Keeper of the Lost Cities Thoughts

Please Don't Move to the Lost Cities

Whee, this is part 50. (And that rhymes. I really didn't do that on purpose, I just wanted to say "whee" for some reason.)

And because someone else followed me (yay), thank you to wannabe_duckling for following me.

So, let's get on to today's "Something I Noticed About KotLC."

Three Reasons the Lost Cities are a Dystopia:

(If you can't tell by now, I am very critical of the Lost Cities and the KotLC series as a whole. I like the books, but feel like they're missing out on a lot of important things.)

Reason 1: Everyone literally wears trackers around their necks 24/7. And not just normal trackers, but trackers that transmit all sorts of information, from relationship drama to dislike of the Council's procedures, directly to the registry, which keeps track of basically everything that ever happened in anyone's lives. Has the Council ever heard of privacy?

Reason 2: The Council banishes literal children to live on their own in the Neutral Territories, and not just for committing crimes. Look at Linh. The Council banished her at, like, eleven or something because she couldn't control her ability. Most elves haven't even manifested at that age, of course she had trouble. And not just that, but when I was reading over the registry files in Unlocked, Linh's file said something like, "with her current age and skill set, it was unlikely she would have been able to survive in the Neutral Territories for long." Think about that for a little bit.

Reason 3: Just look at how the elves treat the other species. When discussing the ogreish treaty, one of Sophie's friends (I can't remember who) pointed out something that made the ogreish treaty different from the other intelligent species' treaties. While the ogres got all sorts of concessions, the other species' treaties basically said (and this is an exact quote from the person who brought it up): "We will allow you to remain free because you will do whatever we tell you." Doesn't sound like "free," does it? And not just the Councilors. Here's a more or less accurate quote from Mr. Forkle, "For much of [King Dimitar's] life, he believed ogres were actually the superior species." Notice that "actually" in there. It implies that there's something weird about King Dimitar believing that the ogres, his own species, were better than the elves, never mind that the elves are all high-and-mighty about being superior all the time.

And yet, Shannon Messenger herself, in Unlocked, called the Lost Cities an (exact quote ahead) "crumbling utopia." She (and I know it was indeed Shannon; she wasn't writing in character for someone else—she was saying some of her personal thoughts about the series) said that the Lost Cities were fundamentally a good civilization, but some situations had caused them to crumble from what they'd once been.

I disagree. The problems with the Lost Cities are a lot more fundamental than a few bad choices. They've been there since the founding.

In fact, despite all the good desserts and crazy inventions, I would advise you not to move to the Lost Cities. Well, that would be terrible for sure, because (correct me if I'm wrong) you are a human. But even if you were an elf, I would still suggest another residence. Perhaps go to the Neutral Territories instead, IDK.