the Legacy of the Key (Ancient Guardians #1) Review

the Legacy of the Key(Ancient Guardians1) by S.L. Morgan

Published by: Pasidian Press, Dec. 20, 2012
Genre:  Young Adult, Fantasy, Supernatural
Pages: 447 Kindle edition, 374 paperback
Source: Amazon Kindle eBooks

Synopsis: Reece Bryant returns to medical school after the death of her father. Inexplicably, she encounters two mysterious men who start a series of extraordinary events that take Reece to their parallel dimension world of Pemdas. Reece learns her family legacy is a lot more special than she imagines, and a lot more dangerous.

The Legacy of the Key is the first book of Ancient Guardians by S.L. Morgan.  I keep getting drawn back into YA books because of the fantastic range for storylines and I love a little paranormal/romantic magic. This is classified YA despite Reece being a university med student, so this likely is on account the story is sweet.

S.L. Morgan brings the reader to Pemdas, a world that exists with the earth but in another dimension. Some of the story elements are very interesting, such as traveling to a parallel dimension/world that runs on advanced power sources while at the same time the populace practices 1800s dress and customs. The fact that Reece travels not just to Pemdas, but to the royal palace of the Emperor, gives the author a beautiful locale for the story.

The first part of the book involves the reader deeply with Reece’s stay on Pemdas.  Reece is a very courageous heroine in dealing with her quite drastically altered circumstances, though staying at a royal palace isn’t too hard either. Neither is having Levi, the Emperor’s handsome son, and cousin, Harrison, dancing polite attendance on her, even if she is the Key.

The action picks up quite a bit when the Pemdai return to earth with Reece for a universal council with beings from all over the galaxy.

I found the writing style a little pedantic, though this may be mostly on account of the 1800s court fashion (over) politeness of the Pedmai people.  It’s nice to see politeness though, I think.  I can see that the author wants to highlight courtly behaviour towards women, though I feel like I’m in a Disney movie while reading this and it seems a little too over emphasized.

At court we are also introduced to Simone, one of the young ladies visiting there who has her own eye out for Levi. She proves to be not in line with the main characters, but I love hating Simone!

Overall, I thought the story very interesting and lovely, perhaps a little too Disney-esque for my taste, but well done. The romance element was very sweet.