbaus einer Geschichte liegt mir scheinbar eher, als es bei Teil sechs der Fall gewesen ist, in dem hunderte von Seiten gefühlt gar nichts passiert, nur damit dann zum Ende hin die Hölle losbricht.
Auch die ganzen neuen Charaktere, die man hier kennenlernt, haben sehr zum Unterhaltungswert beigetragen und dann gibt es da noch eine bestimmte Sache, an der mein Herz sehr hängt und jetzt kann ich es gar nicht mehr erwarten, die Reihe weiterzulesen, denn in Teil 9 soll etwas passieren, worauf ich gefühlt schon ewig lange warte. Wir werden sehen... Teil sieben hat mich jedenfalls wieder zu hundert Prozent begeistert!

1.) Keeper of the Lost Cities ★★★★★
2.) Exile ★★★★★
3.) Everblaze ★★★★★
4.) Neverseen ★★★★
5.) Lodestar ★★★★★
6.) Nightfall ★★★★★
6.1.) Nightfall: Keefe Short Story ★★★★★

WE KNOW THE PLOT
SORT KF
WHO IS GOING TO FACE A DANGER
WHAT IS WORSE THAN THE NEVERSEEN
WHAT MERMORIES
WILL WE FIND OUT HER PARENTS
I
NEED
THIS
NOW

FLASHBACK
WAIT WJDBSJX
OK BREATHE SAGE
BrEAtHe sAGe

This book was 800 pages of Fitzphie.
I feel personally attacked.

More Keefe plz 😭 less f*tz 😡 more Page time for Dex 😔

Tbh, it wasn't quite as good as the others... [Note: this spoiler is something about a ship] Honestly, the Sophitzness just seemed SO cliche and this was the first time in the whole series when Sophie was kind of getting on my nerves. I mean, she was CONSTANTLY thinking about Fitz throughout the ENTIRE book, and it's WAY too late now to develop their relationship like this. Sophie and Keefe have a SUPER strong relationship, and it would've been much better if she decided to make THEM almost kiss instead of Sophie and Fitz. I feel like Sophie and Fitz's relationship is mostly based on appearance... Also, the ENTIRE first half of the book was Sophie in the Healing Center. The second half was really good though, and I LOVED Sophie's 4 new bodyguards ;). Also, the scene with Silveny giving birth to the twins was SO good, and it's good to see Stina's character developed a bit more. I also thought that Tinker's workshop sounds SO cool!!! :D I'm going to end this review right here because I'm going to find a way to get to that place...

FITZPHIE!
FITZPHIE!
FITZPHIE!
FITZPHIE!
YAYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

me later:
pinterest.com/pin/489696159481808401/

Does anyone else wish that Fitz had stayed sedated the whole book?
Would've made it THAT much better. We DON'T SEE ENOUGH OF KEEFE IN FLASHBACK.
My favorite moment might be this: Fitz is gone home, Keefe just took Sophie to the Mentor's cafeteria for secret butterblasts, and Dex is getting PAGE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

A LITTLE OVER A YEAR LATER:
I have a confession to make.
So this is after I read Stellarlune, okay? I'm sitting in bed with Stellarlune (Team Foster-Keefe!) and Flashback (Fitzphie!) with me. So once I read Legacy, I became a hardcore Keefe shipper. And now (don't judge me, guys!) I'm a traitor to my kind by reading Flashback instead of Stellarlune!!
GASP!

Though in my defense, I hadn't read Flashback in a WHILE.
And any other day, I'd pick the Team Foster-Keefe over the Fitzphie. But that day, I had to read that.
Imagine me falling to my knees and begging forgiveness from all the people that have believed me SOKEEFE SHIPPER forever.
That I am!
Just... yeah.

Here's another piece of trivia for those of you who also love Team Foster-Keefe.
While Sophie's still stuck in the Healing Center, and they're going through Keefe's memories to find stuff that Lady Gisela washed/shattered. Tiergan teaches him how to mask the memories that he doesn't want Sophie and Fitz to see by having him visualize a box and putting all the memories inside. Then Sophie and Fitz discover that the box was gold and the memories are gilded. Tiergan told Keefe to pick a color that was significant to him in some way.
I JUST REALIZED WHY THAT WAS SIGNIFICANT!!!
THE BOX IS GOLD BECAUSE KEEFE LIKES SOPHIE AND SOPHIE HAS GOLD FLECKS IN HER EYES AND WE ALL KNOW THAT KEEFE LOVES SOPHIE'S EYES!!!
:)

2.5/5 | Well... I suppose every series has its ‘off’ book. (Casually ignore that I almost preferred this one to the first book yet I went ahead and irrationally gave Keeper of the Lost Cities 4 stars (#oops)).

