by Akshaya Raman
The Ivory Key is an Indian-inspired YA Fantasy from debut author Akshaya Raman. It combines save-the-kingdom and ‘National Treasure’ with magical flair. It’s up to four royal siblings to put aside their differences and save their kingdom and magic as they know it. Will their quest steal my heart? Let’s find out.
Read if you like: YA fantasy, treasure hunts, sibling stories, epic quests.
A lot has changed for siblings Vira, Ronak, Riya, and Kaleb in the last few years and it has left their relationships in tatters. Vira is now queen and she’s struggling to be the leader she wants to become. Ronak seems to have been left behind, and he’s trying to regain his, and his brother’s freedom at any cost. Kaleb has been wrongfully imprisoned for the late-queen’s death and is steadily losing hope that his fate could change. Riya ran away from home two years ago and has been living with a group of “Robin Hood” type rebels. All their lives are in flux and ready to be diverted forever, but something is happening that will force their paths to align. The magic that sustains their kingdom has been rather scarce and unrest is rampant. Each of the four have different motivations to work together but they soon realize that an ancient artifact is the answer to all their problems. They agree to take up their late father’s quest to find The Ivory Key.
I liked this book, I think. It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t great either. I loved the setting and I love the potential for the story. But halfway through I found myself trying to figure out how I felt about the story. As a character development junkie, you’d think that having four POVs would be incredible. And it was nice, but it was somehow too much and not enough. I wanted more from Kaleb instantly, but he was slow to show up because it took so very long to set up everyone else’s stories. Also, I felt like there was a lot of talking about quests and plans but when it was time to put them into action a lot of said action happened off the page. One of the best characters was a main sidekick and got all the fun-yet-predictable twists.
I do think that the siblings were well planned and have their own strengths and good reasons for their disparate agendas. It just took forever to get everyone in the same place and even longer for them to start the quest. Then quest the felt rushed. Like items were being ticked off. Narrow escape. Check. Jungle. Check. Log bridge. Check. It was comfortingly familiar but needed more. Just more. I’m hopeful that the more-ness will appear in book two since we ended with a delicious plot changer.
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