Hound and Key

by Rhiannon Held

Key has lived her entire life in captivity, forced to use her magic to kill the enemies of Ariadne, an ageless woman with powerful magic of her own. Key knows she and Ariadne are both members of the Hand of the Gods, five souls reborn through the ages, but Key remembers none of her past lives. She chafes against Ariadne's control, and longs to escape to lead a life of her own.
Eric has worked for Ariadne for years in ignorance of her secrets, but now coincidences and bad luck are piling up. When he talks his way into the compound that houses Key and the other members of the Hand, he learns the truth about Ariadne's magic—and the murders she's committed with it. Together, Eric and Key escape and set out to find Lantern, the one member of the Hand Ariadne has never managed to capture—and who may know how to stop her for good.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mythology, Fiction, Magic, Romance

ebook

Published September 6, 2016

About the author

Rhiannon Held writes urban fantasy, along with space opera and weird western (as R.Z. Held). She lives in Seattle, where she works as an archaeologist for an environmental compliance firm. At work, she mostly uses her degree for copy-editing technical reports; in writing, she uses it for cultural world-building; in public, she'll probably use it to check the mold seams on the wine bottle at dinner.

Reviews

[Kitty G Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

* This is one of my #SPFBO reads for 2018 *

I wasn't too sure what this story would be like from the cover, it seemed a little bit stylised, sexy, urban, and witch-crafty all at once...and to some extent this story does have all of those elements. This is a book which is very magical right from the start. We are following a character who is called Eric and he works for a lady called Ariadne. She used to be a lover of his, and they have a fairly good relationship still, until he realises that some of the jobs he's been doing for her aren't overly legal and certainly have horrible repercussions. He's even noticed that some of the people he's had to track are now dead!

Eric as a character isn't really someone I connected to at first, he's not a bad guy, but he's mixed up in a bit of trouble and I don't think I would be the sort of person to get on with him too well in reality. However, his story was interesting enough to me and I quickly got hooked when he started to meet the Powers.

In this book we have 5 characters who are known as Powers. They are: Breath, Map, Lantern, Hound and Key. They are all basically immortals and they keep being reborn into new bodies each time they die. We know at the start f the book that there are five out there and some of them live together under Ariadne's control, but Lantern is missing and they want to find her.

The niggles I had with this book came largely from the sexual relationship which began very suddenly and didn't really seem overly romantic or developed. I found this relationship a little hard to swallow and it didn't feel overly authentic to me.

I also found that some of the things that happened in this story were a little too predictable for me and although I enjoyed it on the whole it didn't feel quite as original as I had hoped. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, probably it is due to my own vast fantasy reading, but I would have liked a few more shock moments.

The magic of this one is interesting because as I say they are essentially immortal and get reborn into new bodies when they die. They also each have a magic which is to do with their name so Key can unlock things, Breath can steal Breath, Map can navigate and locate and Hound can track. Lantern is a bit more of na enigma at first.

Overall, this was a fun story and I read it quickly and enjoyed it, but it didn't leave me with a really strong feeling about it. I wish it had been a little bit more emotional and developed because then I may have really loved it, but on the whole it's a fun one :) 3*s from me which is 6/10 for SPFBO.

[Kira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hound and Key were were two of the five powers that made up the hand of the gods. Unconventional supernatural creatures is always a good thing in UF. The powers weren't as cool as I initially thought they'd be. They could be used to kill but in many other aspects were lame. Key's was the most useful. Unlocking things can definitely come in handy. Breath was a force to be reckoned with, but aside from killing or threatening to kill it wasn't interesting. Hound and Map's powers were awfully similar. Both were used to find people except the methods were different. It wasn't necessary to have two characters with such similar powers especially when it wasn't an amazing power to begin with. I still don't know what the hell it was Lantern could do. I must have skimmed over it if it was mentioned.

Nothing about this blew me away. The world building was okay. The romance happened too quickly. The main couple was preferable over some of the other possible relationships, but I wouldn't have cared if things didn't work out either. I'm not a big fan of stories where characters have predestined fates. Each of the hand was meant for a specific purpose. Each power retained the memories of every person who ever had that power. Who they were supposed to love and what they were supposed to do was already known.

The way the story unfolded it could be a standalone, but it also felt like the beginning of a series. It didn't end on a cliffhanger, but several things were left open ended. The end was weird because there was and wasn't a solid conclusion.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Hound and Key" is a fascinating fantasy novel about a group of reincarnated individuals referred to as the "Hand of the gods." Each of these individuals was given a unique power to aid the gods in some way on Earth. They are meant to complement each other. Key, the first we learn about, is able to lock and unlock any (non-digital) locks as well as learn about a person through their keys. Map can take an image of a person and find them. Hound can track someone's steps. Breath can breathe life into or out of someone; Breath can also transfer the Hands powers to another person. Lantern is the fifth member of which we know less, but it seems that Lantern has the powers of a light.

