Book Review: Silent Lee and the Adventures of the Side Door Key

Looking for a quick YA story to read? Like fantasy and magic? Silent Lee and the Adventures of the Side Door Key fits in to those categories!

Silent Lee is a young girl who has grown up living with her Great Aunt Gen (short for Generous – it took me a minute to realize their names are Silent Lee and Generous Lee!). Living in the Back Bay in Boston, Silent goes to school by using the side door to the house. You see out the front door it is modern day Boston. But, when you go out the side door with a special key you are transported to the past. Well, actually I’m unclear whether it’s just the past – I’m talking carriages and schools that teach alchemy and magic – or if it’s just another parallel universe that is kind of old fashioned. Anyway, Silent has magic and when the story begins she is told that her aunt has passed away and she needs to leave the house. This is according to her often absent mother who is far from trustworthy.

Silent spends the book trying to find out what has happened to Aunt Gen with the help of her magic and new friend Raahi. Even though there are elements of fantasy and magic in the book, it’s not steeped in it actually since it takes place in present day Boston so it is rooted in the real world.

The book is the first in a series so the ending is open and actually a bit of a cliff hanger. I found it to be an easy and quick read in the fantasy genre that I love so much!