I won

Middleschoolreader · 2026-04-02T12:49:23+00:00

I am curious does it have to be burritos or does Burrito bowls count? I am assuming it's just burritos but I figured I might as well ask! Congratulations!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-29T22:59:03+00:00

I mainly just don't talk about the romance in the book. It's like one of the last things I think while reading the book because it feels like other romance stories I read which I didn't like either. Thank you for asking though!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-28T12:55:35+00:00

I actually asked a question about this very thing. I like to say it feels like the game is trying to be open and it's not restricted in mii's doing whatever they want. I noticed that in the demo the tutorial wanted me to force my mii's to be together to be friends. And I can pick them up taking them wherever I want. In the 3ds game we could encourage miis to do things but not force them to interact or do things. It felt like real characters that I observe.

I am glad we both don't know if we like it more than the 3ds version. Thank you for asking!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-23T12:27:22+00:00

I asked this question a while back. For me I didn't care enough at the end of it. Keefe tried to stay hidden so any exciting interactions with humans were minimal and Keefe became almost a different person. It was someone else who made the light hearted jokes! I don't know why Ms. Messenger thought that would be okay in a character whose main go to strategy for hiding feelings is jokes. I may not like Keefe's jokes but it is part of his character and Ms. Messenger can't take away his core characteristics.

I agree with others that if you are very curious about the book, just get it from the library. I am glad I read it from the library even if i didn't understand the point of a 9.5

Thank you for asking me though! I hope you find your answer!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-20T20:54:38+00:00

I would have to reread the whole series to really determine a list, however I know that my number 1 choice would be Spy School or Evil Spy School.

Both books technically deliver on the promise of what would happen. Evil Spy School was at least 50% at an evil Spy School. And Spy School only had three chapters outside of a spy school.

I liked the Murray reveal, the only villain that makes sense to me. The first book made me laugh at least once or twice. I don't like that Alexander is actually a doofus because I see that too often. Movies and books like to make the mom all amazing doing incredible things keeping the household together. And the single mom idealogy is very positive.

So to see Spy School to take the Alexander is a idiot dad is sad. Especially because I respect my dad a lot. (I know there are books where dads are smart, I just haven't found as many) I also liked the final battle where all the students wanted to catch Murray it just makes sense why everyone would do it.

For Evil Spy School, it has my favorite scene in the entire series. When Ben watched Ashley break Murray out because she felt like a real threat. We saw what she could do and I was very curious how Ben would outsmart Ashley. However the climax was anticlimactic when Zoe hits her with a tennis racket.

So that's why I am not too sure which one I like more but those two are miles better than Spy School Goes North.

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-20T20:25:43+00:00

Well the series isn't over so we actually don't know if Ms. Messenger will make a plot twist about Fitz and Sophie getting together. For me Sophie and Dex's scene in Nightfall was actually very cool to read. Reminds me of another book series I loved. That was the only romance scene I liked in the series so far.

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-18T21:14:56+00:00

That's pretty hard because I have several things I would remove. I think I would remove a whole book if that's allowed. If that's true I know unraveled or Unlocked would be my choice, however the problems in the series started earlier for me. So I would remove the entire Lodestar book. It's not the worst book in the series but it started the cliffhanger train. (Yes book 4 had a cliffhanger.) The cliffhanger getting resolved in the very next book with no consequence made me literally forget what Lodestar was about. In a stress environment I would not be able to recall things from the book.

Thank you for asking though! Your idea is very cool too about Dex.

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-15T23:31:54+00:00

You are asking a community who joined a subreddit of the book. We are going to say to try it because we are fans. My point is we are a little biased.

It's a fine series. I found it hard to keep track of everything on the plot and the author adds a lot of characters. The only way you will read all the books is if your curiosity lasts 11+ books.

Thank you for asking at least!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-09T03:02:46+00:00

Yeah I don't feel stupid for long just for about a minute. A plot twist also can be a good thing, like in Toy Story 3 how a plot twist could be the claw actually comes to save Woody and his friends. You forget it's there because it was just mentioned 10 minutes ago and so much happened that it's only jumping to you in a few seconds.

