*thanks to the author who provided me with a copy of the book via Smith Publicity*

Silent Lee and the Adventure of the Side Door Key is the first entry in author Alex Hiam's new Silent Lee series. This is a delightful novel with a spunky, resourceful, strong-willed heroine that I believe fans of Harry Potter (and in particular, Hermione Granger) will enjoy.

We meet Silent Lee in the attic of her Great Aunt Gen's house, the home where Silent Lee had grown up while her mother traveled the world. But with Great Aunt Gen's recent and unexpected death, she'd been moved out of her house and her school, the Girls' Latin Academy of Latin and Alchemy. Readers will delight in the idea that this house is special because if you left through the side door, you would find yourself 100 years in the past.

Her mother's attention feels less than motherly and things feel amiss. Silent shortly finds herself abandoned for the summer, as the cousins she was living with are gone when her mother drops her off at home. Her Aunt Gen's birdcage, which was left to her, reveals a message, and Silent must discover what really happened to her Aunt Gen - and protect the side door from mysterious government agents who want the key. Her classmate and neighbor Raahi joins her (uninvited at first) in her adventure.

Silent is an interesting character - more comfortable in the past than the present, a bit bossy, very confident and direct with adults. She is skilled at magical spells (even though she knows she is not supposed to be using them) and outwits the adults around her. Raahi makes an excellent and equally peculiar sidekick. Due to a vision problem, he wears thick glasses, but that doesn't stop him from reading and accumulating information on all sorts of things - which he tends to overshare, and he is as persistent as his new friend Silent. Both possess above-average intelligence, and possibly below-average people skills.

The plot moves quickly, thanks to short chapters. It's a fun and quick story, and I think it will play out to be an interesting series. In addition to the magic, this is a story about friendship. When it ended, I was definitely left wanting to read more of her adventures.

I mean that both figuratively and literally - because the book DID feel short. The actual story arc is pretty short, and the plot is wrapped up neatly. The first chapter of the next book in the series is included at the end as a taste of what's to come, so I could understand (to a point) why the author stopped when he did, but I really wanted this story to continue a bit longer, and I honestly wish that maybe the book had been expanded to incorporate the second book (at least.) It definitely has the potential to be more developed, particularly with the jumps to the past through the side door.

To that end, the format of the book is a bit confusing - it is thin, and while the content is completely appropriate for all middle-grade readers, my 13-year-old's initial thought was that it was meant for younger middle-grade readers, given the 130-page length. However, when we opened the book, we found a smaller-than-typical font with single-spaced pages (which may be intimidating to the younger reader.)

I am looking forward to reading more about Silent Lee, and I hope that future entries to the series have a little more meat to them. This is an excellent book for younger readers who might like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson but are intimidated by the book length. Don't let them be put off by the smaller font size. Ultimately, this was a fun read that I think children will enjoy.

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I don't know what the other reviews of this book are talking about.
This is a delightful, creative, middle grade, fantasy.
The characters are fun. (not necessarily relatable, but I'm twice the target audience age so...) ( )

Silent is just as her name states...silent. It's not that she doesn't speak, she just doesn't waste her words, and much prefers living in the side door world as opposed to the front door. Silent learned of this world from her Auntie Generous and happily lived with her, exploring this and that world, while expanding her knowledge base and skills beyond what you or I would know. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the breaking of a few rules is nothing when faced with the greater tragedy that could unfold. I mean, maintaining control of the gateway is essential, discovering the whereabouts of Auntie Gen (if she's still alive!) is a must, and not being whisked away by a secretive government organization for further observation is certainly a priority.

SO MUCH going on, and we've barely touched the tip of the iceberg because there's also lessons on friendship, trust, meddling, and confidence that are well worth carrying off the page with you upon your reemergence into reality. I loved the characters, both lead and supporting...the magic because hello....MAGIC...and that birdcage was so neat! I loved the adventure, the unexpected surprises, the jumps into and out of history, and even the possibility that that was even possible!

In summary, this was such an unexpectedly good read! So curious, and strange, and unique, and just the perfect way to escape for a bit of afternoon reading with the promise of more to come...well, it does list as the first of a new series, but when we'll see the second book is still a mystery worth waiting for, and I for one WILL be waiting!


**eARC received for review; opinions are my own
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