Key of Light

by Nora Roberts

2003

Status

Available

Publication

Berkley (2003), Edition: 1st ptg., 352 pages

Description

Fantasy. Fiction. Romance. HTML:#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts opens the door to one woman�??s search for truth and passion in the first Key Trilogy novel. Malory Price�??s life plan has hit a snag. She�??s in danger of losing her job managing an art gallery in Pleasant Valley, Pennsylvania. A welcome distraction comes in the form of an invitation to a cocktail party at Warrior�??s Peak, an infamous estate overlooking the town. But no one else she knows has been invited�?� There are only two other guests: Dana Steele, a librarian, and Zoe McCourt, a single mother. On the surface, it seems the women have nothing in common, until their mysterious hosts tell them a story�??and offer them a challenge. Legend has it that the souls of three demigoddesses�??one an artist, one a bard, and one a warrior�??have been locked in a box that has three keys. Now it�??s up to Malory and the others to find the keys. Their reward: a million dollars each. It all seems too bizarre to be true. But none of them can ignore the financial windfall they stand to gain. And now Malory�??with her soul of an artist and eye for beauty�??must find her key first. She soon discovers that whatever locked the souls away is dark, powerful, and greedy�?�and it doesn�??t want the women to win. Don�??t miss the other books in the Key Trilogy Key of Knowledge… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member carmarie

Easy reads....take this on a plane or to the beach. I was so happy after reading the first one that there were 3 others. Sometimes you just want to read something with a little magic and hope.

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LibraryThing member readingrat

The best book of the trilogy. I enjoyed the fantasy twist in this trilogy. However, unlike the ghost story in Nora Robert's Garden trilogy, the fantasy storyline in this trilogy seemed to stay pretty static throughout each subsequent book which made the remaining two books seem to be simply

re-hashing the first.

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LibraryThing member miyurose

This was the first of Nora Robert’s supernatural-themed books I’ve read, and it wasn’t quite what I expected. I guess I wasn’t expecting the supernatural part to be so blatent? Regardless, I enjoyed it and read it in about a day and a half. I liked all of the characters (especially Moe!),

which is actually pretty unusual for me with this kind of book. Usually there’s at least one of them that gets on my nerves. I prefer her romantic suspense, but I’ll definitely finish this trilogy.

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LibraryThing member kymmayfield

Such a great book. When I first started reading it I wasn't so sure but every page took you deeper into the story. A definate page tuner. A must read. Nora Roberts has done it again with this book, cant wait to start the next one in this series.

LibraryThing member anterastilis

Key of Light is the first in the "Key" series by Nora Roberts. I had/have very high hopes for this series, as one of the main three characters is a librarian, and there is a mystery to be solved.

So far, I am NOT impressed. The mystery is VERY farfetched, the men in the book seem kind of cartoonish,

and the women...I don't know. I'm just not liking them very much. Zoe seems to be suffering from Michael-on-LOST syndrome ("My boy! My boy! Why aren't we talking about my son? Let's talk about my son! He's the light of my world!"); Dana, the librarian, is supposed to be kind of a smartass but isn't coming off very well; and Malory, the focus of the first book, goes through such a rapid transformation that I didn't even care about it. Oh, one second you have a strict life plan and now you're going to quit your job, propose marriage to someone you've known two weeks, and everyone is just hunky dory about it?

And the mystery they have to solve! Oh, Nora, Nora Nora Nora. Could you be any more bizarre? Three women are called to a spooky mansion in the middle of nowhere and are given a task to find three keys so that ancient souls might be set free? Gee whiz. I think I've gotten cynical in my old age. 3,000 year old gods and an evil sorcerer...sure, that sounds interesting. But not in a 350-page book with a highly improbable romance and weak characters!

I wonder if I've just read one too many pure fantasy books. Can I not pick up a corny fantasy and enjoy it? Maybe my tastes have changed - or maybe this just isn't the right time for me to read these books. I wonder if I'm just sick of Nora Roberts. I haven't read any in a while. This might just be one of the "bad ones". I will probably at least give the next book a try to see how the librarian does. If I'm not impressed, I don't think I'd feel bad about skipping the third one.

