I was really excited for this book as it sounded like a debut fantasy that included a fantastic quest, a good amount of angst and sent in Indian inspired fantasy world and for the most part that's what I got. I really enjoyed the beginning and the set up and felt like real attention was paid to the worldbuilding and making sure that the characters were clearly defined and dynamic in their own right. Once you get past that initial set up however, I did feel the story and plot slow down a bit too much.

At about the halfway point it does start to pick up again and we really get into the meat of the story and characters. I did really like the different POVs and felt that once we got to the meat of the action it was non stop to the end. The slow section did drag down my enjoyment a bit, but the last half of the book was what I wanted out of it and would drive me to pick up the sequel.

As soon as I saw this on NetGalley I had to have it. I know, I know .. I said to myself no more series, but this sounded so good I had to request it.

I'm so glad I was approved! This is a beautifully written story about siblings and their struggles with not only themselves but with their past. Magic is dying, and somehow the obsession their father had brings them back together as they find a way to save their people.

What follows is a journey full of peril, reminiscent of Indiana Jones (in the sense of secret societies, hidden "treasure", and the dangers faced when trying to obtain said treasure. My favorite part in this one is where they are at the temple and have to work their way through traps and puzzles.

Relationships with family can be tricky, and sibling relationships even more so. The author does such a good job with showcasing all the emotions. I can't wait to see where this finishes in the next book.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.

Four people who want the exact same thing for four very different reasons. What could possibly go wrong? A very vivid and exciting story for someone who enjoys fantasy and magic. I enjoyed it very much. Happy reading!

THE IVORY KEY by Akshaya Raman first attracted my attention because of its beautiful cover, but I stayed for the story which is an excellent fantasy involving four siblings. Now young adults, they are estranged to the point where one, 18-year-old Vira, has recently become ruler and has had her brother Kaleb imprisoned due to suspicions that he was involved in their mother's unexpected death. Another sister, Riya, has run away to join the Ravens, an opposition group living in the forest, while the remaining brother named Ronak gets involved with some dangerous, unethical people in an attempt to escape the kingdom and royal life. Their country, Ashoka, has always been a significant producer of magic which is used it to defend its borders, but the magic is running out and the kingdom could soon be overrun by enemies. However, there is a legend involving an old map which leads to the Ivory Key to unlock additional magic quarries. Could these four combine their talents and learn to work together despite mistrust and the self-centered objectives of each sibling? Told from alternating perspectives, the character development is especially strong and debut author Raman's worldbuilding includes numerous references to Indian culture. An intriguing story full of adventure, romance, and betrayal which seems perfect for a movie adaptation, THE IVORY KEY received a starred review from Booklist and is the first of a planned duology.

Let me just start by saying that the premise and world-building for this book were immaculate. I loved the Indian-inspired world and the way magic was weaved into the culture.

The story follows four estranged royal siblings—Vira, Riya, Ronak, and Kaleb—as they are forced to work together to find an object the all want: the Ivory Key that will open hidden magic quarries in their country of Ashoka. They all have their own motives for wanting the key, which leads to clashing ideas and plenty of familial squabbles.

Overall I enjoyed the story, but I will be honest: I was left wanting more from this book. The characters were interesting , but I just wanted MORE. More emotion, more drama, more imagery. Not a lot happened for the first 60% of the book, and I felt like it didn’t really get going until about 80% in. Personally, I wish the quest would have started earlier and we could have learned more about the characters in the midst of the action instead of leading up to it.

I’m definitely curious to see what happens in book two, now that we’ve established the characters and conflict. If you’re looking for a story with beautiful culture and world building, I would check this one out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun YA fantasy. Sometimes a little cringe-y but nothing unusual for YA novels. Loved the immersion of Indian culture and heritage with the many aspects of fantasy especially magic.

Four siblings all born into royalty. All separated by different ideals, or backgrounds. It seems like nothing could bring them together. Yet when a well hidden secret about Ashoka's magic is found out by the family they all come together on a quest to see if they can find the illusive Ivory Key. They all have different reasons to find the key, be it to buy their freedom, save their country, save the people, or allow them to clear their name. Can they all come together and solve a mystery their father died still trying to solve?

If you read any further please understand there are small spoilers.

