The Ivory Key is the first book, and currently the only, in The Ivory Key Duology by Akshaya Raman. It’s a fantasy published 2022 by Clarion Books. The audiobook I listened to was narrated by Kirin Ali, for the two female main characters, and Nathan Clarke for the two male main characters.
The story is set in a fictional world inspired by ancient India, following four siblings as they set out to find the Ivory Key. Their country is in danger as their magic, which is mined, are running out. Their neighboring countries eyes their country, sensing their weakness, while the people are on the verge of a rebellion. The four siblings from the ruling family finds parts of a map that is suppose guide one to the Ivory Key that opens the long forgotten mine filled with magic that could save their country.
The four siblings the story centers around are, Vira, the new ruler (maharani) after her mother was murdered. Kaleb, the oldest brother and the step sibling with no connection to the former maharani but share the same father, is a prisoner after being accused of the murder of the former maharani because his mother was a foreigner. The second son, and the twin of Vira, Ronak just want to escape his arranged marriage along with freeing Kaleb from his unjust fate. Then it is Riya, the youngest sister who ran away and joined a rebel group called the Ravens.
All four has distinct personalities, such as Vira being strict and a bit stiff. She is constantly told that she is nothing like her mother, the former ruler, and must constantly be scrutinized to see if she is suited as the new ruler which put pressure on her. She doesn’t like problem and acts a bit clueless, simply because she doesn’t want to face some difficult truths. Such as her being surprised that Kaleb asks her to free him in return for his freedom. He was falsely accused, of course he want to leave the prison. What is there be surprised about?
Kaleb is the calmest and most humblest of the siblings. Which makes sense as he is (from what I can tell) the only one who has no royal blood and is the stepson of the former maharani. Ronak is spoiled, wanting more of life while having no idea what is outside these walls. He also hates admitting he is wrong and prefers to blame everyone else. Riya was the girl who got away, her being idealistic, wanting to save the commoners, but often having a hard time facing reality. Her world is black and white and in the story she will have to learn how to see the grey areas of the world.
The plot makes sense, with us readers seeing all the puzzle pieces moving around while the main characters is slowing finding out was is going on. Such as Riya is being send in to steal magic, she helps Ronak steal a dagger from Vira (containing one of the map pieces to the Ivory Key) to get the into the mine, only to find out the mines are empty, confronting Vira about it and agree to help her find the Ivory Key. When she does she realize that Ronak wanted the map piece and later on finds out it is because he wants to sell it to criminals to get his freedom. This is just one of the storyline as there are four characters we follow throughout the story, but the author has built out the storylines well enough that they interact with each other, making the overall plot feel natural.
Now, I wouldn’t call it a problem but a repercussion of having so many main characters and shifting perspective between them is that it takes around half the book before all the pieces are in place and the search for the ivory key can begin. With that I don’t just mean that they set out on the journey, it takes around half of the book for them to even start the search for the pieces before they search for the ivory key. The reason for this is because the author spends a large amount of time to introduce the main characters, the side characters, the history, the world and lore. As there are four main characters, there is a lot to go through and the first part of the book is really slow paced while the second half is higher paced and has more action and adventure.
Some introductions to the world were also clumsily depicted. An easy way for the author to clarify that this is a different culture is through foreign words of for example food or objects. The author does this but it goes overboard. She describes Indian food constantly. Often randomly. Such as halting an important interaction between characters to describe every food served on the banquet. It was around seven dishes that has no real purpose as this was around halfway into the book and the reader has already figured out that this is fantasy world inspired by India so there is no need to randomly continue describing food.
Now, I don’t know much about the author but if I would guess, they did not grow up in India or if they did then they either left when they were young or they really didn’t have much of an interest in Indian history or mythology. The lore in this feels western instead of Indian, at least it does seem so to me. The names are Indian and so are the dishes and some ceremonies such as the engagement party, but there are no Hindu or Buddhism inspired lore or philosophy here. Even the magic system feels very western as magic as a recourse has at least existed in western fantasy the last 50 years while in asian countries, like India it’s gained through meditation and training to become enlightened. Another example of the book feeling more western is the use of the title Viceroy, which didn’t come to India until they were colonized. I can’t remember ancient India having a Viceroy system, maybe they are supposed to represent another culture. I don’t know.
This is not necessarily a problem as the demographic should be westerners, and a mix between the two cultures should appeal to them both, but I would like to point out that the Indian inspired elements are more shallow cultural things such as food, some random Indian weapons, titles and clothes that are used even today in India.
There is no deeper fantasy or philosophical elements such as the concept of avatar, reincarnation, karma or the duality of people and gods (everyone has two sides, one good, and one evil). The Vedic tradition (Jyotisha) of reading the stars to tell the futures are not mentioned. Mantras (which would be involved in a magic system inspired by Indian culture), which normally would be used to cast curse, purify areas and defeat evil are only mention one time (if I remember correctly) and it was connected to a ceremony with no real connection to magic.
Of course, there are plenty more examples than these, but these are just some things I think would easily could have been used in a Indian inspired fantasy, but the author decided that food was more important. This has become common in modern authors (often americans of foreign ancestry). I don’t know if the market in America allows writers to be published if they claim to have a story that is North African, Indian, Chinese-inspired and so on but then just put in the bare minimum into the story and rely on their ancestry to take them the rest of the way.
Now, outside this nitpick that no one except me will probably comment on, if only becomes I love history, art and mythology. This is a really solid fantasy. I was surprised as this seem to be the debut book of the author and those are always rough, but this one both feels and is written professionally. The author has real talent for writing, and I can see this being a popular book if it finds the readers. I hope it do, because it was worth reading. I liked the focused on the characters, making them feel real alongside the plot being well planned and executed.
My only problem with the characters is that some of their motivations seems a bit feeble. Such as Ronak wanting to escape the marriage, then he meets his bride to be and don’t really seem to care that much about the thought of marrying her. It was almost like the author forgot his main motivation to escaping. After Kaleb is free, that cannot be used either and you do realize that by the end, Ronak barely has any reason to do what he does. The same goes for Vira who wants to live up to her mother’s image and she does that by not taking any decisions and leaving it up to the council… It just feels a bit off, or weak when you think about it.
The characters still feel alive its just that their motivations fall a bit flat at times and some of their actions are clearly put there to force the characters to act in certain way. Such as Vira never releasing Kaleb despite there barely being any evidence against him or Vira saying that if Ronak won’t get married he will be tried for treason. How is refusing to marry treason? Well, it will have to be in order for Ronak not just refusing to marry instead of running away.
Overall, the story is great. A bit slow to set of because of the many characters, and some more clumsy sections that I think could have been removed to make a better story. I would give it a 7 out of 10, very close to an 8, but the first half did drag on a bit too much for me. If I were to read the book again, I would just skip or skim the first part of the story, and that is not a good thing when a reader feels they can do that and the story will be better for it. The good parts though are filled with mystery, puzzles, ancient temples and family drama. It’s like an Indian mix of a fairytale and Indiana Jones and I did like it well enough to recommend it to those who loves fantasy.
With Kind Regard
Senefer.
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