In the following review:

You will find no ship send off bearing any remote resemblance to the Dexphie commemoration in my Nightfall review.

Nope. Not a chance.

You’re wasting your time.

On the topic of what isn’t dead, you NEED to read the bonus Keefe story stuck at the end of this book before you actually start Flashback!!! There are SO many sweet references to it as you read through this instalment!

P L O T

This plot drags harder than RuPaul. That’s A LOT of dragging, friends, even if it is in a completely different respect.

Point is this book is boring.

It started off fine with the classic tribunal followed by a battle, but even those scenes were lacking! I’ve never been bored during one of Shannon Messenger’s conflicts before but both events were just info dumps/exposition in the form of extensive monologues. I might not have even cared if things picked up from there. After all, we were only like five chapters in! Flashback was only just getting started, right?

Wrong.

What I disliked most about that battle wasn’t the event itself in all its dry splendour but rather the fact that it landed Sophie and, consequently, the reader in a hospital bed for EIGHTEEN CHAPTERS. Eighteen. Outrageously. Long. Chapters.

That’s another bone I have to pick: is it just me or has the standard length of each chapter in this book doubled in comparison to the last six instalments? It was very inconvenient because, see, I have this phobia of bookmarking something partway through a chapter. I just... I just have to finish the chapter before I put the damn book down! How inconsiderate, Shannon Messenger.

Shannon did interpret her funny banter in some of the many hospital scenes, which was a relief, but it could only carry the very stationary state of the plot for so long. And once Sophie got out of that damn bed, I was elated until I found out what happened next was very nearly en par with all that happened up to this point in terms of entertainment value: What was the point of spending twenty-eight pages on visiting Tinker, yet another random adult that will be forgotten and or thrown into a random adult role on whatever mission in the future when it seems convenient. She never showed up again so I’m guessing the point of it was actually to give Dex somewhere to go while the actually important characters carried out more relevant tasks. That honestly pisses me off.

The one thing I did like, however, was the exploration of the Shade ability and the emphasis on its many aspects as well as the channeling of social issues through it. It is easily my favourite power.

The ending was decent (at least, compared to the rest of this brick book) even if it fell flat for me. There was no build up; it was just a loooooong hospital visit followed by a looooooooooong training montage followed by a random lil’ snippet of the villains poking their heads through the door, having just swung by to say ‘hey!’.

But I must hand it to Shannon Messenger: she always delivers on the drama.

C H A R A C T E R S

I love how even in a book that barely has Keefe, I still by far have the most to say about him. So let’s get that over with, shall we?

Keefe is... he’s such a champ. He’s barely around but, when he is, he’s absolutely captivating. His heartbreak is TANGIBLE—I don’t even have to be an Empath to feel it! I experience it through the pages, through his every action, and for that, I thank you, o’ talented author.

I’m so glad that Keefe’s gotten some, granted, super short stories dedicated to his point of view. I loved the one in Nightfall and I might have loved the one in Flashback even more for how flawlessly it weaved into the story. Can we get a Keefe short story every book from now on? PLEASE?

On the topic of the Flashback short story, why the hell is it marketed as ‘Additional insights from our favourite Lord Hunkyhair!’? That is SO misleading! It was only six pages long and it brought me to TEARS. Poor boy can just never win. With a lifetime of neglect, Sophie and Fitz may just have been the killing blow for him—the thing that finally broke him—but, no, he didn't break. Instead what did he do? He didn't give up on how he felt and in the meantime goes out of his way to be happy for them! Mad respect.

And despite all the heavy stuff, he still delivers in the comedy department!

“I think Scaley Butt should be near Krackie so it looks like they’re swimming together. And then Bitey could be close to The Stink so it looks like he’s trying not to chomp him.”
“You’re a very strange person, you know that?” she asked.”
Don’t you just love him? He is so adorable.

