History Literature / KeeperOfTheLostCities

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Jolie met Brant when she was six. They became instant best friends and eventually fell in love with each other, becomeing a couple.

* DeclarationOfProtection: Tam is extremely protective of his sister, Linh, even choosing to go with her into banishment rather than letting her be alone.

%%* HumansAreSpecial: Although they have finite lifespans, do not have superpowers, are less beautiful and on average less intelligent, humans have one ability that has led the Neverseen to see them as a threat ''and'' an example to learn from. They are immune to guilt. Which means that unlike, they are able to commit atrocities if it means protecting themselves and their loved ones, without their mind breaking down. However the fact that ogres and goblins are warrior species and thus use violence, just like the Neverseen themselves who kill with limited mental consequences makes one skeptical about the uniqueness of this particularity granted to humans.

%%* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Sophie, too many times to count.

* TheAce: Fitz is handsome, a strong Telepath even at his young age, gets good grades, and is Foxfire's reigning Sploching Champion.

** Elves are stated to have no concept of sexism. However, they abide by gender stereotypes, to the point Keefe was mocked by other elves for braiding and generally taking care of his hair because he is a boy. Similarly, they are ''said'' to have no concept of racism and do not take race into consideration when choosing a partner. However, every black (except [[spoiler:Livvy/Doc]] or Asian character in the Books are related to each other and the Song family has been Asian-coded (Sophie describes them both as anime characters and K-pop stars) for generations. Most of the couples- at least those who have children- are monoracial as well. The fact that elves even have races identifiable to humans is indicative of the dissonance between what is stated by the author and what is represented in the books, as the main reason humans have is because they tended to keep to their own race when mating in the past, which wouldn't have been the case for elves, and Elvin families should have become a blend of all races with time.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Elvin society has its own flaws, such as prejudice against the [[FantasticUnderclass Talentless]], multiple births (e.g. twins and triplets), certain Talents such as Shades and Pyrokinetics, and couples deemed a bad match. Most members of the Black Swan and the Neverseen were subjected to this kind of discrimination and seek to do something about these prejudices (though their methods vary greatly).

** "The Talk": A short story from Keefe's POV that takes place shortly before the events of ''Flashback'', and was included in paperback copies.

* FalseUtopia: Elvin society is introduced as having no war, NoPoverty, and no crime. It's later revealed that the elves discriminate against those without any Talents and the Council has swept huge problems under the rug for centuries, which only gets worse when they [[spoiler:punish Sophie and prosecute the Black Swan to restore the citizens' trust in them]].

* BrokeTheRatingScale: In ''Unlocked'', the "seriousness" rating for the Great Gulon Incident is 11 out of 10, and the damage to the glass pyramid in ''Lodestar'' gets a 20 out of 10.

* BrokeTheRatingScale: In ''Unlocked'', the "seriousness" rating for the Great Gulon Incident is 11 out of 10.

* ThePlace: ''Exile'' and ''Nightfall'' are titled after plot-important locations. Exile is a high-security prison, and Nightfall is a secret facility.

%%* ThePlace: ''Exile'' and ''Nightfall'' are titled after plot-important locations.

* {{Portmanteau}}: Keefe is fond of merging names together, either to represent a team or potentional romantic pairing.

** In ''Nightfall'', Tam comes up with "Keephie" for Keefe and Sophie, and Keefe with "Dexphie" for Dex and Sophie. There's also the gorgodons, who are part gorgonops, part flareadon, part argentavis, and part eurypterid. Fitz thinks that should mean the gorgodons' name should be a pormenteau with each species' name, such as gorgentaveridon.

* ThePrankster: Keefe Sencen takes great pride in his pranks, especially the one dubbed the Great Gulon Incident. His disciplanry sheet is quite long.

* MirthlessLaughter: In chapter 36 of ''Legacy'', Keefe bursts into joyless laughter at the latest turn of events.
-->Laughter dragged Sophie out of her shocked daze.\\

* SuperiorSpecies: Deconstructed with the elves; the elvish mind can't deal with guilt or violence: too much of either and it will shatter. To compensate, they've used their suprior intellect to come at problems and conflicts through peaceful means. As such, they've developed medicinal treatments that don't require needles or major surgeries, they're huge on nature conservation and eat a vegetarian diet, and they've managed to keep the peace between the various intelliegent species for thousands of years. The big exception to that last one was when humanity tried to overthrow the elves, leading them to hide themselves and let humanity eventually forget about their existance. ([[spoiler:''Nightfall'' reveals that the real reason humanity got angry at the elves was after they learned a group of them were running horrific experiments on some humans.]]) The elves also don't seperate themselves based on skin color or other such prejideces usually found amonngst humanity, but they're is a ''lot'' of elitism surrounding Talents and those who don't have any, as well as couples who are deemed a "bad match".

