The Key to Fear

The Key Series, Book 1

By: Kristin Cast

Narrated by: Dascha Polanco

Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

No touching today for a healthy tomorrow.

For 50 years, the Key Corporation has defended humanity against a deadly virus that spreads through touch. Lovers don’t kiss, or even hold hands. Personal boundaries are valued above all. Break the laws, and you’ll face execution.

Elodie, a talented young nurse, believes in the mission of the Key and has never questioned the laws that control her life. But Elodie is forced to break the rules when she sets out in search of a terminal patient who goes missing while under her care.

From the outside, it seems like Aiden was given everything he could want from the Key - a purpose, an education, and a future. But Aiden knows more than he’s letting on, and the dark secrets he’s keeping could tear the Key’s strict society apart.

When Elodie and Aiden’s lives collide, the fallout will be devastating. What do you do when the brutal system that once kept you safe hunts you down?

Run.

©2020 Kristin Cast (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Not a fan of the Narrator

The story line was appealing, however, the narrator was not. She could have done so much more with the story. Had more energy, changed her voice for each character. Might have made it easier to follow. She took breaths in the weirdest spots and words were not pronounced the way they should be. Made getting into the book harder.

story was good

The story was good but the narration was a bit lackluster for my taste, still will listen to the next book.

Good story, annoying narration

I almost stopped listening to this several times. The story is interesting enough that I would read a written sequel. I wish the cursing had been left out since it’s more of YA fiction and it’s unnecessary. But there’s no way I would listen to another audiobook by this reader. Some mistakes I could overlook like the time “O nine thirty hundred”. But she repeatedly emphasizes the wrong words in a sentence and inappropriately inserts her own periods mid sentence. This drove me crazy.

Takes some getting into

It has a bit of a slow start but once you get into it it’s really good and the ending was awesome.

Great dystopian story

Highly recommend if you like dystopian stories such as Hunger Games or the Divergence series. Relatable given the pandemic we are going through

Narration made it difficult to enjoy

I love good dystopia, and this story as written has all the hallmarks. I nearly have up on it several times, however, because it's just poorly narrated. It sounds like the narrator was recorded on a cold-read, and not a very confident cold-read, at that. She pauses at all the wrong places and emphasizes with all the wrong inflection, so you're left trying to figure out what the heck the author was trying to say. If I were the author I'd be very angry about this reading.

I liked the story

Although I had a little bit of confusion at the beginning as some of the characters names were close to each other, I found that listening closely I could keep them from getting mixed up. I liked the story and didn't have any issues with the narration as others have. I do like when male and female narrators work together as it makes it easier to hear the difference in characters as they talk but I know that doesn't mean that the story is any better since if I was reading it would be up to me anyway. I look forward to the second book in the key series as I'm excited to see what happens with Elodie and Aiden, as well as the others that were started in this series. (Caution: if you read beyond this point it might be a spoiler if you haven't already read the story) Also, I'm curious about Elodies friend, since she made it clear a couple of times that people couldn't really die in VR. I also want to see what New Dawn is like, and if the story will be set there or flip back and forth. I also noticed that The key to Fury is the second half of this series although on audible it says book 1 on both, They might want to fix that eventually? Thank you.

Fantastic

I loved it. I'm hopeful that a second book on the way i want to know if they get to new dawn.

Great concept, love the world she is building!

This is one of the most original books by Kristen Cast. I only wish she delved deeper into the personal relationships to really make her reader fall in love with the characters. This is an easy listen and I totally recommend it. The narrator is wonderful. I only wish Cast had not sold herself short on character development through the relationships she established.

Good book. HORRIBLE narration.

I’ve never quit a book due to narration but I almost did several times during this one. It wasn’t due to her accent but because the random pauses and emphasis on weird places in a sentence just completely threw the whole storyline off. The story itself is good. I really hope someone else narrates the next book or at least practices more before recording.