Sophie is, I won’t lie, slightly on the dumb side. Dumb about boys, dumb about health, dumb about scheming. It got kind of annoying; why are these kids put in charge of everything when there is a whole arsenal of experienced adults waiting backstage?!

That’s not to say I don’t like Sophie. I still really, really do! She has her fair share of relatable moments, too, such as:

“...it made her wish her Polyglot ability worked for translating Cute Boy so she could figure out if that was supposed to be a compliment.”

On the downside, did you notice how I didn’t have a List of Things Sophie Gets That No One Else Does Because She’s Special in my Nightfall review? Unfortunately, it makes a grand comeback!
Sophie has perfect aim, Sophie gets to seamlessly master all combat skills within a lesson, Sophie gets FOUR brand new bodyguards (most of which are exceedingly irritating and pile on to the overwhelming amount of characters in this series), Sophie still has 1719102848502 powers, Sophie still has two super hot and talented dudes pining over her, Sophie CHOOSES THE WRONG ONE.

But that’s beside the point. I’ll forgive her for that last one if she amends that mistake later on.

Fitz is just annoying. When I said I wanted Fireball Fitz back, this is so not what I meant! I get that his fluctuating temper is his flaw and I could appreciate that if it weren’t for the fact that it doesn’t correlate at all with his bland, gentlemanly persona. He’s almost bipolar in that he’s all soft with Sophie and then the next second snaps at anyone who breathes while he’s obsessing over Alvar! I suppose its meant to be an ‘angsty teenager thing’ but he knows full well what he’s doing to his parents with this rebellion (one of said parents is also very recently recovered from a freaking MIND BREAK, by the way) and then blames them for believing in their son! And maybe I could find this more realistic if Biana, who very much has the right to be equally mad at Alvar, wasn’t so chill about everything!

Speaking of Biana, where the f*ck was Biana? I’m not even going to comment on Dex at this point. Wylie is pointless, Linh is pointless and what was with all the Prentice buildup when he never shows up after being healed? It’s all just really messy.

On the UP side, Mr. Happy Shadow Thoughts is a new favourite of mine. Love this guy and I am extremely interested to see where his arc takes him. Also, Marella is my spirit animal.

“At least you can actually train in your fifty zillion abilities.”
Digging that honesty. She’s the kind of no-nonsense character this series desperately needs.

“Fitz sighed. “No, it’s fine. I’m going.”
Ro muttered something that sounded a little like “about time.”
Ro is also my spirit animal. She's the only bodyguard I actually give a f*ck about because she’s so damn hilarious. She’s like a Grizel gone right. I love how supportive Ro is of Keefe and how she isn’t EVER afraid to speak her mind. On top of that, I see incoming drama surrounding her and a certain two other ogres. I hope that doesn't ruin her.

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

Honestly, I’m kind of glad something finally happened. Sure, it was the far less ideal situation, but I was sick of Sophie’s emotional limbo of ‘Oh I love Fitz so so much he’s so CUTE but why am I blushing around Keefe? How cray!’ (Not a direct quote)

And this may be sacrilegious of me, but I’ll admit Sophie and Fitz are cute. I understand why they’d like each other and be good for each other (Sophie is definitely good for Fitz, at least, when she quite literally stopped him from having a heart attack on multiple occasions). I mean, if I have to deal with their lovey-dovey BS for the next book or so, I might as well learn to like them. Even if they don’t even compare to what a force Sophie and Keefe would be.

Brief note on Sophie and Keefe: they had me descend into an incoherent mess of whining and whimpering by Chapter 15. I kid you f*cking not. He cheers her up so much when she’s hospitalised, comedically teaching her important skills so that she doesn’t feel like she’s wasting time; doing that fancy breeze trick to calm her down; adopting Krackie the kracken. But he holds back because he wants to give her and Fitz space! It breaks my heart!

Finally, the banter between Ro and Keefe is legendary. To see how they came from enemies to reluctant allies to such close friends is so fulfilling. They really are the perfect combination of bodyguard and charge.

... ...

Despite this miss, the next book has me insanely excited. With the title, it’s practically a guarantee that it’s going to have Keefe front and centre. And with Big Ben in the background, it will definitely have something to do with the green door in London, hence Keefe’s legacy!