The much anticipated Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 9.5: Unraveled was recently added to the Keeper series by the NYT Bestselling Author Shannon Messenger. The wait was definitely worth it. Messenger’s work was, again, phenomenal.

Book 8.5 of the series ends with Keefe Sencen, the main character of Unraveled, escaping his home in the Lost Cities to the Forbidden Cities, also known as Humanland, to escape from his newfound powers. In book 9, the main character of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, Sophie Foster, is trying to bring Keefe back home. Book 9.5 entails Keefe’s adventures in Humanland as tries to understand himself and his newfound powers.

Usually, the .5 books include detailed, behind the scenes moments and some additional, fun, information to further increase the depth and uniqueness of the series. At the end of the book, Unraveled also contains a portion of the storyline that is crucial for the next book. This was also the case with book 8.5 of the Keeper series: Unlocked. I had expected the same from this book and was really frustrated initially at the thought of only getting a portion of the story instead of a whole book that advances the plot since the cliffhanger at the end of book 9 was suspenseful and nerve-wracking. But in one of Messenger’s Instagram posts, she details how each one of her books is a crucial part to the overall plotline of the Keeper world, and after reading the book 9.5, I realized just how important it is to the story.

Unraveled really took the Keeper fandom by surprise because of the numerous different revelations which were included in the story. The book really lived up to its name since it involves various aspects of unravelling, whether it be through the unraveling of various surprises and plot twists, or through the unraveling of the main character and his past. These new revelations truly made a huge difference in the lore of the series and left me utterly shocked.

One thing that I would like to point out is the length. Though I’ve always greatly enjoyed this series, sometimes it gets frustrating when there seems to be no end to the story and it seems to go on forever. There are various holes and cracks in the plotline that need to be filled for the whole thing to be truly complete and I wonder how many more lengthy books it will take for that to be accomplished.

However, apart from the fact that the books are quite eventful, each book seems to go through so much at the same time that it gets confusing at times, however, this isn’t always a bad thing because reading Messenger’s books feels like uncoding a big puzzle. It makes you wonder about all the different possibilities and their outcomes. This book was exactly like that, maybe even more so than other books in the series. This made me love it even more.

Messenger is known for her cliffhangers and plot twists in her books. Even though this book didn’t quite end on a cliffhanger, the various surprises really made up for it. Whether it be one character that was assumed to be dead, but isn’t, or one of the villains not being evil at all, each page made me want to know what happens next and made me all the more engaged.

Though I have to admit, it is slightly disappointing that only the Barnes & Noble Exclusive copies contain some exclusive fun stuff. The B&N Exclusive copies tend to include details that would interest all readers, but are only exclusive to those specific copies. For example, I bought the B&N Exclusive copy of the book and was surprised with a map that is hilarious, but sadly not available to those who bought the regular copies. This seems unfair and quite sad since, readers have to pay a little extra for these tiny tidbits only to read the exact same story.

My overall thoughts on this book were that it was a success. It is true that no matter what, Messenger never disappoints with each new addition to the series. This book would probably be one of my top 5 reads from the entire series. Reading this book was like a rollercoaster of emotions, making you laugh and cry along with the characters in it. To put it simply, it was amazing.

9.5/10