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LibraryThing member ivirago

I'm writing this from the point of view of someone who's just read the first, so I'm reviewing this book alone rather than as part of the series. In fact, this is only the second Nora Roberts book I've ever read so I'm still getting a 'feel' for the author.

I'm afraid I'm disappointed. Now, in

fairness, the book is good enough that I wanted to finish it. I just thought that the characters were not very subtly painted and a bit cartoonish and predictable. Too much man-woman conflict (you know, being cross and snarky with each other when really they're desperate to... ahem) which I don't think is *all* that common - every relationship in this book seems to include it.

I don't want to go into detail about the plot, but this 'find the magic key' seems to be a bit facile. Don't get me wrong, I *love* contemporary fantasy or paranormal stories, but I just think they need to be done with extra cleverness as it's difficult to pull off contemporary fantasy with our 'realistic' mindset. I just didn't feel convinced here.

I haven't decided whether to read the next one. I'm a bit of a completist so I'm tempted, but to be honest I'm quite lukewarm about this book.

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LibraryThing member beguile

Fun romantic story that kept me reading for hours.

LibraryThing member gogglemiss

This is strictly formulaic Nora Roberts, here. Three women brought together by coincidence and by circumstance, and three men inter connecting on the romance front. A lot ot the magical stuff, I eiither got confused, bored and skipped to the entertaining dialogue so typical of her characters.

LibraryThing member pauliharman

Three modern women, and three male friends, are drawn into a quest to free the souls of their lookalike Celtic goddess alter-egoes by a mysterious couple.
An interesting contemporary faerie tale by the female romance writer Nora Roberts. Although an interesting read in itself, it is quite slow going

at first. If you like Nora Roberts you know exactly what you're going to get, and in a sense that's a bit of a disappointment as there is little new, fresh or exciting to take from this book. However, as a comfort read it's a great guilty pleasure to sink into something so easy to read.

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LibraryThing member Leonor.Ner

A good book and well written with characters that could be a little well developed. The story unfolds itself fast but it's efficient. It draws the readers attention even though the target being women.

I admit having read this book for quite some time now and haven't kept reading the trilogy, but I

remember being hooked despite thinking that the story was going too fast in some moments. Overall, I think it's a fluid and easy writing with character that, we might not enjoy at first, we learn to appreciate.

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LibraryThing member ClosetWryter

A whimsical and yet down to earth visit with three young women. This series is one of my favorites from Nora Roberts.

LibraryThing member KamGeb

It was a fun, romance novel. The magical story line was great and kept the story going. The romance was so obvious and what you would expect. The male/female relationships are so stereotypical. But given all of that it still was a fun read.

LibraryThing member ChristineEllei

Three women have never met yet are all invited to a mysterious mansion to attend a dinner. They are the only guests of the “otherworldly” couple occupying the mansion. By the end of the evening they have been given a quest to find a key. Surprisingly (especially to themselves) they accept the

seemingly impossible quest of finding three missing keys to unlock the three boxes holding the souls of three other young women. This is book one of the trilogy … Mallory’s quest.

I do not read a lot of Nora Roberts, although I am a huge fan of her alter-ego J.D. Robb. Yet every time I pick up one of Ms. Robert’s tales based on legends and magic I find myself quite captured by the book. Production-wise Ms. Roberts rivals James Patterson so it amazes me that she can come up with the story lines and keep them interesting. I’m a lot jealous of the ability. Romance, legends, magic and mystery … always the perfect mix for a little much needed escapism. And there’s definitely nothing wrong with that!

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LibraryThing member 2wonderY

I didn’t know I’d enjoy Nora Roberts as much as I did. Her female characters come up off the page and sound like real people. Or perhaps I might credit the audio version reader – Susan Ericksen. Some of the dialogue was predictable, but because that’s the way people really talk.