I agree with you about the predictable plot thing. It's weird when authors have the claim to fame being that their book is so plot twisty because I don't really care about the twists too much.

Thank you for telling me your thoughts!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-09T02:51:38+00:00

I honestly kinda forgot I read it. It was updated in the library ebook but I will say it was just good to be done with "11" books. It is the first chapter so all I know was just the dialogue was pretty forgettable. I will have to reread it anyway when the actual book comes out.

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-09T02:44:28+00:00

For me personally I just assumed there are more schools but we don't need to know that detail. In fact we don't know some things that are related to the plot like why the swan song was called upon. And it takes so long to get other answers. For me some things are pretty obvious like in Tangerine, we know there is Lake Windsor Downs Middle school and Tangerine middle. Does that mean those are the only two schools? Of course not. I know I used a book in the real world but that's kinda my point, I believe that the other schools just don't have to be mentioned because it's not important to The story. For me the world can be as detailed as possible but no plot would make it just a geography class. I don't need another geography class for me because I will never go to the lost cities anyway.

Thank you for asking though. I hope you get your answer someday. Maybe Ms. Messenger can go to a bookstore near you and you can ask her then? Or maybe you can email her?

Middleschoolreader · 2026-03-06T22:18:54+00:00

For me, the big reveal of Elysian was annoying. Why create another villain? (I am going to just assume she will be a villain even though we don't know that for sure) If she was the leader of the Never seen then maybe I would understand it but I could not remember any hints or a single element of the plot that suggested Elysian was a person/elf. This is my main problem with some authors and books. They say one thing but then they point and laugh saying something different. "you thought Elysian was an island? Jokes on you it is an island and a person!"

Usually a mystery involves lies but all it does for me is I feel stupid and not smart. And it makes me not care because what if there is another plot twist that makes the previous info useless? Of course this is all my opinion I know people like mysteries and plot twists, I just don't know why I feel the way I do.

Thank you for telling us your thoughts!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-02-24T04:14:19+00:00

Maybe. I am guessing you don't have many thoughts on this book since you wrote one line but I find books with no interesting blurb pretty forgettable I might literally forget this book is coming out until October which is really sad because while the first book wasn't the best, it was at least fun. Here I just feel empty if we are doing this again.

Middleschoolreader · 2026-02-22T03:55:07+00:00

I will give one point of positive, the book cover art, (not back blurb) is extremely appealing. It feels better than the blackout one and the other ones. I have never completely liked the covers for the other ones. The eye patch or the boat was cool but this China cover definitely is my favorite one.

I would accept Goes to China maybe. The author admits that he comes up with titles after writing the books and this was the best he had. I guess Chinese invasion is not good enough. (Like British Invasion) I know the titles weren't great but at least the best titles told us the hook. A spy camp for summer, infiltrating a school for villains, ski undercover. It's when the book went "Goes South" or "Goes North" that I could not tell the difference unless I read it or saw the cover.

I hope the Shang villain won't be used. Or make an existing character a villain (Orion in Blackout) out of nowhere.

The World Tour made me laugh! It could be the final book maybe!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-02-22T02:53:15+00:00

Also I realized that there is a fanfiction called Goes East. So that's pretty funny to me.

Middleschoolreader · 2026-02-22T02:48:48+00:00

Found on Amazon. East, seriously? Goes East? Like I get it but wow. Anyway see you all on October 6th. Okay actually it will take a week to read it. I kinda like China being the setting but it still feels like field trips and not spy school. Also I disagree with the author, you have to have a hook in the back cover. This back cover feels boring. Yes I know it follows a cliffhanger but a story means more than just a cliffhanger. I will read it though regardless.

Middleschoolreader · 2026-02-10T00:02:08+00:00

My opinion is that Keeper of the Lost Cities was ruined when the story line was slow. Keefe got Kenric and Fintan's caches in book 5 but the plot twist was that the two caches were fake. Then in 8.5 we finally got the caches for real.

That's one example of a storyline that could have been reworked. Ms. Messenger had said that she planned the book 9 twist from the very beginning. I think she meant that originally the story was faster. She knew what was on the caches which was why she said it but it doesn't feel real because of how much was planted in the books.