When reincarnated, they retain the memories of the Hands that were before them over millennia. However, this ability disappears when they are placed in a younger body. The younger the body (e.g. infant), the less human they are, only really having their skill and not feeling human emotions or feelings, including pain or fear. Breath has been holding all the others aside from Lantern (but is seeking Lantern) and has placed them into relatively young bodies. Map was the oldest (placed at 7) and has most of the memories. Key has her humanity but no memories (placed at 3), while Hound is an instrument without humanity (placed as an infant). All of them have the ability to take a life through their skills, and Breath has been forcing them to do this for her.

The story unfolds in bits and pieces as Eric gathers more and more information through his study/exploration. It begins when he is having a date with someone his boss had sent him to gather intel on, and she dies suddenly of a heart attack. He presses for more information, looking up and noticing all the people that he had collected information on have died suddenly. He attempts to get taken into the inner circle and learn about how. In his search, he meets Key, who sends him on a quest to find Lantern.

Key is an interesting character. We know she is somewhere in her 20s but since she has been so sheltered and not had much interaction with the world, she acts like a child to some extent. She is very naïve but wants to experience the world. She has been forced to be chaste by the Breath's control of the guards and her interactions with others (the why of this, we learn at the end). When she meets Eric, they begin a casual relationship. I wasn't sure how I felt about this, since he is obviously much older and more mature. However, she is old enough to consent and she takes the lead in their interactions.

Speaking of the romance, I think this was one of the most interesting concepts in the book. There is a pervasive idea that love transcends human boundaries, including gender. Although hard for the human Eric to accept, he begins to grasp this concept later in the book. I would be very curious to see how this evolves in (hopefully future) sequels. I won't say too much more about this or the plot, as I don't want to give away any spoilers!

The book is fast paced and keeps the reader engaged with only pieces of the whole story revealed until the end, when it all begins to really come together and make more sense. I didn't ever feel lost in the book and it's very engaging. I was really fascinated with the idea of their powers and the concept of reincarnation. I think it's a strong book, and I really hope that I will be able to read more about this cast of characters in the future (maybe learn more about their reincarnations too)!

Please note that I received this book through netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Nancy Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, I have given an extra preference towards books participating in the annual spfbo contest, and while the book didn't reach the finals, it did get a nice review that piqued my curiosity.

The story seems to delve into the POVs of two characters: Eric Davis, a 30 something former jobless magician who was sort of coerced into a too-good-to-be-true part-time assistant job to a very rich businesswoman named Ariadne, and Key, a 25 year old woman who became implanted with a sort of magical entity that reincarnates into humans endlessly at a very young age and has been imprisoned by Ariadne her whole life.

Eric doesn't know much about what Ariadne (who shares a long history with him as an ex college girlfriend of sorts) is up to, or why she is so busy with a mysterious genomics project, until he has a perfectly harmless business meeting with a secretary in a diner and she dies right in front of his eyes for no seemingly logical reason.

Freaked out of his wits, he then recalls a haunting memory that a similar incident happened some time ago and the victim appeared on the news. Suspicious of Ariadne's motives, Eric makes a surprise visit to "The Compound", a place that belonged to Ariadne, but he had never been there before. He soon realizes the amount of security guards and sparseness of the small community of identical looking houses is in reality a prison for 3 of the 5 abilities of "The Hand", which was initially created a long time ago in order to locate a goddess who had gone missing. The ability (with its pros and cons) is inherited to a different unsuspecting human when the prior living vessel dies, potentially along with important past memories of the ability's prior human lives. Ariadne somehow managed to capture 3 of the currently reincarnated abilities from a very young age and they have a very limited knowledge of the outside world, and live heavily restricted lives.

Eric is somewhat appalled when he realizes the strange young woman named Key with nauseatingly odd painted red hair grudgingly allows one of the guards to bind her wrists with a zip tie and her pupils black out just like the woman at the diner who died. The guard states that Key isn't human, and views her more as an object (probably as a sort of defense mechanism to rid himself of the guilt of being a willing participating in keeping her imprisoned).

While Key is frustrated with her current situation (fueled by the lack of memories of her past lives, which she believes Ariadne did on purpose to control her... and a lack of sexual fulfillment), her brothers Hound and Map seem content, or in the very least, ambivalent towards their captivity.

Eric must now find a modicum of morality he still retains to find a way to convince the three prisoners to escape together before Ariadne finds out.

Now, I found the basic premise to be a whole lot of fun. Key's ability to open absolutely any kind of lock (her ability might even encompass safes) with ridiculous ease (not to mention create key copies at will) is quite interesting because of its usefulness if you ever wanted to try a life of crime or espionage, along with being ironic because the guards have taken advantage of Key's inherent weaknesses (such as restraining her with plastic zip ties which are immune to her ability). We don't really get to see Map's ability all that much, but Hound is supposed to be able to locate a given person by their prior tracks. If Hound is in a place filled with people, the ability goes haywire and the user ends up in a temporary trance state.

