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Heroine

The hero of this story is Sophie Foster.

Plot Summary

Sophie Foster figures out she isn't actually human, but an elf. She goes to the elven world to discover things about herself that she never realized. She goes through different scenarios that are dangerous to try and save her friends and people she loves, while trying to fight off the bad side. The main character is Sophie Foster with her friends, Dex, Keefe, Fitz, Biana, and there are a lot of main characters that appear a number of times but those people are basically what the story is focused on. 

Departure

Call to Adventure - In Keeper of the Lost Cities, Sophie Foster experiences this when she is on a field trip. She meets Fitz Vacker, and he light leaps her to the elven world. That is when she discovers she is an elf. Sophie knew that she wasn't normal, but didn't fit in anywhere else so in a way she was relieved to know there were others like her. 

Refusal of the Call - Even though Sophie believed she was an elf, deep down she didn't want to go at first. It seemed really wrong for her and it didn't seem possible. She had to drug her family so they would forget who she was, but she found it really hard to actually believe that she wasn't a normal human in the human world. This was because she had grown accustomed to human life and didn't understand how another world existed. 

Supernatural Aid - I'm not really sure if this book has this. If I can think of one, it would be when Alden Vacker (Fitz's dad) comes to meet her. He offers her a place to stay in their house, and their family gives her food, clothing, and the required materials (such as a nexus and registry pendant) she needed. 

Crossing of the First Threshold - This is when Sophie light leaps to the elven world and meets the council, royal families, and some other people. She learns about the elven world and a little bit about her life and why that all happened. She gets to discover a few areas of their world, but then she has to go back and get all of her stuff so she can return to the elven world once more for good. 

Belly of the Whale - This is the most important part that leads to everything that happens in the series. Sophie Foster goes back to the elven world after drugging her family (with a mist so they don't remember who she is) for good. She is scared and lonely and doesn't really know what to do, but Fitz Vacker (her friend) helps her find her way around. After Sophie goes to the elven world, it is forbidden for her to go visit the human world. She still goes back, not to see her family, but to get her friends out of danger but she still lives in the Lost Cities permanently!

Initiation

Road of Trials - So for this, I will just do things from the first book because it is pretty thick. Sophie experiences the Road of Trials in a number of ways. First, she has to be able to be accepted into Foxfire. She gets help from her friends and passes her midterms. Then, while she's working on practicing for finals, she gets kidnapped by a criminal group. They also kidnapped her friend, Dex. Together, they have to try and escape them. They do, but they both faded a little bit, which can be fatal in the Lost Cities. They both survive, and with all of the things they did to escape the kidnapping, Sophie was able to pass her final and stay at Foxfire. Sophie also has to deal with strict teachers, trying to stay away from bullies, and saving herself and Dex from the kidnapping. 

Meeting with the Goddess - I think this one is kind of hard to get for this book series. Sophie bonds quite closely with Alden and Della because they are a super gentle couple and make her feel welcome, and Sophie always has a close bond with them after. But also, Sophie experiences her first true love from the start of the book when she meets Fitz. They have an almost inseparable friendship after that, and it goes the same for Dex and Keefe, who comes later. Also, Grady and Edaline (Sophie's adoptive parents) become super close to Sophie. So that's why I feel it is hard to describe. She has a lot of close relationships, like friendships, bonds, and stuff like that. 

Women of Temptress - I think there are two strong options for this in Keeper of the Lost Cities. First, a character named Vespera. She always was leading Sophie and her friends away from trying to actually accomplish stuff, and got them to focus on pointless things. More importantly, another character named Lady Gisela. She is very evil and keeps trying to manipulate Sophie and her friends to figure out stuff for her, so they get distracted by that to figure out more clues and kind of forget what they were originally trying to work on. 

Atonement with the Father - I think for this is when Sophie was born, the Black Swan put her biological parents' DNA and casted the sperm out and so it would go to a human womb so that she could experience a human life, because she was the change the Lost Cities needed. Arguably, I would say either the Black Swan or the Neverseen are the most powerful. Both are enemies. Both are groups of people. But they have different hideouts, goals, and personalities. The Black Swan tries to make the world a better place. The Neverseen try to bring it down. They are both super powerful but haven't taken down each other yet (the book series isn't finished), so in this case I would say they're tied. 

Apotheosis - Since the book series isn't done with, this hasn't happened at all. 

Ultimate Boon - For this, Sophie goes on a dangerous quest to get her abilities fixed so she can heal minds. They encounter the Neverseen and fight them off after, and her abilities are reset. She drinks a potion that has limbium and has an almost near death experience, but survives and heals Alden's mind. She also received a cache and is able to enter it to get hidden memories. She also masters her abilities (which were also enhanced) so she is at her maximum power to fight and is stronger than ever.  

Return

Refusal of the Return - I don't think there is one in Keeper of the Lost Cities, because Sophie Foster never returns to the human world to live there. 

Magic Flight - Sophie is the item being stolen with her friend Dex. They have to escape from the kidnappers, and their version of flying is called "light-leaping". Magic flight is when they escape the kidnappers and light leap back to the elven world.

Rescue from Without - Throughout the kidnapping, Dex is there to help Sophie. First off, they get rescued by the Black Swan, where she gets a new ability to help fight off the kidnappers. Then the Black Swan leaves from being in the open for too long. Sophie and Dex help each other out by pooling energy to light leap and keeping them awake. Finally, when they return back, 2 of Sophie's friends (Keefe and Fitz) find them passed out and almost faded (where they get lost to never return, from losing concentration during a leap), and the school physician (Elwin) helps them recover. 

Crossing of the Return Threshold - I'm not really sure if there is one. Humans don't understand the things elves do, but there aren't really any specific examples in this book since elves don't go to the human world, which includes Sophie. 

Master of Two Worlds - Sophie Foster gets used to the human world, but once she moves to the Elven world forever, it's hard for her to go back. The air smells gross and everything is in much worse quality than she thought. So she knows how they both work but she doesn't feel comfortable anymore in the human world because her point of view has changed. 

Freedom to Live - Since the series isn't done yet, Sophie doesn't have the freedom to live. It's at the climax of the story with the last book available that you can get right now, so Sophie Foster and her friends may get more freedom but they also have a LOT of responsibility from being leaders of a group to still having to do school and finish finals. No rest yet!

Final Thoughts

I think Keeper of the Lost Cities follows the Hero's Journey quite well, as there are a lot of events that matched up to the parts of the 3 stages. It was a little hard sometimes obviously because the book series hasn't finished yet, so some questions couldn't be answered. A lot of the events I used were in the first book because it is so action packed and home-like that that's basically the only book I had to use because there seemed to be an event for everything. If I'm not thinking very hard, I feel like it would work well in the Ascendance trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen and other war books because they always follow a series of events and there is one main goal and that is to survive. It was a fun class to learn about and good for my brain. I actually learned a lot!