LibraryThing member Lauren2013

Key of Light
3.5 Stars

Synopsis:
Fate brings three women together for a chance to unlock their deepest desires. On the first of three dangerous quests, Malory Price, who has the soul of an artist and an eye for beauty, must find the Key of Light that could fulfill her destiny...or forever destroy her

life.

Review:
The intriguing mythology and quest atmosphere almost compensate for the lackluster romance.

The paranormal elements are more low-key as compared to Roberts’ other series in this genre: The Sign of Seven and Circle trilogies. There is enough detail in the mythology to whet the appetite but it is not sufficiently developed. The connection between the main female characters and the magical sisters whose souls are ensnared remains unclear by the end of the book, but will hopefully be explained by the end of the series.

While Flynn and Malory are likeable characters, their relationship lacks chemistry. It also seems to undergo a confusing role reversal halfway through with Flynn becoming quite hesitant after being the initial instigator and aggressor, as opposed to Malory, who was uninterested at first, becoming the pursuer. Moreover, Flynn’s contribution to the quest is virtually non-existent other than the fact that he is friends with the men who will feature in the sequels.

The secondary characters and the dialogue are the strong points of the book. The other two couples have more sizzle in their relationships and the witty banter, especially between Malory her gay friend from the art gallery, make this a worthwhile read.

Key of Light is a decent beginning to the overall story arc, which is interesting enough to entice me to continue reading.

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LibraryThing member melsbks

Do you believe in magic? Malory doesn't. Life is going according to plan, well, almost. She's spent all her money on beautiful things, her job is hanging by a thread thanks to The Gallery's owner's new trophy wife, and there's this cocktail party she's been invited to that no one she's talked to

knows about. The winds of change are in the air.
So starts the Key Trilogy, a good read. Characters we want to identify with, when life gets, well, boring. And to live, we must create, in whatever form we desire, to achieve the life we imagine.

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LibraryThing member tldegray

Review for all three books in the trilogy.

The thing about these books isn't the vaguely supernatural plot or the romance, it's the found-family.

There is a vaguely supernatural plot. Strangers, Malory, Dana, and Zoe, are all invited to a mysterious gathering hosted by the even more mysterious Rowena

and Pitte. They're told a story about a god, soon to be king, who traveled into the mortal world, fell in love with a human woman. He brought her back to his world and they had three beautiful daughters. When those daughters were grown an evil sorcerer, rival for the king's power, cast a spell on them, trapping their souls in a glass box, leaving their bodies lifeless. The only way the spell could be broken is if three mortal women found the keys to the glass box. Malory, Dana, and Zoe are those three mortal women.

There is romance. The first book centers on Malory, and deals with her romance with Finn. The second on Dana and her romance with Jordan. The third on Zoe and Brad. But the wonderful thing about these books is how little time they spend on romance and how much they spend on the friendship growing between Malory, Dana, and Zoe, the pre-existing friendsihp between Flynn, Jordan, and Brad, and the way these six people become family to each other. Not only do the three women fulfill their quests and find their loves, they also start a business together and spend a great deal of time discussing how wonderful, helpful, and supportive the friendship they're developing is. Sure, there's a great deal of discussion about each other's love lives, but there's also a great deal of discussion about the business, each other's talents, and what each wants from life. To a lesser degree--because this is the women's story, after all--the men have similar discussions.

Found-family is my thing. It gets me every time. And these six people, plus Rowena, Pitte, Zoe's son Simon, and Flynn's goofy dog Moe, make a great family.

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LibraryThing member txbritgal

Addicting

I've read this series before.... Multiple times. Let me tell you it NEVER gets old! Magic, love, suspending logic, old friends, New friends. And a crazy loveable dog all join together to save the souls of three magical sisters. A quest indeed with three strangers that day become sisters.

Enjoy!!

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LibraryThing member DominiqueMarie

cheesy, but good for when you just feel like some light chick lit.

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