If Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and The Breakfast Club had a love child, this book would be it. Absolutely magnificent! I could not put this book down! I was so sad when it ended! It has been a long time since a fantasy novel has taken me in its grasp! I seriously could not get enough of this book! I’m so excited for the rest of the series to come! The characters are well written, and the world-building is fantastic! I was always sucked into the story and forgot I was even reading. I thoroughly enjoyed the 1999 time setting and the fact that there was no romance needed to make this book interesting. There was always something happening and plot twists to keep you on your toes! I want to buy a physical copy of this book just to have it on my shelf.

The Chrysalis Key is about a group of five kids who have gone about living their normal lives when, oddly enough, they all end up in detention for various reasons. Suddenly they find themselves thrust into a world of magick, creepy beings, and a magickal school that will leave you on the edge of your seat. From odd family drama, friendships that will last a lifetime, to the front lines of magickal spells and curses...this book seems to have it all.

There were constant plot twists and eerie scenes that left me quite literally gripping my kindle. I am so incredibly happy with this book! I cannot express enough how much i have enjoyed this novel! Definitely 5/5 stars. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an action-packed, magical read! This book will not let you down! Fast, fun and gripping! I look forward to when the rest of the series comes out! They will definitely be at the top of my TBR when they come out!

AHHHHHHHHHHH

You need to read this book. It's been a LONG time since I read something that actually kept me on the edge of my seat, obsessively reading because I could NEVER figure out the plot twists.

***Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***

This is a young adult portal fantasy and is the first in a new series.

Our main characters are a group of 16/17 year in Brisbane in 1999. One of them is given a mysterious key and the next day some strange men appear, kill the headmaster at their school and threatened the students that this key must be found. Our group run, and end up using the key to open a door into another world.

There's powers being awakened, trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys (and defeat them) while flipping between worlds and a school of magic to be found. There is alot happening in this book and it is quite chunky for the first in a series!

It is firmly YA unlike a lot of other fantasy series which skews towards a more NA target, although there are a couple of references which seem less appropriate for a younger audience

I really enjoyed this - there's a lot of world building and establishing all the characters, along with their abilities and where they're each going. So a lot to digest, but still feels like a complete story while leaving you wanting more.

I bought it after finishing the ARC, looking forward to the next book!

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

Facebook kept me up till 2:00 a.m. reading I couldn't put it down!

Another multiple point of view book, which I love! The characters in this book were very well thought out and fleshed out. I really felt genuine connection to each and every one of them. The world this was set in was described so wonderfully. I found myself not wanting to put it down because I just had to know what was going on with each person. I loved watching each of their strengths play out in this wonderful book!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial, and of course E.P. Bali for providing me with an eARC of this book. I am voluntarily leaving a review, all opinions are my own.

This was such a fun ride. The magic and world-building in this book were both fantastic and I enjoyed seeing the world build on itself. This is a great book for those who liked Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or Pendragon.

While it may not have been my favorite story- purely me and nothing else- I can see why many people will love this world and this book. Can’t wait to see where this goes.

Thank you NetGalley, author E.P. Bali and the publishing company BooksGoSocial for providing an ARC of The Chrysalis Key for me to read and review. I really enjoyed reading the book and look forward to the next in the series collectively known as The Travellers. If you like Fantasy, Magic, Ensemble Cast, and Adventure, this book is for you!
The story is told from the perspective of the characters, mostly from the main protagonist Henry and his high school friends Aiden, Hugh, Melanie, and Julia. There are also chapters where other side characters are narrating like Deagon and Beatrice but those are relatively few. The main cast is the high schoolers and they were together because they were all doing morning detention. They weren't friends in the beginning, but when a mysterious group of magical beings led by the Red General took over their high school and started kidnapping children, the gang of kids decided to run away from the danger. Henry leads the group through a magical door and it leads them into a magical world where the adventure begins.
I like that each chapter has a corresponding drawing/sketch to foreshadow the contents of that chapter, and I really like the amount of art that's in this book. It makes it a fun reading experience, as well as help guide the reader in visualizing the story setting. I also liked reading the chapters from the different character's perspectives because the reader gets to really understand what the character is like. There is a relatively large cast so it took a while to remember who each character was and what their priorities or motivations were, but once you get the hang of it, the narration is very interesting.
As for the story and the fictional world itself, I really liked getting a glimpse of Chrysalis and I hope the next book will spend more time there. Also, many other locations and the mysterious White Lady were introduced and I want to know more about it! I think this book made the Chrysalis universe very intriguing and I can't wait to read what's next!

Book reviewed through Netgalley
I wish I had more time with this title, I guess I'll just have to try to convince the library to buy it won't I?
I think the description of Harry Potter meets Breakfast Club is pretty accurate!
The writing is superb and not too dense for younger readers.
My only complaint would be that the cover is a little... dated feeling? It might not attract the right age group.

