This is a wonderful Fantasy story obviously written for the younger generation.

I still found the story to be well written and entertaining with well developed characters.

Although it did seem to be slow in places possibly due to my age.

Well worth a read.

A little bit jerky at the beginning, but on the whole a great read that I recommend for younger fans and any one older who enjoys a great read. It has a great ambience and characters, easy to get involved in the plot. Once into the storyline, it was hard to put down until it was finished. Looking forward to reading any other books written by Omar.
I would like to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I know I’m flying in the face of a lot of other reviews but I wasn’t won over by this one: it felt like a draft which needed further work.
I liked the classic premise - unassuming protagonist faces a mystery and finds themselves in a whole new world where they have to learn quickly - but the timeline felt rushed.

Sali and the Five Kingdoms is the latest novel by Oumar Dieng. Similar to YA fantasy in which an unassuming character begins a hero's journey to save the world, the Five Kingdoms follows that exact formula.

When Sali's mom suddenly disappears right before her eyes as a youngster, her world is turned upside down. No one believes her, not even her father. With no traces of her mother, the authorities eventually end their search. Her father becomes engrossed in work and is away constantly traveling to deal with the loss and Sali carries the guilt of believing she is the cause for her mother's disappearance. Several years later, now a recent college graduate, Sali gets a lead about her mother's disappearance. That clue leads her to the Five Kingdoms of Centaura, which is in the midst crowning a new ruler. But everyone is not thrilled about the peaceful transition. This is where the adventure and action begins as she takes on the evil power Battu to not only save the Five Kingdoms but Earth as well.

While the story in itself has promise for a great series, this debut lacks depth and sometimes feels like it was written by a budding writer who is still developing their craft. The author uses a simple writing style, yet I would get thrown off at times because interspersed throughout would be these "big" sophisticated words that felt disingenuous to the writer's voice. Rather than sound natural, it was as if the author used a thesaurus to replace words as a way to enhance the reading level. I also felt as if the story lacked detail about the characters and even scenes. For example, we never learn how old was Sali when her mother disappeared? And what is her father doing during the fight scenes? For these type of stories to come alive, it needs to give readers a play-by-play of the action so they can feel they are right there. Detail also helps build anticipation. A fight scene should be longer than a couple of paragraphs. For example, there was a scene where an important person was killed. Yet you didn't know it until after the battle. And it is never explained, how the person was killed.

With that being said, I believe the series has promise and I would give the second book a shot. The Epilogue does a great job of setting up the continuation of the saga. Although I wouldn't rate this among the best in this genre, I would recommend the book to middle school and junior high students who like adventure stories.