Key Trilogy mini-review

I asked recently if you guys would be interested in reviews of adult books because I was reading a really good trilogy by Nora Roberts, and the response was awesome. Seriously, you guys rock. :) Anyways, I've done a few reviews of adult books before, but it's not a regular thing and I don't usually review... you know, romance novels because I figure most of you are more YA fans and not interested in that kind of thing, but... diversity is always good, right? (You can tell I'm a bit nervous about this, I'm babbling a bit.)

This is more of a mini-review of the whole trilogy than a review review, sort of to test the waters. And now I'm going to quit rambling and get to it!

Key trilogy by Nora Roberts

(Summary/teaser thing of trilogy from publisher's website, summary/teasers of individual books from inside cover of book.)

Nora Roberts invites you to unlock your dreams... Three women. Three keys. Each has 28 days to find her way through a dangerous quest. Nora Roberts brings us a unique series with a twist—each novel is written in real time, and the novels will be published in consecutive months.

Key of Light

Malory has the soul of an artist and an eye for beauty. She must find the Key of Light - on the first of three dangerous quests that could fulfill her destiny... or forever destroy her life.





Key of Knowledge

Dana has always found her greatest passion in books. She must search for the Key of Knowledge - on the second of three dangerous quests that leads her to find the truth hidden among deception and lies... or succumb to her worst nightmare.

Key of Valor

Zoe is about to discover her true courageous spirit. She must find the Key of Valor - on the last of three dangerous quests that will force her to confront her darkest fears... or suffer immeasurable loss.

Review:

What I thought of the plot:

I thought it was a very interesting plot. It's not a super-unique plot, but the way it was handled, I never once thought "Oh, this is so much like this book or that book". In all fairness, it was a bit predictable, but that wasn't a bad thing at all. It didn't drag and wasn't slow, you just had a fair idea what was going to happen.

What I thought of the characters:

They were so great. They were all unique, interesting, funny and so, so good. As each book progressed, Malory, Dana, and Zoe each developed strong, unique voices (even though the books were in third person, which is a talent) so you could finish one book and immediately start the next book without getting confused about who was telling the story.

My favourite character was a giant black dog named Moe, owned by Malory's love interest (they are romance novels, after all) Flynn. This excerpt is from the first time Flynn and Malory meet and Moe knocks Malory down hard. She crouches down to pick up the stuff that scattered when she hit the sidewalk.

"I'll get this stuff." He crouched beside her, then stabbed a finger at the dog who was trying to inch his way toward them with the same stealth as an elephant tiptoeing across the African plain. "Stay, or there's no treat for you."

Gotta love that dog. He's such a sweetie and absolutely hilarious throughout all three books.

PG-13 stuff:

Nora Roberts' writing, in my experience and opinion, is very mild when it comes to sex. Personally I've read more graphic stuff in YA books where it's treated as not a big deal, which I find far more inappropriate than between two responsible, consenting adults, but that's a rant for another day. My point before I got distracted was that it wasn't graphic or R-rated or anything, so it's a good step up for YA fantasy or romance fans looking for adult books to try.

Conclusion:

I decided not to assign a rating to the series because it'd be too much of a blanket rating. Let's just say it's a really good series with very realistic characters and a great story and I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in the slightest by this review. One quite nice thing is that the covers are more elegant than anything and don't have any pictures you wouldn't want your parents seeing you with, which can be really embarrassing, honestly. It's nice that with this trilogy, you're not thrown off a good series by a tacky cover, because that would be very much a shame.

Okay, well, that's it for me. What do you guys think?
Peace and cookies,
Laina