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A review by vivaldi
The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman
2.5
The Ivory Key is an Indian-inspired fantasy debut by Akshaya Raman. Told from the perspectives of four estranged siblings, this book features a quest and tells a story about making personal choices - some difficult ones where morally conflicts occur.
I personally feel conflicted reviewing this, but let me talk about a few things that I enjoyed in Raman's debut first:
+ Concept: ooh so I personally found the worldbuilding & magic system quite intriguing. Raman's writing style vividly brings out both the fantasy elements as well as the mouth watering descriptions of food throughout the novel. Another interesting element about the book is the how the author draws inspiration from a historical temple in India and develops The Ivory Key plotwise through a quest. I think it conveys this idea of forbidden knowledge / power that's locked within a location that's not accessed in a long time & it's interesting to see how that leads to the siblings having to make difficult decisions throughout the novel.
+ Prose: As I've mentioned briefly in the last point, Raman's writing style helps me visualise the imageries in The Ivory Key, particularly what the magic looks like when I read the pages. I also thought some of the dialogues in the book are quite touching - particularly the ones about the notion of power.
While the premise does indeed look promising, I'm afraid to say that I personally found the overall execution in the writing - particularly the characterisation and pacing, a bit lacking.
- Pacing: This is definitely my biggest issue with The Ivory Key. So while it's no easy task to juggle between 4 distinct POV's, I must admit that Raman's choice of using 4 POV's also takes a hit with the pacing of the book. I feel like nothing really happened in the first 2/3 of the book, and then all of the seemingly unbelievable twists and turns (most of those I've guessed in advance) are crammed in the final few chapters - this turns out to be a very common YA issue.
I also think the short chapter length complicates the pacing issue - not only they felt choppy, I also didn't have an easy time properly engaging with the characters.
- Characterisation: I felt that the character arcs are quite uneven in The Ivory Key. I wasn't given sufficient backstories on why all 4 characters have different agendas on their quest to obtain the Ivory Key. For example, I wasn't very convinced with Ronak's agenda because his supposed path of a political marriange is not very well fleshed out. And because of this, Ronak's POV chapters suffered as a result and I didn't feel very invested in his chapters. Personally I think this book would had fared a bit better if there's 1 less POV to juggle with.
This is a shame because I found Riya and Vira's chapters quite promising. Only if they had more pages from their own perspectives where more about their headspace could be thoroughly explored.
- Storytelling: Both the short chapter length and the lack of character backstories contribute to mediocre storytelling in the book. The short chapter length felt artificial at best - where a full story should take place I felt that many of those got cut in half e.g. Vira's backstory on how she wants to uphold her family legacy. Because of the incomplete storytelling throughout, it's hard to grasp how the characters grew throughout the novel & the coherent life lessons that they've learnt through making difficult choices and undertaking this quest.
To summarise, The Ivory Key is a tad disappointing. While conceptually it's interesting & it features a diverse cast set in an Indian-inspired secondary world, it falters in executing a compelling plot as well as character arcs.
N.B. Content warnings: fire, accidents, + full list of cw's on author's page
(2.5 stars out of 5)
I personally feel conflicted reviewing this, but let me talk about a few things that I enjoyed in Raman's debut first:
+ Concept: ooh so I personally found the worldbuilding & magic system quite intriguing. Raman's writing style vividly brings out both the fantasy elements as well as the mouth watering descriptions of food throughout the novel. Another interesting element about the book is the how the author draws inspiration from a historical temple in India and develops The Ivory Key plotwise through a quest. I think it conveys this idea of forbidden knowledge / power that's locked within a location that's not accessed in a long time & it's interesting to see how that leads to the siblings having to make difficult decisions throughout the novel.
+ Prose: As I've mentioned briefly in the last point, Raman's writing style helps me visualise the imageries in The Ivory Key, particularly what the magic looks like when I read the pages. I also thought some of the dialogues in the book are quite touching - particularly the ones about the notion of power.
While the premise does indeed look promising, I'm afraid to say that I personally found the overall execution in the writing - particularly the characterisation and pacing, a bit lacking.
- Pacing: This is definitely my biggest issue with The Ivory Key. So while it's no easy task to juggle between 4 distinct POV's, I must admit that Raman's choice of using 4 POV's also takes a hit with the pacing of the book. I feel like nothing really happened in the first 2/3 of the book, and then all of the seemingly unbelievable twists and turns (most of those I've guessed in advance) are crammed in the final few chapters - this turns out to be a very common YA issue.
I also think the short chapter length complicates the pacing issue - not only they felt choppy, I also didn't have an easy time properly engaging with the characters.
- Characterisation: I felt that the character arcs are quite uneven in The Ivory Key. I wasn't given sufficient backstories on why all 4 characters have different agendas on their quest to obtain the Ivory Key. For example, I wasn't very convinced with Ronak's agenda because his supposed path of a political marriange is not very well fleshed out. And because of this, Ronak's POV chapters suffered as a result and I didn't feel very invested in his chapters. Personally I think this book would had fared a bit better if there's 1 less POV to juggle with.
This is a shame because I found Riya and Vira's chapters quite promising. Only if they had more pages from their own perspectives where more about their headspace could be thoroughly explored.
- Storytelling: Both the short chapter length and the lack of character backstories contribute to mediocre storytelling in the book. The short chapter length felt artificial at best - where a full story should take place I felt that many of those got cut in half e.g. Vira's backstory on how she wants to uphold her family legacy. Because of the incomplete storytelling throughout, it's hard to grasp how the characters grew throughout the novel & the coherent life lessons that they've learnt through making difficult choices and undertaking this quest.
To summarise, The Ivory Key is a tad disappointing. While conceptually it's interesting & it features a diverse cast set in an Indian-inspired secondary world, it falters in executing a compelling plot as well as character arcs.
N.B. Content warnings: fire, accidents, + full list of cw's on author's page
(2.5 stars out of 5)