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inkandplasma 's review for:
The Key to Fear
by Kristin Cast
Reread as of March 2022: I liked this a lot less the second time, lmao. Original review kept below, new cawpile:
Character - 2
Atmosphere - 3
Writing - 3
Plot - 3
Intrigue - 2
Logic - 2
Enjoyment - 3
Rating: 2.57 / 2 stars
Full review on my blog 9th November: https://inkandplasma.com/2020/11/09/the-key-to-fear/
Rating: 3.5
Trigger Warnings: sickness, death, fatphobia, emotional abuse, controlling relationship, human experimentation, virus, pandemic, suicide
Thanks to Head of Zeus for the review copy and the tour invite, it has not impacted my honest opinion.
The Key to Fear is a strong opener to a new series, a dystopian story that’s a little more familiar than anyone could have expected. I found it to be an interesting read, though admittedly I was expecting it to me mostly focused on the dystopian virus element whereas this book has a strong romance focus. Not a bad thing, by any measure, just not quite what I expected. The premise of The Key to Fear is, in 2020, particularly eerie. Fifty years prior to the book a virus struck the world and the resulting pandemic nearly wiped out humanity. Out of the disaster of the Cerberus virus, the Key rose. A conglomerate focused on controlling the spread of the virus and protecting humanity, the Key outlawed dangerous behaviours and took control, with everything from banning books, choosing relationship matches and identifying career paths to outlawing touch itself.
I found the first half of the book and the shady as hell mystery surrounding the Key, the Key’s behaviour and missing victims super super interesting. It’s rare that worldbuilding wins me over that simply but this was a realistic seeming version of a post pandemic world that never adjusted back to closeness and intimacy. The ongoing, intense fear of the virus was powerful and the technological steps that society has taken to avoid touch. There were moments where Elodie explained adaptions the world had made, like spacing out subway seats that a year ago would have seemed strange to me. Now, well. It was very, very eerie. The banned book aspect was a little strange, there wasn’t much in-text to explain why they were banned, other than the Key generally controlling things. I don’t mind that so much though, as this was the start of a series so there could be more information coming in later books, especially after the way this book ended. There’s a lot more to know about this world, particularly outside of the Zones the book starts in, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Despite not expecting it, I did think the romance was good, though not something I generally look for in a book, and I did like the way that Aiden and Elodie’s relationship was tied into the conflict in the story. It tied into several plot points (that I won’t spoil here) and there were several twists that I didn’t guess. One of them, in hindsight, was so obvious that I felt like an idiot, but it did surprise me very well. The end of the book built up into a complex ending that had my heart in my throat and I’m looking forward to finding out what happens in the next book.
Character - 2
Atmosphere - 3
Writing - 3
Plot - 3
Intrigue - 2
Logic - 2
Enjoyment - 3
Rating: 2.57 / 2 stars
Full review on my blog 9th November: https://inkandplasma.com/2020/11/09/the-key-to-fear/
Rating: 3.5
Trigger Warnings: sickness, death, fatphobia, emotional abuse, controlling relationship, human experimentation, virus, pandemic, suicide
Thanks to Head of Zeus for the review copy and the tour invite, it has not impacted my honest opinion.
The Key to Fear is a strong opener to a new series, a dystopian story that’s a little more familiar than anyone could have expected. I found it to be an interesting read, though admittedly I was expecting it to me mostly focused on the dystopian virus element whereas this book has a strong romance focus. Not a bad thing, by any measure, just not quite what I expected. The premise of The Key to Fear is, in 2020, particularly eerie. Fifty years prior to the book a virus struck the world and the resulting pandemic nearly wiped out humanity. Out of the disaster of the Cerberus virus, the Key rose. A conglomerate focused on controlling the spread of the virus and protecting humanity, the Key outlawed dangerous behaviours and took control, with everything from banning books, choosing relationship matches and identifying career paths to outlawing touch itself.
I found the first half of the book and the shady as hell mystery surrounding the Key, the Key’s behaviour and missing victims super super interesting. It’s rare that worldbuilding wins me over that simply but this was a realistic seeming version of a post pandemic world that never adjusted back to closeness and intimacy. The ongoing, intense fear of the virus was powerful and the technological steps that society has taken to avoid touch. There were moments where Elodie explained adaptions the world had made, like spacing out subway seats that a year ago would have seemed strange to me. Now, well. It was very, very eerie. The banned book aspect was a little strange, there wasn’t much in-text to explain why they were banned, other than the Key generally controlling things. I don’t mind that so much though, as this was the start of a series so there could be more information coming in later books, especially after the way this book ended. There’s a lot more to know about this world, particularly outside of the Zones the book starts in, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Despite not expecting it, I did think the romance was good, though not something I generally look for in a book, and I did like the way that Aiden and Elodie’s relationship was tied into the conflict in the story. It tied into several plot points (that I won’t spoil here) and there were several twists that I didn’t guess. One of them, in hindsight, was so obvious that I felt like an idiot, but it did surprise me very well. The end of the book built up into a complex ending that had my heart in my throat and I’m looking forward to finding out what happens in the next book.