Wizard's Key - Mitch Reinhardt

                Wizard’s Key is the first book in an exciting new young adult series called the Dark Wolf Saga. I’m always on the lookout for things that will entice non-readers to want to pick a book up and I think this book will do the job.

                The story centers around three teens: Jane, a popular and inquisitive young lady; Geoff, small for his age and very intelligent but bullied; and Sawyer, popular and a jock who bullies Geoff. Geoff’s father deals with interesting old artifacts and when Geoff finds a strange key he ends up falling through an archway, dragging Sawyer and Jane with him. They fall into a strange and magical land where river trolls and ogres hunt humans and a mysterious elven druid named Ariel rules over the forest. Ariel believes there is something special about the three teenagers and tries to help them, albeit grudgingly, and teach them some of the ways of the new land, including magic. Unfortunately, there is also a huge werewolf after them who also knows that there is something different about the kids.

                I loved this book and found it to be an easy and entertaining read. The characters are well written and the three teenagers in particular are realistic and credible. Often, teens aren’t written as they really are and are often portrayed as either too childish or too adult-like. Teenage readers will pick up on any glitches in a teenage character quicker than anyone and in this case, I think they will be satisfied with how believable Jane, Geoff and Sawyer are written. The magical world created by Mr. Reinhardt is excellent and as you read along, it is easy to picture the story unfold and imagine in your head the beautiful unicorn, the stinking orcs, and all of the other creatures. Both genders will enjoy this book because there is a little bit of everything thrown into the mix. There’s action, adventure, mystery, magic and humour. It’s the type of book that I can really see being made into a movie.

                Mr. Reinhardt did an excellent job with writing Wizard’s Key and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.  I read this book in digital form and it formatted to my ereader perfectly. The cover is great and pertains to the story well.