A fantasy kingdom finds its rightful heirs trapped in crystal. The traitor responsible flees with the key to the trap, to a world where anyone who pursues him will age to death in minutes. So the surviving heir recruits help from that world: Earth. A group of high school students accept the task of tracking down crystals hidden to release the trapped children, but their journey will take them further than they think. With the aid of the magical cat-like creature Espog, they need to find four magical crystals to unlock the caves

The Lost Heirs is an enchanting children’s/YA tale, taking its protagonists to another world, and then to their own in places they never thought thy would see. While it is part one of the series, it is a complete story in its own right. The plot moves along nicely, and while threads are left for the next book, it wraps up at a natural break point where many of the existing plot threads have been wrapped up. The epilogue sets up the villain for the next book nicely, and we already know what the teenagers’ next quest will be.

Its a good read, probably aimed at the lower end of the teen market, or upper end of the children’s, and it is thoroughly enjoyable. The villains aren’t stupid and nor are the heroes, the plot is complex, and the real world scenes work surprisingly well. While the young ruler of the kingdom may have assumed the teens were “fire-and-forget” heroes, they (and his more experienced advisors) quickly put him straight – he has the resources of the kingdom, and he’s going to help with intelligence, resources etc.

While Eric, a high school student, is the main character, the rest of the group, Corbin, Rose, and Lydia, all play active roles and this is definitely a team effort. They definitely have distinct personalities, and I’d be hard pressed to find a character on page for more than two lines that didn’t. From an adult point of view, some of their decisions seem a little unwise, but they are teenagers, and may not realise that there are other options available.

That isn’t to say it is perfect. There is a lot of exposition early on, setting up the world’s background, and I did start to get bored and wanted something to actually happen. I will admit to skipping chunks of this on my initial read, but when I went back and read it later for the review it didn’t change the story. Once the plot got underway, after several chapters, it was actually very readable and did leave me wanting to know what happens next. It’s never really explained why Espog doesn’t age to death crossing between worlds if people do. However I noticed no problems with grammar, spelling or formatting, and that’s more than I can say for many books.

It’s a three. It is above average for an older children’s to young adult book, and many in that age group will enjoy it, but the long talking sections up front might put off readers with shorter attention spans.