* SecretlySelfish: [[spoiler:Councillors are forbidden from marrying and having families, so the only way Oralie could have a child and keep her position was to become a donor for Project Moonlark. This is inspact of the fact that she knew doing so would render the child unmatchable; without ''both'' biological parents' names, the person can't be matched and couples who are considered bad matches are ridiculed and scorned. By the time Sophie realizes that Oralie is biological mother, the elvish community has been fully shaken up by the Neverseen's actions. If she were to out the well-loved Oralie, it would result in another massive shake up during a time when they need all the stability they can get. Sophie wants nothing to do with Oralie after she finds all of this and only works with her because bringing down the Neverseen is far more important.]]

* OneSteveLimit: Averted with Marella and Maruca, who's names are spelled and sound similiar. This is lampshaded in ''Lodestar'' by Tam:

* AlmostKiss: On two sepreate occasions, Sophie and Fitz are about to kiss but are interupted before their lips can touch.

-->'''Tam:''' I melted down the chain [of my registry pendant] after I ripped off the crystal and threw it in my father’s face. Now if I ever face him again, he’ll see exactly how little I miss living in his glittering prison.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The ogre ruler is chosen by victory in battle. Any willing candidates spar to the death, and whoever is left standing becomes king or queen.

* HumiliatingWager: In the beginning of ''Flashback'', Keefe and Ro have a bet on how long the Tribunal will take. If it lasts until sunset, Ro wins, and Keefe has to wear ogre armor to school (which looks like a metal diaper) instead of his uniform. If it's done in an hour, Keefe wins, and Ro has to start calling him Lord Hunkyhair. Keefe ends up winning. Later in the book, they bet on whether Sophie will be able to pull off a telekinetic move. If she can't, Ro wins and gets to shave Keefe's head. If she can, Keefe wins, and Ro has to get a [[EmbarrassingTattoo tattoo reading "Sparkles Rule!"]]. Again, Keefe wins.

In the blink of an eye, Sophie's entire world is turned upside down; she leaves her human family to live with a pair of elves who become her new guardians and she's enrolled into Foxfire, an elvish school where she has to unlearn all of her human-gained knowledge while simultaneously learning how to hone her telepathic abilities. Luckily, she finds a few friends who help make the transition from her old life to her new one a little smoother: there's the handsome Fitz; his younger sister, Biana; the laid-back Dex; and the mischievous Keefe.

In the blink of an eye, Sophie's entire world is turned upside down; she leaves her human family to live with a pair of elves who become her new guardians and she's enrolled into Foxfire, an elvish school where she has to unlearn all of her human-gained knowledge while simultaneously learning how to hone her telepathic abilities. Luckily, she finds a few friends who help make the transition from her old life to her new one a little smoother: there's the handsome Fitz, his younger sister, Biana, the laid-back Dex, and the mischievous Keefe.

** ''Legacy'' ends with [[spoiler:]].

* ''Unlocked'' (2020): A companion book which includes a novella that acts like an extended epilogue to ''Lagecy''.

%% Work on alphabatizing examples

%%* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Sophie references this trope in an attempt to make Keefe feel better in ''Neverseen''.
* AmnesiacsAreInnocent: The Council decides they cannot punish [[spoiler:Alvar]] for his involvement with the Neverseen because all his memories have been wiped.

%%* BrotherSisterTeam: Tam and Linh.

* CryIntoChest:
** Sophie cries into Fitz's shoulder in the first book as she leaves her human family behind.
** Keefe cries into Sophie’s shoulder in ''Neverseen''.

* IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure: The Neverseen threatened to hurt Sophie if Dex didn't give them the information they wanted.
* InhumanlyBeautifulRace: Elves look a lot like humans and all of them are supermodel beautiful.

* {{Jerkass}}: Bronte is prejudiced against Sophie for her human upbringing (in the first two and a half books at least), and really doesn’t like that he can’t Inflict pain onto her.

* KilledOffForReal: Jolie Ruewen was killed in a fire before the start of the series. Although we have never actually seen a body, Shannon Messenger has confirmed that she is truly dead.

* PhotographicMemory: Sophie and Keefe both have photographic memories.