School Library JournalGr 5–8—This debut novel is a powerful and appealing package of skillful world-building, fantasy, suspense, mystery, and middle-school relationships. Sophie Foster, a friendless 12-year-old high school senior with a photographic memory, is plagued by the hubbub of other people's thoughts in her brain. She has always known that she is different, but her life changes profoundly when she learns that she is an elf with telepathic and other magical abilities. She is transported away from her human family forever to the elvin world, where the Lost Cities (Atlantis, Shangri-la, etc.) exist and extinct animals are thriving. As Sophie starts at her new school, her concerns about friendships, midterms, crushes, and grades in subjects such as "the Universe," "elementalism," and "alchemy" will hook readers.