3.5 stars
This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.
This was a really solid start to a new fantasy series. The book started very slow, but once the action picked up and I felt more grounded in the world it improved greatly.
My biggest issue was not being able to really connect with any of the characters. That almost comes with the territory of having a large cast at the forefront of the story. In this you can definitely see the pull from the "breakfast club" roots. A lot of the characters are unlikeable and that is certainly done on purpose. They're all such unique individuals who don't really know how to mesh well together yet, and I'm sure that that's coming in future books.
I absolutely adored the descriptions of Chrysalis. It was very easy to transport myself to this strange, beautiful place, and see what the characters were seeing.
All in all there were parts of this book that I loved, and there were parts that I didn't love so much. And even so I am very intrigued to keep reading this story. I still want to know where all of the characters are going to go, and what strange circumstances they will find themselves in in the next book.

Netgalley free book for review. Wow that was whacked out and definitely went places I wasn’t expecting which is nice. It was a wild ride. Younger self would have loved it. It’s not quite a five star rating though even with my middlegrade/teen more generous rating applied, but again probably cause I’m an adult reader. Younger me might not have cared so much.

Here’s what I found that I didn’t like so much—and again this is all nitpicking probably. I thought the pacing was a bit weird and the way things happened in the story line didn’t make as much sense to me. Some people show up once or twice and just vanish (they might come up in later books?) and I kept thinking Mr White Cat might show up again but it never did, which I feel is a bit of a loss. 🤷‍♀️

For as many places as we got to the world felt a bit small. The school’s barely described at all and we only get to a handful of other places/houses. This will probably be expanded on in future books but I would have liked more world building.

Also heaven help you if you’re a younger sibling in this book, you’re pretty much doomed.

I’ll probably try the next book as well, whenever that’s scheduled for release…..

The Chrysalis Key by E.P. Bali is an amazing fantasy novel that centers around a family mystery (in the form of a curse) to has be solved. The narrative tone for each character was well suited and displayed the emotions and actions perfectly.

The author uses language that is easy to understand without sounding condescending which was refreshing. This story doesn’t need ostentatious language to get the point across.

I was hooked from the start and the plot twist at the end had me anxious to find out what happened next.

However, I felt that there was unnecessary conversation that didn’t add much to the story and a lot of the main mystery was shared through conversation. Reading a lengthy speech from a character about their own experiences becomes tiring. The end of the book had more action and less speech, which if the rest of this book had, would have made it a better read.

An entertaining read from beginning to end. The pace was a little bit slow, but nevertheless a nice introduction to an intriguing new world or I should say worlds. The book is described as “The Breakfast Club meets Harry Potter but Darker” and that is very fitting. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity of allowing me to read this book.

The characters were very loveable and I liked the progression of the story and twists ad turns. I liked the book overall and I think that it was great and as I have not read a book from this author before I will be reading more of their work. I will be recommending them to my friends, family and book club.

This book was soooo good. It is absolutely gripping, the writing, the descriptions, the characters and the stpryline itself is so rich and wonderful that I havent been able to stop thinking about it since finishing it, nor did I want it to end. I have never wanted to jump into teh pages of a book and live the story as much as I did with this book, I loved it

I really enjoyed this book! The world building was done really well and the characters were engaging. I really related to them as I myself was in senior high school in 1999 and could recall familiar behaviours from schoolmates. The first book of any series has the tough job of setting the scene and explaining the inner working of their world/magic in a way that's intriguing to the reader and I feel the author has done a very good job that here. I found the pace of the book relevant to the scenes in the story which adds to the readers understanding of the character's mood, thoughts and feelings in the given situation. There are a couple of supporting characters that could warrant their own spinoff story in my opinion (Clementine!) And my absolute fav part of this book is that its set in QLD Australia during 1999; The references made to the 90s were very nostalgic and made me smile.
I also want to point out that having read plenty of sci fi/fantasy genre books - the antagonists are often referred to as the "Dark One" or the "Shadow" or "Chaos" and it’s difficult to feel any sense of danger or unease from them. That’s not the case for here, kudos to the author for not falling into that lazy trap - she actually defines the antagonist and the revulsion I felt when first introduced to him was real. This made for great reading!
Highly recommend this book, it’s fun, its engaging, not too dark, not too light, I found it to be just right. Look forward to the next book in series.

I want to say that I fell for every page of this story. That this was amazing and I couldn't put it down and that it should be a best seller. But unfortunately that is not what happened. This book was far longer than it needed to be. I wished that the author would have cut at least 200 pages and tighten it up a lot. I will say that I did enjoy it but a lot of it just dragged so much. The characters were great and the plot was all there. It was just too long.

I can not express enough about the plot. The plot is so interesting that you will find yourself gasping everytime you find something new. Thank you so much netgalley providing an arc!
I really like the worldbuilding, and how the author can create a world that has the capability of making us vicariously live through it. I feel like the introduction was a bit too slow-paced for me. The characters are fairly interesting.
Henceforth, it was quite a good read.