Lock and Key Vol. 3 - Crown of Shadows: A Great Continuation of This Wonderful Dark Fantasy

Lock and Key Vol. 3: Crown of Shadows

I decided to return and read a little more Lock and Key by Joe Hill. The last book was a little dull, but Hill seems to have a lot of imagination, so I had faith that the third book would rebound in quality. So here is my review of Lock and Key Vol. 3: Crown of Shadows.

So what is it about? It follows a family living in a large home that has these magical keys hidden throughout. The keys can unlock doors to other places far away, can unlock your head to put more knowledge in, can unlock a passageway that allows you to leave your body and so on. The kids Tyler, Kinsey and Bode have caught onto these little secrets by this point in the series. And the story follows their troubles both big and small. The major plot where the villain, a well witch ghost of sorts who is trying to use the shadow key to control the shadows to raid the house to find the Omega Key. In turn the siblings must fight for their lives against all kinds of ghouls to survive. Then there are subplots. Two mainly. One involves Kinsey, who used the head key to pull hear out of her head and is now getting herself in all sorts of trouble because she doesn’t fear death. Then there is the mother who is falling deer and deeper into alcoholism and is beginning to tear the family apart because of it.

The good? This was great. The pacing was great. The art is fantastic. There are many story lines but its balances so perfectly. And the imagination is just out of this world.

The bad? By this point in the series. I realized that this story is not as creepy as the first book indicated. Not that I’m complaining. This is tons of fun and but it is a shame that inherent creepiness of the first book did not stay around.

Overall, it’s a great read. I love it. And I recommend it to everyone who looking for something really imaginative and different.

Overall Rating: A Great Continuation of This Wonderful Dark Fantasy

4 smoothies out of four.