When I was first asked to review The Key of Kilenya, I believed it a young adult story that was as much romance as adventure. To my delighted surprise, I realized that it is actually more of a middle grade adventure story which is appropriate for fans of books like Fablehaven and the Far World series. This is a good thing, IMO, because there just aren’t nearly enough fun adventure stories available for kids of this age. (And by this age, I mean too old for kid books, but not quite into dark, heavy YA that is so prominent in the market lately. Mainly the 10-14 age group.) And FYI, even though it contains a girl / boy relationship, it's not really a romance (a relief to my MG reader son).

It’s clean, well written, and packed with adventure in a way that makes the chapters fly by until you realize you’re almost at the end. And then you’re sad to realize the adventure is over, and relieved to discover it's the first of a series so there will be more adventures to come.