The Key to Fear

Big thanks to netgalley for this eARC! Content Warning: death, diseases, blood. This book was a well rounded, enjoyable dystopian that was a great beginning to a new series. While I did have some issues with it, such as it being a bit slow at the beginning, the characters were interesting and enjoyable to read about. Cast has a lovely writing style, with the description of the dystopian world being believable and interesting. However, I did feel as if the plot was rushed towards the end, making the ending feel rushed and underwhelming. Ultimately, this is a fine dystopian novel to read should you be in the mood for one!

Disclaimer: I received the audiobook from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own. Book: The Key to Fear Author: Kirsten Cast Book Series: The Key Series Book 1 Rating: 1/5 Recommended For...: Dystopian, pandemic Publication Date: October 13, 2020 Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Pages: 320 Recommended Age: can't recommend, DNF but (Mention of weight, dieting, Pandemic Dystopian, Sexual content, Weird stalkerish content presented as love) Synopsis: To Health. To Life. To the Future. We are The Key. 'No touching today for a healthy tomorrow.' Elodie obeys The Key. Elodie obeys the rules. Elodie trusts in the system. At least, Elodie used to... Aidan is a rebel. Aidan doesn't do what he's told. Aidan just wants to be free. Aidan is on his last chance... After a pandemic wiped out most of the human race, The Key took power. The Key dictates the rules. They govern in order to keep people safe. But as Elodie and Aidan begin to discover there is another side to The Key, they realise not everything is as it seems. Rather than playing protector, The Key are playing God. Review: I am dnfing this book at about 43.7% of the way through. I think I am unfortunately at a point in my life where I have outgrown P.C and Kirsten Cast. I feel like they don't really write well anymore for what I am looking for in a ya book. I see that they just take trends and basically copy them or amplify them a little bit on page to make their own books, and I'm really not into it anymore. I also think the timing of this book is a bit ill-timed. We are still in the middle of a pandemic of monstrous proportions, and making light of it in the book, as the book takes place in the future past a pandemic that killed a ton of people and now the people of this future have problems with touching each other and not wearing masks and stuff like that, is a bit insensitive. I don't think that this book should be published in the middle of a pandemic, but maybe should be published after everything has died down a bit. there are other things that I also didn't like about this book. I felt like the book was very ill-written. The writing is not that good and I felt like a lot of random ya tropes were just thrown into the book for the sake of it being ya? I also have issues with the pacing, I am listening to this book on audiobook and I could send it down and walk away and come back an hour later and I'm almost in the exact same spot that I was. The book is very short but it feels like it has dragged on forever. There are also obvious signs of abuse in the main character and her mother's relationship, but as futuristic as the society is they seem to not be able to determine abuse at home. Also, if this is a utopia, why is there even abuse? And I know the answer is that this is not really a utopia, but if the mother doesn't have a bigger plot in this book then why does she act the way she does? However the book doesn't intrigue me so much that I want to find out. I will say though this is much better written than the other book that I got to read early by them which shows some improvement in their writing but again I think that they like to take trends in ya and put them into their books to make quick cash. Verdict: Not for me but maybe for you.

DNF at about 2 hours into the audiobook. I found this audiobook kind of clunky and hard to follow at points, with the audiobook narrator's voice being quite monotonous. The story was interesting, and being set in the world after a pandemic was quite on the nose for 2020. Unfortunately, I didn't really connect with any of the characters, with Aidan "the rebel" being- not quite rebellious enough and Elodie was just kind of annoying. (Also, making a bunch of teenagers have serious jobs was super unrealistic, even in a weird dystopian future setting.)

Het boek had voor mij een goede koppeling met de realiteit, het is een perfect moment waarop dit boek uitgekomen is, namelijk de corona crisis. Wel had ik meer dreigingen verwacht, al was er wel een element hiervan aanwezig. De boeken van Kristin Cast lezen voor mij altijd heel makkelijk en snel weg, ik zal haar boeken dan ook altijd aan iedereen aanbevelen. Ook als je in een reading slump zit, is dit een lekker boek om er weer uit te komen. Kristin heeft de hele situatie heel passend gemaakt bij het type wereld waar dit verhaal zich afspeelt. Er zijn veel stukken ook echt bijgebleven en daardoor ben ik toch anders gaan kijken naar de realiteit van nu. Ik heb genoten van dit boek en kijk zeker uit naar deel 2.