Lodestar: Keeper of The Lost Cities, Book Five by Shannon Messenger

As usual, a lot happens in Book 5 of this series. The kids figure out that the different symbols they are discovering in various places (like Keefe's cloak and the former Neverseen hideout where Sophie & Dex were held) are sections of the Neverseen Lodestar.  Each piece of the Lodestar leads to a different Neverseen hideout. Since Tam is a shade, they are able to go to these secret hideouts without being discovered. Sophie, Fitz and Tam end up at an occupied hideout however, and although they are initially trapped by a force field, Tam is able to get them out of it and they are successful in capturing both Brant and Ruy. Keefe refuses to come with them though, still trying to earn the trust of the Neverseen, including Alvar (Fitz' brother).

War is pending. No one trusts the other groups. King Dimitar wants to leave the treaty and he wants the ogres to simply be left alone. A band of rebel ogres however, attack Lady Cadence. Brielle (Grady's goblin bodyguard) ends up being killed. An Exillium Camp is set up at Foxfire and all of the elves start training in skills taught by Exillium teachers.

Wylie gets kidnapped. Sophie & gang figure out that Wylie's mother, Cyrah, was actually murdered. Wylie's kidnappers think that Wylie knows more than he does about his mother. We also find out that Dex' mother, Juline, is actually working with the Black Swan Collective and one of her disguises is Squall.

Sophie is invited to attend the Peace Summit at Lumenaria. The Neverseen end up destroying Lumenaria unfortunately, and one key character ends up dying. I am still sad about it so I won't reveal who it is here. Keefe is able to steal Fintan's & Kenric's caches from the Neverseen, but I guess we don't know if they are the authentic caches or not.

Finally, in this very brief summary, the ending goes in an direction I wasn't expecting. Sophie searches for her human sister, Amy/Natalie, and finds her in a closet in Amy's home. Oddly enough, Amy recognizes Sophie, even though her memory had been wiped clean.

This is already a complex story, but it's even harder to explain because of all the different "disguises" and roles that various characters play.

Wendy's Rating: *****