Representation: Asian characters
Trigger warnings: Death, war themes, blood, grief and loss depiction, physical injury and child abuse, building collapse
Score: Six and a half out of ten.
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Is it me or has Shannon Messenger plateaued? I enjoyed Keeper of the Lost Cities and the second and third instalments were delightful too, but from there it's only okay. The fourth one, Neverseen, wasn't it--it didn't reach the same level as book one. I wanted an improvement when I read Lodestar but I didn't get that.

It starts (more like continues) with Sophie and other characters picking up after the events of the fourth novel, Neverseen in the opening pages, where nothing much is happening other than the characters processing everything that happened. Remember the issues I found in Neverseen? They're also in Lodestar, but more prominent I don't know where to begin, but I'll try, first, the repetition. I'm tired of the repetitive plot telling me parts of the story I already heard of before like the Black Swan and the Neverseen. The only new subplots introduced in Lodestar are (you guessed it,) the Lodestar, at least the symbol of it, and a special stone that uses blood. The conflict thickens, but not by much as the ogres are the against council, and the Black Swan is supposed to be this benevolent organisation What is the Lodestar supposed to do? The pacing is like Neverseen, but slower as Lodestar spans more than 600 pages, most of which are filler. Removing filler could've tightened the reading experience. I still like the characters like Sophie, but without any character development, I disconnected from them. I can't relate to the characters if they don't have character development. Did Messenger forget to put that in? Please fix it in the sixth part, Nightfall. At least the conclusion has a slightly faster pace but the final pages are predictable since the finish is the same as the other narratives. ( )

4.5 stars ( )

Not another cliffhanger...
Come on Shannon, you're killing us here.
This book was much better than Neverseen, as the writing didn't feel slow and long, in fact this book had a lot more action. The plot in this book was very well done, but unfortunately, we didn't get to see a lot of Keefe's humour in this book, I know why but still....
There were a few laughs throughout the story, when Grady was talking to Sophie about boys and when Keefe calls himself the King of Good-Hair land.
Dex has matured considerably and I don't hate him anymore. We learn about another real identity of a leader and let me just say WOW. That was unexpected.

The book ends on a cliffhanger again, meaning now I need to immediately read book 6.
Thank goodness the only two books I need to wait for to come out are Books 9 and 10.
I know the feeling of waiting for the next book to be released which is how I'm feeling after Kingdom of the Cursed.

Overall, the flaws in Neverseen weren't present here and was an enjoyable book imbued with action, humor and some devastating things. ( )

Absolutely loving everything about this series and can't wait to read the next book with my son. ( )

*5.2.16 ~ THE COVER IS EPIC. Not to mention Tam is beautiful! I am rating my anticipation 5 stars.

OH MY GOD I AM STILL CRYING THAT ENDING TORE ME APART MAN ( )