Nightfall
2017
- fiction
- fantasy
- middle grade
- elves
- psychic ability
- identity
- foster parents
- magic
- ability
- memory
The story
Sophie Foster is struggling. Grieving. Scrambling. But she knows one thing: she will not be defeated. The Neverseen have had their victories—but the battle is far from over. It’s time to change tactics. Make sacrifices. Reexamine everything. Maybe even time for Sophie to trust her enemies. All paths lead to Nightfall—an ominous door to an even more ominous place—and Sophie and her friends strike a dangerous bargain to get there. But nothing can prepare them for what they discover. The problems they’re facing stretch deep into their history. And with time running out, and mistakes catching up with them, Sophie and her allies must join forces in ways they never have before. In this spectacular sixth book in the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series, Sophie must uncover the truth about the Lost Cities’ insidious past, before it repeats itself and changes reality. (14-day borrow available at Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/nightfall0000mess)
What it’s like
Brisk, urgent, and emotionally raw, with the momentum of a middle-grade thriller that rarely lets up. The prose is clean and conversational, built from short punchy paragraphs, alternating close-third perspectives, and frequent cliffhanger chapter endings, so reading it feels like being pulled along a corridor at speed. Its world is luminous and slightly otherworldly: sprawling underground cities, glowing elven architecture, shimmering portals, and the dreamlike mix of sci-fi gadgetry with old magic, all rendered in brisk sensory bursts rather than lingering description. The mood is tense and grief-tinged, with dread that builds toward a looming door and a sense of history closing in, though the tension is more suspenseful than gruesome. Violence occurs in fight scenes and captivity, with peril and some injury, but nothing graphic or gory. Romantic feelings and friendship bonds simmer quietly, and the central arc follows a young heroine learning to trust unlikely allies while carrying loss. Best for readers who enjoy fast, plot-driven fantasy with a heart, and for a long afternoon or late-night read when you want to keep turning pages.
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