Title: The Key
Author: Jennifer
Anne Davis
Series: The True
Reign
Genre:
Medieval-esque, YA, Romance
Source: Kindle
Pages: 342 pages
Rating: 4.5
stars!
Available at:
Blurb: (via
Goodreads)
Within
these pages lie kingdoms with castles and princes who fall in love with fair
maidens, but make no mistake−this is no fairytale.
His
father’s kingdom is on the brink of upheaval and at the center of it all is an
ordinary girl who could be the key to its undoing. When faced with the ultimate
choice, will he choose the girl he’s falling in love with or the kingdom he has
sworn to protect?
An
ordinary girl with an extraordinary past. All she wants is to be free. What she
doesn’t realize is that freedom comes with a price she can’t afford to pay.
She’s forced to accept the proposal of a prince she despises, even though her
heart belongs to someone else . . . his brother.
Seventeen-year-old
Rema lives in a brutal kingdom where travel between regions is forbidden,
people are starving, and looking at someone the wrong way can mean death.
Nineteen-year-old Darmik is the king’s son and Commander of the King’s Army. He
spends his days roving the island, doing his father’s bidding and trying to
maintain control over the people.
When
a chance encounter throws Rema and Darmik together, they share an instantaneous
connection, but any sort of relationship between them is strictly forbidden.
Darmik’s brother, the Crown Prince, notices Darmik’s interest in Rema and, in a
calculated, political move, blackmails her. Faced with an impossible choice,
Rema is forced to sacrifice her heart in order to save her family.
As
Rema is taken to the palace with the Crown Prince, Darmik confronts the growing
rumor that a legitimate blood heir to the throne exists and is trying to
overthrow Darmik’s family. In Darmik’s quest to hunt down and kill the threat,
he discovers that nothing is as it seems. Locked in the king’s castle, Rema
finds herself a key player in a massive power struggle. When Darmik shows up,
she’s not sure if she can trust him. The line between friends, enemies, and
loyalty becomes blurred. As truths are unlocked, Rema understands that she just
might be the key to finding the rightful heir and restoring peace to the
kingdom… if she can manage to stay alive long enough.
My Review:
I was pleasantly surprised with this book. The first book in
the series is technically free, and that isn’t always a good thing. However,
free is free and the description sounded really interesting so I decided to
give it a shot.
There wasn’t a lot that I didn’t like about it, 2 things
really, and they were both pretty technical. It is obvious to the reader who
Rema is. Given that you read the prologue, the reader knows for a fact that
Rema is the secret princess almost right away… we are just waiting for everyone
else to figure it out, including herself. Saying that, the first point on my
con list is that there were SOO many clues as to who Rema actually was and
Darmik is so blind to it. I was getting pretty annoyed. And when he does figure
it out, he gets all peeved because he thinks she knows who she is and lied to
him and planned this huge scheme all along, which wasn’t the case at all. The
second part I had a problem with was the riddle that is given. It was SO vague
and it was solved in no time. It wasn’t really that great of a riddle to begin with,
which is a major pet peeve of mine when it comes to that type of thing. It
definitely could have used some revising.
Now on to my loves! I LOVED the characters. Rema was
headstrong and free spirited and wild, but had a fierce sense of loyalty and
showed compassion. Important qualities for a princess… even if she doesn’t know
she is one. Darmik was also well
structured. I liked how dedicated he was to his job, he was actually sentencing
executions and trying to defeat the rebels, he wasn’t helping them escape or
showing mercy like I expected his character to do. I don’t think I would have
liked him so much if he didn’t have that hard, military side to him. He is a
man full of flaws and it was perfectly done… even if I didn’t agree with some
of the writing choices, I did like how it tied together with his character.
I WAS a little disappointed by the lack of character
development. Darmik maybe develops a tiny
bit, but everyone else pretty much remains the same. However, I am willing to
cut the author some slack because it is the first book in the series and she
was pretty busy laying down the plots foundation. Saying that, I am loving the
plot! It has definitely been done before, it reminds me a bit of Sarah Maas’ Throne of Glass (which you can read my
review about HERE). Secret princess, tyrant king, love triangle between the
prince and the commander of the army. Very similar, even though I would be
hesitant to call whats between Rema, Darmik and the prince a ‘love triangle’
seeing as there is an obvious love interest… or at least there is for this
first book. I would be interested to see if that changes in the next two
novels.
Overall, it was pretty well done. The writing was engaging,
the plot is pretty good, I don’t always agree with the artistic choices the
author made, but I don’t necessarily disagree with them either… some things
were done differently than I would have imagined but the same outcome came out
of it. I would definitely recommend this book to my medieval lovers out there,
and those who are fond of the whole secret princess aspect. I can’t wait to
read book 2!
