Exile by Shannon Messenger

This is the second book of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. We still don't know who Sophie Foster's parents are/were, but we find out that she was "made" by the Black Swan group, which is why she has so many different abilities. She is asked to go to Exile with Alden (by Alden) because Alden receives a message suggesting that he should take Sophie when he goes to Exile to talk to Fintan, the Pyrokinetic, who is suspected of creating the Everblaze in the first book and attempting to destroy the human race. (In book one, Sophie was able to bottle the Everblaze, one of her many talents - therefore saving the human race). Alden goes into Fintan's mind to attempt to discover his secrets and who is behind the rebellion. Sophie is there to bring Alden "back" so his mind doesn't break in the process of breaking Fintan. Unfortunately, no one knows that Sophie herself has "malfunctioned", so not only can she not prevent Alden's mind from being broken, but she also enters Prentice's mind (who is also in Exile since his mind was broken by Alden previously) and although she discovers a "pocket" or "nook" of positive thoughts in his mind, she is not able to save him either.

Sophie spends a lot of this book in pain actually. She gets blinding headaches, especially around light and she has a difficult time sleeping. She seems afraid to go to Elwin with her concerns however, not that Elwin would have known she was "malfunctioning" anyway. They are all just trying to figure out "Sophie", one event at a time, including Sophie herself. She discovers more of her abilities, like teleporting though. And she discovers that she was "made" to be able to restore broken minds like Prentice's. She also finds an alicorn, named Silveny, an extremely rare glittery winged horse, which she is able to bring back to Havenfield in an attempt to protect and prepare her to enter the Sanctuary, where the only other alicorn (a male) lives. For some reason, Silveny and Sophie are able to transmit their words and feelings to each other internally.

In the first book, Sophie spends a lot of time with her best friend, Dex, while pining after Fitz. In this book, she is still pining after Fitz, and her best friend is still Dex, but she spends a lot of time with Fitz's best friend, Keefe, and Keefe is her main support after her adventure to Exile. I am not sure why that is. Keefe seems to have "a thing" for Sophie; along with Dex and Fitz. So I am not sure which direction Sophie's personal life is heading. She is only 13 years old though, so plenty of time (and books) to figure that out.

I am really enjoying this series. Although they are longer books (like Harry Potter), they read fast for adults. The writing style in engaging and the story is easy to follow.

Wendy's Rating: ****