. . . And I mean that in both a positive and negative way.

So you've read The Named and The Dark and you're waiting for more? And you're wondering if this book is just as good? Let me tell you : It's better and worse. It's amazing. It's more dense. There's more romance involved. Written in Rochelle and Matt's perspective, it lets insight on the once 2-dimensional characters. The characters become more real. More captivating. Each character has his/her own flaws and problems, which make them more real and believable. The story more suspensful and intruiging. You'll be guessing till the end who the traitor is and you'll never get it. It's that good.

So what's so wrong with it? It ends. Pun intended.

The Key is another great book in the Trilogy, the LAST book of the trilogy. Now as I'm concerned the first book- great, second book-problem. Since the second book was so slow-plotting, we had to ram it all into the last book. But Marianne Curley has tied up the loose ends nicely in The Key. There are new characters in the book, and new romances. The saddest being -------- and -----, since -------- dies in the end. I don't like it, but it's the only way that the prophecy works. But they were such a cute couple! Oh well. Anyway, what about the end? Is this supposed to be a tragedy? I have no problems with tragedy but, well is it a tragedy? What happened to Isabelle, Matt, Akarian, etc? I just wished that the end wasn't so cutoff. Besides that, it's fine.

1 word AMAZING. Marianne Curley is my all time favorite written. I've read this book like 20 times. over that!

This series had the potential to be an epic fantacy series... like Tolkien and J. K. Rowling. The first book really graduatly brought out the story masterly. A wonderful book, and I would give it 5 stars. But the problems start with the second book. Honestly, it is an amazing story on its own- but..... it's part of a trilogy, and it honestly seems to forget that. Therefore, since the story has moved barely since the first, the last book has to go head-over-heals. This battle is fortold in the prophecy (and if you don't know what i'm talking about, just trust me) is described as "a long and bitter war" But everything comes catapulting at high speed, speed so high the reader can barely catch it. Now, trust me. In some types of books it works(i.e. Michael Crichton and Dan Browne thrillers)- but in this book it just had too many loose ends to tie up and about half the time it needed to do it properly. So, what's my point? The point is this: Frodo still had to travel across Mordor, Aslan had to be killed before he could come to life. And this book takes what could be intriguing plot, battle sequences, and dialog, and ramms them into this last instalment.
And one last thing: the end of the story. Don't wory, I won't spoil it- but ones who read the first two could probably guess it ends in tragedy. I have no problem with tragedy and I guess the author perfered it to wham you- to make you double over with the impact of the story. But, honestly, it just made me sick.
So... should you read it? If you had read the other two, you really have no choice: Read it. But if you want to start the whole series I give you my warning: It is quite a thrill of a read, but I forewarn you that it is likely you could be as unsatisfied as I am.

Words can't really explain how wonderful this book, and the two preceding it, are. Curley depicks a slightly different world than our own: a world where a group of mostly teens can travel back in time. But its not just some fairy tale time traveling, like in most books. An opposing force is using the breaks in history to alter time, ultimately changing how the future will be.

In TheKey, we join Isabelle (who has visions and can heal people), Ethan (who can make visions reality) Matt (no known talents), Nerieh (Daughter the evil Marduke) Arkarian (the 600 yr old mentor) and Rochelle (recently a traitor was but talented). The concept is that the group must prevent The Order was changing the past. And the final battle is approachign, one that everyoen seems to have worries about. Rochelle worries about being accepted, while Matt worries about his sister and his lack of powers.

Mixed in the novel are bits of nearly every genre: fantasy, romance, alittle bit of sci fi and a whole lot of adventure. Another plus is that unlike most teen novels, The Key isn't about just one plot/person. Told in alternatign chapters between Rochelle and Matt, the novel covers a huge variety of different topics, most notably: family fueds, death in families, revenge, grudges, trust and romance. The revenge is worthy of Inigo Montoya in the Princess Bride, it's that intense.

Its easy to say that The Key is the best fantasy book out there, far surpassing Harry Potter and other series. Any fan of time travel bokos like Timeline or fantasy books like Harry Potter will find The Named a great (and easy) read. Plus, this is (I think) the only book that has ever made me cry.

Plus, if you find the books good, many fansites (like www.freewebs.com/thanamed) are dedicated to the books.