CRYSTAL DOORS

The world called Elantya, a wannabe Atlantis with some faux Greco-Roman nomenclature, runs on telepathic powers that are magnified by special crystals. Fourteen-year-old cousins Gwen and Vic are transported there and become the focus of a group of five gifted teens, all from different universes. As can only be expected in this formulaic Heinlein juvenile, they save the world from the bad guys, leaving plenty of loose threads to set up the next in the series. Characters are predictable, harking back to earlier science fiction and fantasy styles, and including a villain so obvious that youthful readers will be hooting and pointing as they read on. And read on they will, because once the story takes hold, the suspense builds and builds. This tension-filled work by the authors of the “Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights” series, with its likable teen characters and exciting plot, will appeal to readers of tween SF/fantasy series fiction. Unchallenging but entertaining fare for middle-schoolers. (Fiction. 11-13)