The Cursed Key (The Cursed Key Trilogy #1) 
By: Miranda Brock & Rebecca Hamilton
Overall Rating: ★★★
Publication Date: January 14th, 2020
*Thank you to Xpresso Book Tours for hosting the tour and providing an e-book for my honest opinion!
Synopsis:
A forgotten past, a dark mage, and an unyielding curse.
Another team beat free-spirited archaeologist Olivia Perez to the dig of a lifetime, and now she’s left with the choice to wait for scraps or brave a dangerous, dusty tomb in hopes of finding other priceless artifacts. Her reward? A mysterious key she has no idea is cursed. Soon, Olivia realizes she’s brought home more than just an ancient rarity.
Malevolent visions begin to plague her. Unnerved by what they reveal, she casts away the key…unknowingly placing it into the waiting hands of a dark mage bent on destruction. Only when a shifter agent from the Paranormal Intelligence and Tracking Organization arrives searching for the key does Olivia realize what a huge mistake she’s made.
Forced to team up with the ill-tempered shifter, her journey to reclaim the cursed key leads down a twisting path of dark histories, dangerous magic, and deadly obstacles. But Olivia’s efforts to take back the ancient relic before the dark mage can destroy the lives of humans, shifters, witches, and fae alike are thwarted by her own dark past…and a price steeper than what she’s willing to pay.
Fans of Tomb Raider and Ilona Andrews will love the blend of urban fantasy, magical adventure, and paranormal romance in THE CURSED KEY from Miranda Brock and New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Hamilton!
Theme Song
TL;DR
The Cursed Key has hints of Indiana Jones, Supernatural, and The Rook series all wrapped into a fun, action-packed urban fantasy! It starts off a bit too slowly for my liking and the writing seemed to be lacking in some places, but I ended up really enjoying the second half and the overall concept of the story.
The Good
The Fantasy
I was obsessed with the magical elements. There’s a paranormal government agency, faeries, witches, and hot jaguar shifters! If Supernatural had a cross-over episode with Indiana Jones, it would be something like The Cursed Key. If you’re looking for an intense urban fantasy world, Brock and Hamilton have got it.
The Diversity
I’m here for the brown skin appreciation in this book! The main characters are both of Latin descendent and *gasp* they’re normal Americans, with decent lives, steady paychecks, an education, and they aren’t described as having accents or an alluring ~exotic~ look to them. What a concept that brown people can also just be normal. I’m here for more heroes and heroines like this.
The Bad
The Writing/Pacing
The first third of the book was really hard for me to get through. There’s a lot of repetition in word usage, phrases, and general feelings that I couldn’t help but notice. A few examples: the term “relic” is used so many times. Was there not at least one synonym that could have been used? And Olivia “rolls her shoulders” to get rid of feelings about being watched about a million times through the story. I get it. She felt eyes on her. Next plot point, please. Which leads me to, the pacing. There’s so much action in this book! The problem I had was it wasn’t evenly dispersed enough to make the entire book story intense.
The Ugly Truth
For anyone looking for a quick, magic-filled archeological adventure, this one is for you! The Cursed Key is a trilogy, so make sure you prep yourself for a cliffhanger and some romantic tension you’ll be dying for.
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Will you be adding The Cursed Key to your reading list? Does it sound like something you’d want to read?
Read By Dev 