Overall I love books that have multiple person perspectives. I think that it adds so much to books, and allows the reader to have different views allowing them to get a much more comprehensive story. Ivory Key for the most part uses this form of writing really well. Each story builds on to the next one flawlessly. Until you get to the quest itself, especially within the temple with the Ivory Key. Somehow the story just gets very disjointed and I really had a hard time not only staying focused on what was happening to all the characters, but even understanding everything they were encountering. Once they were back outside the temple and Kaleb decides to stay behind the story telling gets back on track. But to have the most important piece of the story be so disjointed really bothered me and took me out of the story. This honestly just could be how I read it or my reading style, I just wish I could have not felt like I skimmed over all that happened. Otherwise it is a well written story. You get to know and love all the characters. I do apricate that each character has so much backstory that builds up to them all coming back together again. I think that it really helps you see each siblings perspective a bit better. It will be exciting to see where each character gets to go next.

Thank you so much to Clarion Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy.

2.5

Thank you to NetGalley and Clarion Books for providing me an eARC to review!

There was a lot about this I really enjoyed - the Indian-inspired setting with rich descriptions of food, dress and jewellery; the different agendas each of the siblings had and how their parents' relationship with each of them coloured their attitudes towards each other; and the magic system of forging and scarcity. While around 50% of this book takes place in the palace before the adventure begins, I did like this time spent establishing the characters as well as court life (though I would have liked more insight into Vira and her Council and the duties of a maharani).

That said, I was looking forward to the action/adventure portion of this book and I was a bit let down. The puzzles/difficulties they came across were solved very easily, sometimes frustratingly so. I also didn't like the direction the magic system was going for book 2, as I really liked it in its current state and I feel it could make these kind of 'convenient' solutions a bigger part of the story. I did get Indiana Jones vibes at times, but I felt it needed a bit more tension - we would get a short period of difficulty with the puzzle, then they would solve it pretty quickly, and then it would fade to black and move on to the next portion of the story which made these obstacles feel inconsequential. The twist in the end wasn't very surprising due to the characterisation of the individual involved, and I didn't care much for their plot-line anyway, but it sets up book 2 to be on a larger scope than book 1.

I probably will pick up book 2, but I think this would be better for younger YA readers who maybe aren't quite ready for something as dark as Six of Crows. Loved the world and the cultural elements woven into the story, but sadly found the action/adventure lacking.

Thanks to #partner @netgalley and @clarionbooks for the digital ARC of Akshaya Raman's The Ivory Key in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on Tuesday, January 4!

Akshaya Raman’s The Ivory Key is part family drama, part fantasy, part adventure. It centers on four siblings in the kingdom of Ashoka who have been driven apart by the pressures of ruling their country. Riya fled her family’s control after a horrible fight with her mother and now lives with a group of thieves called the Ravens who try to move magic, the true wealth within Ashoka, from the hands of those with privilege to those in need. Riya’s twin Ronak has vowed to gain freedom for himself and for his brother Kaleb, to leave Ashoka by any means necessary, even if it means betraying his family. Vira became the maharani after their mother’s murder and bears the great burden of that responsibility. One of her actions was to allow Kaleb, their half-brother, to be accused of conspiring in their mother’s death; he’s been imprisoned ever since.

Raman alternates between each sibling’s point of view, and she does some excellent character- and world-building early in the book, so readers have a rich sense of each sibling’s motivation and of the intricacies of their realm. In Ashoka, magic is mined from the ground, and there are legends that drive the way magic is venerated. Magic was first found by the family’s ancestor, and she gave it away to neighboring countries as a way to build connections and protect their society. That action forestalled any need from other kingdoms to invade or to try to grab the magic for themselves. As magic has dwindled, however, threats from within and outside of the kingdom have weakened every part of Ashoka, including the royal family.

Though it seems their conflicts can’t be overcome, the four siblings are drawn together by their dead father’s search for the Ivory Key, which their family legend says could unlock other mines, thus resurrecting their access to magic, their protection from invaders, and their ability to keep peace for the kingdom both inside and out.

I loved the sense of a team here, one in which each member has different skills, and I appreciated what those skills reveal about each sibling’s relationship with their parents. Their father created challenges for them constantly, which nurtured each ability (one wields magic, one is most adept physically, and so on). There’s also a vivid look at what the power of their position can do to teenagers: Riya fled; Vira denies her own personality and emulates their mother to her own detriment; Ronak considers betrayal; and Kaleb gives in completely to the unfairness of the ruler’s—his sister’s—decisions, surrendering all hope.