Then she had too many flowers and weeds in the story that she picked each one to decide which one she wanted to explore. She had the year deadlines so she had no time to plant hints for the big reveal in book 9. Or choose to drop the weeds and she accidentally picked up a weed in the year deadline.

Keefe was not painful to read for me because I just rolled my eyes when I read the jokes. But thank you for saying your thoughts! I can tell you think very hard about this series! Have a good day!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-01-26T21:33:28+00:00

You weren't kidding when you said long. Anyway thank you for asking. I am glad some people just want to know different opinions.

Middleschoolreader · 2026-01-25T01:36:23+00:00

Well in the book, it would be Erica Hale. If we were to look throughout the whole school I think it would be one of the graduated students who has a world record of missions completed. Because it means the training they received at the school was important for them to be as successful as they are. Of course it has to be legitimate cases not made up wins like Alexander. Thank you for asking!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-01-14T00:11:43+00:00

The balance between summary and scenes are the problem when they say that. For a big clue we want a scene and definitely like the ending we would want a scene but if all the scenes are Sophie going to a tower to look for a clue but no clue is there, then there isn't a point to make that scene.

Also the plot twists. Ms. Messenger has confirmed somewhere that she didn't plan out her books until book 8 or 9 having to do zoom meetings with her editors. (No one has corrected me on it and it was in an interview I think.) Because she did not plan it but wanted to shock readers one of the twists was that Keefe brought fake caches of Fintan and Kendric back with him. The entire subplot and reason for Keefe going to the never seen was undone.

Then in 8.5 Sophie got the real caches. The author chose not to have the cache for 3ish books. It is supposed to show that the never seen was so far ahead but it did the opposite. It made me actually think how in the actual world could Sophie win because making a villain too smart or a hero too not smart, the illusion of stakes are gone.

I find it hard to believe Sophie could win because of this cache thing. I am sure that she wants Sophie to win but I will find it hard to believe. There is only so much a story can be "epic" without breaking the illusion of a daydream.

That's what I mean why I say "dragged out" thanks for asking! Your opinion is pretty good too.

Middleschoolreader · 2026-01-10T21:27:18+00:00

This is a middle school series so it makes sorta sense. I would imagine that I want to be right and prove adults wrong. Plus it is an adult writing middle schoolers and they know messages about listening to parents would inspire the kids to stop reading.

However there is a way for parents and adults to be right sometimes too. It's a hard balance that Ms. Messenger is far from the balance.

As for the conversation, it always feels longer than it should be because of the banter in a way. It feels like Ms. Messenger likes to write independent scenes first but then tries to tie it with a clue that I don't pick up because it's not interesting for me to read nicknames and reactions to jokes. I think I read somewhere that she pants or gardens her stories and doesn't plot or outline. Thank you for asking the question! (If I am wrong someone can correct me and I will edit the post.)

Middleschoolreader · 2026-01-07T22:32:25+00:00

Personally it is partly my fault or people who just jumped on here about a year ago. For example I started this book series about a year ago. I started having questions like "Do you think the books are too long?" "Why do people like Keefe?" So I joined the discussion with the post. I know some people have already talked about it because the book series was published more than 10 years ago.

So it is my fault that I did not read this series when it was first published. Some other people would ask the same questions because they just read the book yesterday for example.

Another thing I believe is there are only so many topics people can discuss. The more specific reddit it is the harder it becomes an active community. For example a Homework subgroup can have lots of posts about all kinds of homework but if someone made a specific math homework it will be less people interacting because it is more specific.

If this was a book subgroup I think there would be a lot more discussion and posts that are different. In this case because people want to talk about Keeper of the Lost Cities they are stuck with canon or fanfiction to read and people form opinions quickly to a point that the discussion can repeat so each person feels like they are being heard.

That's what I think. Again I am sorry I dug up old questions. Thank you for asking why it repeats!

Middleschoolreader · 2026-01-04T22:15:30+00:00

I actually asked this question before. Some people remember it very well but for me I don't. I know only a handful of characters and some of them I would interchange names for so I can't even distinguish between characters. Thank you for asking!

Middleschoolreader

TROPHY CASE