The Key of Kilenya, My Very First Book Review

A while back, an e-friend asked me if I'd be willing to read her daughter's book and give a(n honest) review.  I told her that I'd love to.  I'm always up for a good read and am usually willing to try new things--like a book review.

The book came in the mail and I opened the package in anticipation.  My heart sank as I read the description on the back of the book and realized the story was in a genre that I'm not particularly fond of--fantasy. Children's fantasy. *gulp*  I suppose I should have asked what the book was about before agreeing to read it!

The "blurb" from the back of the book, as it's called:

When two vicious wolves chase fourteen-year-old Jacob Clark down a path from our world into another, his life is forever changed. He has no idea they have been sent by the Lorkon—evil, immortal beings who are jealous of powers he doesn’t know he possesses—powers they desire to control.

The inhabitants of the new world desperately need Jacob's help in recovering a magical key that was stolen by the Lorkon and is somehow linked to him. If he helps them, his life will be at risk. But if he chooses not to help them, both our world and theirs will be in danger. The Lorkon will stop at nothing to unleash the power of the key—and Jacob's special abilities.

I've never read the Twilight series, nor Harry Potter.  LOTR?  No thanks. I haven't even seen the movies and am not interested in seeing any of them.  I just don't get into fantasy.  Give me action, history, romance.  I'll inhale those books like a starving person seeing food for the first time.  Fantasy?  Uh oh.  I'm way out of my league.

BUT....

I gave my word that I'd read The Key of Kilenya and review it so I opened the cover and "encouraged" myself to read. 

I have to admit, I had an internal barrier when I began reading the book but I hoped that the more I read it, the more interested I would get and in the end, be able to write an awesome review about the book.

And that's exactly what happened--though I'm not sure about the "awesome review". 

The first thing that impressed me was the author's imagination.  She had a pronunciation guide at the very beginning and as I read the list, I was intrigued by the different names she created.  I was also intrigued by the map at the beginning of chapter one.  I found myself referring to it throughout the book as the main character, Jacob, progressed on his journey.

I struggled with the story at first, but it wasn't because of the characters or plot line.  It was purely because I had a bias (still do) against fantasy.  The characters were engaging, described clearly, and most were likeable.  They drew me in with a desire to learn more about them.  The ones that weren't were created to NOT be likeable  I again found myself impressed with her originality and the storyline pulled me in so much I couldn't put it down until I was finished.  I got involved and by the end of the book, I found myself actually enjoying it, anticipating how it would end, and honestly looking forward to the release of the next book in the series.
Not being a fan of the fantasy genre, I'm not sure I'm a fair person to write a review about a fantasy book.  Having said that, I will recommend it to friends and even to my 11 year old son--who is smack dab in the middle of the type of reader the book is written for.  I believe that it is a very well written book with a clean storyline and interesting characters.

Hey, if someone who doesn't even like fantasy likes the book, then that says something about the story and the author's talent, doesn't it?