The Ivory Key is quite complex and is the first in a duology, so it lays out their situation patiently and spends time on details of the world. I love the backstory and the way that we see how close the siblings were before power drove them apart. I’ve seen it compared to The Gilded Wolves, which makes sense to me, though there’s less of a focus on heists through the early parts of the novel, and I also thought more than once of the siblings in Succession who are both beneficiaries and victims of power and greed. This is a confident, compelling debut. Now I just have to settle in to wait for book two!

My last read of 2021 and it ended the year right! This is a treasure hunt for four siblings who have been torn apart by political intrigue and a game of court power. The four sibling have to repair their relationship in order to save their country. This book is rich in detail and color and as we have four narrators, it breaks up the book into small parts that are easy to follow. Led by Vira, the four find themselves together again despite their deep parental issues. There's moment of sibling love and fighting that you can not help but be taken in by them and root for them to find the elusive ivory key. It ended on a huge cliffhanger so I cannot wait to see where the next book takes us.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a refreshing and riveting take on a cultural, fantasy drama. I love how the main arc of the story is the relationship between the siblings and their complicated motives. Each sibling has a different and unique perspective on what is it like to be a member of the royal family, some taking to it more than others. The history of the world is given slowly and builds up a picture of political tensions and diminishing magic. Wit the siblings having to take on the quest to retrieve the kingdom's lost magic, it makes for a great climax to the story as we are left wondering who will get their hands on the magic and will the kingdom be saved?

The premise of this book is so good: estranged siblings who no longer really know or trust each other have to work together in a fantasy adventure, each with their own motives. And it delivers on so much of its promise; however, we don’t spend enough time with each narrator to get to know them for quite some time, which makes full investment difficult. After the point where you get invested, the puzzles, traps, and other shenanigans hit really well.

I received a digital advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one as it really wasn’t for me. Was looking forward to some lush Indian tale style world building and whilst that was there and really well executed, the characters then didn’t live up to my expectations and I didn’t connect with any of them at all. I struggled to follow the different POVs and their motivations, and it felt like there was too much happening and yet not enough all at once.

The Ivory Key was an excellent read. It follows four royal siblings who have fallen out over the years. One ran away, another was imprisoned, the third resents the royal life and dreams of leaving, and the fourth has ascended to the throne and deals with the kingdom's crises all alone. Crises like the nearly empty magic mines under the castle and the countries on either side getting ready to invade.
When the siblings find themselves forced together again, they realize the only way to save the kingdom and the dwindling magic is to hunt for the Ivory Key, the legendary artifact hidden away centuries ago.

It took me a few chapters to adjust to the multiple narrators and learn who was who, but after that I sped through this novel. It was an engaging and well-crafted story, and I am ready and waiting for the sequel.

3.75 stars

The premise of this was excellent, but the execution could have been refined a little?

I so wanted to love this: the whole idea of estranged siblings having to work together to solve puzzles in order to defeat a secret society and bring back magic, while all having their own agendas, sounds great! But that kind of story only works if you understand and care about all the characters' motivations and consequent moral dilemmas. And unfortunately, while I really identified witih Vira (it's the eldest sibling in me!) and felt for Kaleb, I found Ronak and Riya (to an extent - she had a solid arc and did grow on me eventually) just insufferably naive and selfish, which just made me frustrated every time we were in their POVs.

I did adore the worldbuilding: all the details about clothing and food and architecture were so vibrant. But, I had some trouble following the action at times: especially when they were running through underground tunnels making all kinds of perspective-shattering, world-changing discoveries, which were clearly meant to be incredibly significant but were brushed over so quickly that I never quite managed to grasp their implications.

Overall, it's a solid debut and a decent first book in a series; not one that I think will particularly stick with me, but I am interested to see where the sequel goes and what Akshaya Raman will write next!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of The Ivory Key!

This is a truly incredible Indian-inspired YA fantasy featuring four estranged siblings who come together to try to find a hidden source of magic. Each sibling has their own motivation for trying to find the Ivory Key, but they all have to set aside their differences in order to be able to achieve their goals. The story is told in alternating perspectives between the siblings, and I absolutely loved getting to know each of them. I also really loved the world-building, and I felt that the author did an amazing job of transporting me to Ashoka. I especially love stories with complex family dynamics, and this one did an amazing job of exploring family in a unique way. The story is fun and compelling, and the writing style is very easy to sink into.

Highly recommend!!

THE IVORY KEY is a great debut that's part messy family drama and part Indiana Jones-esque adventure, wrapped up in an Indian-inspired world.

