The latest book I’ve reviewed for the fine folks over at Grimdark Magazine is Kristin Cast’s The Key To Fear, a surprisingly dark and bloody young adult novel set fifty years after a pandemic killed off the vast majority of the American population. Published in the UK by Head of Zeus, it’s out in hardback and ebook on the 5th November, and you can read my full review on the GdM website right now. As usual I’m putting down a few additional thoughts here in this article/review, so you can check out the GdM piece for my standard third person/objective review, and this one for some more subjective comments.
Here’s a rough sort of synopsis to start things off, drastically cut down from what went into my GdM review:
In the wake of a devastating global virus, America has handed over control of its few remaining cities to the Key Corporation, which keeps everyone safe, healthy and on the right track. Everything’s fine as long as people follow the rules, but the Key doesn’t like it when anyone challenges its authority…like the members of underground resistance group Eos. When smart but naive Elodie meets rebellious, always-questioning Aiden, two characters with contrasting world views find themselves turning each other’s lives upside down, exposing the sinister side of the Key and a power struggle taking place within the corporation.
Both of the main characters are fun to follow, and while there are a couple of other POV characters as well, most of the novel focuses on Elodie and Aiden. The expected YA love-interest arc is engaging and entertaining, albeit perhaps a touch rushed, and it’s quite neatly tied into a wider plot involving internal politics within the Key (or at least in the head office – in this case MediCenter – of this particular city’s branch), Eos’ resistance to being expected to unquestioningly conform to the rules, and a tangled web of family dramas. It’s all pretty dark, from the central concept through to some of the situations Elodie and Aiden find themselves in, and as a dystopia it’s really quite believable. Imagine what would happen if we gave full control of our lives over to a corporation in exchange for keeping us safe from harm – that’s pretty much where this goes!
Let’s tackle the elephant in the room, though – yes, this is a book set in the wake of a global pandemic. Yes, it’s being published while we’re still in the midst of figuring out how to deal with a real-world pandemic. What this isn’t, however, is a book about a pandemic, so it avoids feeling too close to home – at least in my opinion. Instead, it’s set fifty years after the fact, in a world designed to ensure another pandemic, another Cerberus virus, can’t happen again. The world building almost all revolves around a recognisable and believable response to the virus, but what that does is provide a strong backdrop against which to tell a character-driven story first and foremost. Your enjoyment of this may be determined to a certain extent by how much you can cope with a post-pandemic setting right now, but if you can look past that then there’s plenty to enjoy.
YA isn’t my usual wheelhouse, but I tend to really enjoy it as a genre (is YA a genre? A categorisation, at least) when I do read it, and I had a good time with this novel from start to finish – and I do like a good dystopia. I was a little surprised by its slow-burn pacing, which felt like it was aimed at a slightly older audience than YA, but it worked great for me as I usually prefer books which don’t spoon-feed me too much information up-front. I thought the generally dark tone – there’s plenty of violence, and some properly bloody moments – worked well to balance the elements of relationship drama, and while it’s clear (from a few characters and plot arcs which didn’t come anywhere near to paying off) that this is intended to be the first part of a series, I can forgive it a few lingering questions because I’m definitely looking forward to reading more!
To finish off, I’d like to say a big thank you to publisher Head of Zeus for asking if I’d like to read and review this one! If you haven’t already, please do head over to the Grimdark Magazine website and read my rather less subjective review – and do let me know if you’ve got any questions, comments or suggestions! Feel free to leave a comment below, or find me on Twitter for a chat.
Buy The Key To Fear – also available as an audiobook
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