Deeply engaging, Raman crafts a magical world filled with political intrigue, intricate sibling relationships, unexpected betrayals, and a slow-burn romance that makes for a debut that will thoroughly enrapt readers.

Fans of Roshani Chokshi and Hafsah Faizal will be completely immersed in Raman’s lushly crafted novel. Reunited royal siblings go on a treasure hunt in order to save their country from crumbling into ruin. Though, each sibling has an ulterior motive for what the seek, this character driven story is a page turner. Having alternating POV’s, each sibling burns bright in the constellation that is The Ivory Key, giving them each a moment to shine on the stage as they race across the lushly envisioned world to find a treasure that could save them all.

Plus, after the final pages prior to the epilogue, readers will be brimming with questions. Wondering about the consequences of the siblings choices and how will it reshape their future and their relationship with each other. I am really looking forward to Vira’s character development. If she will be more ruthless and cynical at the beginning of the book, but have a character ARC that will have her fully changed by the end, and perhaps a tad bit more steam between her and certain captain of the guard??? And Kaleb!!! I didn’t want the book to end! I wanted him to find his own footing, his place, and someone who would appreciate him for all of his quiet brilliance.

There’s so much to gush over secret societies, the magic, the betrayals, the mythology, the romance (more more more).

With an epilogue that will have readers desperate for the final book, I’m trying not to think about the fact I’ll have to wait another year.

Nope…

Not thinking about that at ALL.😂😭

Happy Reading ~ Cece

“All happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” (Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, 1878). The Ivory Key tells the story of four siblings divided by their family’s own unhappiness. The family is forced back together in a quest to find the mysterious ivory key, long sought by their studious and eccentric father. While they must work as a unit to find the key, each individual has their own reason for discovering the relic. Ronak, in trouble with a criminal mastermind, must find the key in order to ensure his escaper from the mundanity of palace life; Riya is on a quest to prove her worth to her chosen family; Kaleb’s freedom is tied to finding the artifact; and Vira must save her beloved Ashoka and prove her worth as a Maharani. This YA Fantasy is an entertaining read from the colourful start to the shocking ending. I would highly recommend this for personal enjoyment and as an addition to a classroom library.

This Indian inspired fantasy was a good read and will be popular with some of my fantasy fans. I found it to be a good read, but it was a lot to keep track of and I struggled with that for much of the book. Overall, I will recommend to my students, but I won't rush to read the sequel.

Akshaya Raman is obviously a talented writer. THE IVORY KEY is beautifully written with some gorgeous lines throughout, like, "That's the thing about battling ghosts, Vira. The living always lose." There are so many truly quotable lines like this throughout the novel to match the stunning cover. While the story itself and representation itself are important and wonderfully done, the story just wasn't for me. That being said, I think there are plenty of readers who will fall head over heels in love with this story. I really liked that each sibling had their own POV, but I did not connect with all four of them. Vira and Riya were the most compelling to me.

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!!