This is a book that can best be described as an "Action and Adventure Fantasy." After years of working in a library and shelving kids books under "Action and Adventure" where kids solve puzzles and go to abandoned sites to find treasure (particularly the "solve it yourself" puzzle books which I'd devour) but not finding a YA equivalent, I think it's safe to say that THE IVORY KEY fills that gap.

There are lots of puzzles for the siblings to solve separately (and then together) in order to find where the key is. And then once they get to the resting place, we have a truly Indiana Jones-esque hidden temple sequence. Traps and sneaky architecture galore! (Is this the only bit I remember of the films? Yes. Am I thrilled that this is not a white bloke there to pilfer but siblings trying to save their own country? Double yes.)

It was a very rich world, and a lot of care had clearly been taken with the details. From the magic point of view, there are all sorts of little mentions of how magic affects daily life (for the rich!) from magically warmed baths to lights and prisons.

I really appreciated that, on the linguistical side, the author simply uses the actual term for the object/concept rather than using an English one that won't be so accurate. She trusts readers without a background from the region to work it out from context. I have no knowledge of any language in that region, but I could still follow along easily. Yes, I am a nerd with linguistical world building, but it really does add depth to the world.

As for the siblings... well, there's enough drama between them to make a soap opera writer run back to their writing desk to get their script up to the same level. Every single sibling has a rough relationship with the other three. I mean, one put another in prison and is arranging a marriage for a third. The fourth ran away from them all.

I really liked how they all had their own reasons for wanting the key that tied back to their disagreements with their siblings. It made both their personal reasons for distrusting each other and their "professional" need to keep secrets deeply interlinked. Thus them working together felt like a much trickier goal to achieve (and also more rewarding when they did.)

A lot happens at the end, setting up several interesting conflicts for the next book, which I will look forward to next year.

If you like National Treasure, 4 different characters you root for equally and want to all succeed despite their opposing goals, magic, and messy families then boy do I have a book for you. Knowing that The Ivory Key is part of a duology (and not even out yet) I knew what I was getting myself into when I started reading and I still couldn't help it. Do I wish I had book 2 right now? Yes. Did I thoroughly enjoy this first book in the story and not regret reading it? Also yes.
I'm usually not a fan of puzzles but I loved the mysteries and clues in this book. I hope that the next book goes more into the history of Ashoka because those were some of my favorite parts and I can't wait to learn more. I also thought the magic was really unique and LOVED all the descriptions of food.

4.5

This was a fantastic debut novel and although it was a slow burn, I enjoyed reading it slowly over the course of a few days. While the pacing could have been better, I never lost interest and each time I came back to the story, I felt like I was returning to a fascinating world. This is a pure fantasy novel inspired by Southasian/Indian culture. The story revolves around 4 siblings in the ruling family. Vira has just been crowned the new Maharani after her mother was killed and her half-brother Kaleb was accused of the murder. Her twin brother wants nothing more than to leave everything behind, and her younger sister has run away to join the Ravens, a rebel group that wants to overthrow Vira, who wants nothing more than to live up to her beloved mother's rule. The problem is that the magic in their country seems to be running out, and the council is pressuring Vira to make advantageous marriages, first for herself, and then for her twin brother.

Although the story develops quite slowly as we get to know each of the siblings and learn about their individual motivations, I enjoyed how the author pulled all the various threads together. Ultimately, the siblings end up on a quest for the mythical Ivory Key, each of them hoping it will help them with their own problems. There were points during the story when I felt like I was in a good computer RPG, especially when they tried to solve puzzles or figure out the next clue, and there were a few action scenes that had me hanging on the edge, and even the minor bit of romance worked for me. Without revealing any spoilers, there was one big plot twist that I did not expect, but it foreshadows (for me) what is to come in the second book.

I am so happy I received this book as an ARC, but I am sad that this means I have longer to wait for the second book. But I will be waiting for what I hope to be an amazing conclusion to this story!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a really fun and enjoyable read, the beginning of the book was quite slow, but eventually the story picks up and becomes really exciting, with all of the puzzles and adventures. Heist stories in ya fantasy have been done a lot this year, but The Ivory Key was well written, had a lot of cultural influence and history and really stood out in a unique way. The world building and description was very vivid, but I feel like the characters could have been a little more developed, and the tension between the estranged siblings could have been stronger, as it was kind of disregarded, and not the main focus like the blurb suggests. Regardless, I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the second book, and will strongly recommend this for my local library to add to the shelf.