Book Review: ‘The Ivory Key’, a Family-Centric South Asian-inspired YA Fantasy
When I opened one of my Illumicrate subscription boxes last year and saw a second book with sprayed edges, I may have squealed in excitement. Occasionally this happens, and The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman was the book in question. Now before you go looking for this edition pictured above, it’s a variant of the UK cover, which I personally think is gorgeous. But I digress. This YA Fantasy is a quick read and centers around four royal siblings who all pretty much hate each other (but deep down there’s love).
Things to Know:
Book one of a duology
Four POVs for each of the siblings
Adventuring to find magical objects
South Asian-inspired setting
If you’re looking to add a South Asian fantasy to your TBR, this is definitely one to consider. The descriptions are lush, the world is incredible, and I don’t know what it is about South Asian fantasy authors, but they always, always have epic descriptions of food that make your mouth water. I want to try it all!
“…delicacies from across the provinces of Ashoka—deep-fried vada soaked in vegetable sambar; crisp kachoris topped with potatoes and chutney; makki ki roti served with spiced saag; coconut stew ladled over steamed idiyappam; kulchas and stuffed parathas fresh from the tandoor. There was an entire table dedicated to sweets: halwa with dried fruit and nuts, bowls of kesar rabri with creamy malai, rows of kala jamun drizzled with cardamon and rose sugar syrup, stacks of milk peda and coconut burfi.”
Tell me you’re not hungry reading that.
The book starts off with a bang, but I did find the pacing a bit rough in the beginning. So much time is spent establishing the four POVs of the siblings and their different struggles and personalities that it was well over half way into the book before we set out on the quest to find the ivory key. And since it’s not a very long book, there wasn’t a lot of pages to pack in the adventure and reconciliation. I absolutely wish it would have been a bit longer because the last 30% of this book was amazing. Super fast paced, high stakes, with scenes that will make any Indiana Jones fan smile in recognition.
“When you battle ghosts, the living always lose.”
There’s also a very interesting magic system that still hasn’t been explored fully. So I’m hoping we get more depth in book two. It’s still super fascinating though, and some discoveries towards the end made me excited to understand more. I will say I completely called a certain betrayal, but no spoilers here! 3.75 stars.
The sequel, The Crimson Fortress, comes out later this year on November 14th, 2023, but it’s available for preorder.
#ProTip: You can currently get the hardcover of The Ivory Key on Book Outlet for $7.47! 😱 And here’s a $5 coupon for newbies.
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