Now, I do think the book has overt flaws. I found Map's personality to be a bit wishy washy, not fully developed, and Key was waaay too horny at first. I was never really sure if Eric's street smarts were because he was morally ambiguous (as in he was willing to do Ariadne's dirty work but not to the point of killing innocent people), or more of a symptom of inherent problems with the book. I can sort of understand that Key's behavior was very infantilized because Ariadne severely hindered her life so much that restricted reading material, and harmless tv stations is the only window she ever got of the outside world. She has never left the compound before, and even ordinary things like being approached by a dog freaks her out. Painting her hair an apparently unappealing color just to irritate Ariadne was one of the few liberties Key had and her acting out is a result of her frustrating living arrangement. It was however hard for me at times to recall she is in her mid 20's and not 17.

I would have wanted to see Map's and Lantern's powers in action. Map can apparently mentally locate someone from afar when someone makes a sufficiently good drawing. I will presume Lantern can illuminate dark rooms as long as he can see. Breath's ability is quite terrifying.

I found a lot of the book to be confusing by clunky narration, it sometimes required two reads of a page to understand what was happening. Ariadne's true intentions were... a bit weird, considering she treated Key worse than her brothers. There is another thing about Ariadne's apparent youthfulness not causing Eric any suspicion that was left hanging once you discovered the truth. The story of the gods that created the 5 abilities was also kind of left to a minor importance. I did find the scene where Map behaves insanely differently with Eric after something really huge happens to him halfway into the novel to be hilarious. I will not spoil the fun though.

All in all, the book is a standalone (a rarity within the genre), but it still leaves some leeway for a potential sequel. Flawed as it was for the already mentioned reasons, I did find it to be fun to read.

[Rhode PVD · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot to like about this book, with one significant exception - the romantic relationship. Although this isn't primarily a romance (to me it's an SF-style fantasy/adventure) the relationship between the two most prominent leads is a big enough plot thread that it pulled down the book's overall score for me. So, it's a four except for this.

What's wrong? Ages. The male lead is 32, and a true 32 at that (although he has a mystifying total lack of friends which is never addressed). The female lead is perhaps 22 at most, but her stunted life experience puts her somewhere around 14-15. I'm not that happy seeing a 32 year old with a 22 year anyway; this is worse. And it's not really explained - they hop into bed very early on (so, not really a spoiler) for no reason beyond hormones and random, fairly inconvenient whim. It's just...odd.

Ok, so what's good? A handy, non-comprehensive list:

- sense of place: the author absolutely nails Washington State and Oregon. The vegetation, the houses, the weather, the people. It's redolent of the pacific northwest.

- gender roles: some characters are capable of reincarnation, and they don't always wind up as the same genders each time. The author used this to explore several ideas - including 'gay for you' - brilliantly.

- feminism: passes the Bechtel test with flying colors, includes female characters of several ages (not just 20-somethings), includes a variety of female professionals, healthy male-female friendships, and unabashed female sexuality.

- mythology & magic: unlike the trend in paranormal and fantasy, this book's M&M doesn't stray beyond a very defined arena. You don't have shamans or vampires or werewolves or fae or angels or any other magical creatures popping up. This is basically our own world with just one specific, small group of gods and their offshoots added in.

- nobody is kick ass or utterly exhausted: I'm so tired of the tropes of the kick ass heroine who can do judo and magic and god knows what else. I'm also tired of the tired, where the lead goes without adequate sleep for days and days while fighting the big bad. Neither of those occur here - relief!

- fun cultural asides: at the start of each chapter, you'll find a little "quote" from a cultural source, slightly altered to account for this world. It's elegant and delightful.

- no cliffy: the current story wraps up, but there's room to go on. Well done.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Hound and Key at a used bookstore on a whim, and it definitely delivered on the magic front! The story centers on Eric, a former magician who’s now working for his ex, Ariadne. Things get dark quickly when he realizes the jobs she’s given him have serious consequences. The tension really drew me in!

At first, I found it tough to connect with Eric. He’s a bit morally gray, but once he meets the “Powers,” things get more interesting. Their backstories and abilities are cool, but I was disappointed by the romantic subplot. It felt rushed and didn’t have the depth I was hoping for, and it honestly just took me out of the story.

Overall, Hound and Key was a fun read with a lot of great ideas, even if some plot points felt predictable. I enjoyed it, but I wish it had a bit more emotional punch.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Rhiannon Held has once again taken a story that I thought I knew what to expect, and instead has given it a really unique feeling and completely caught me off guard. There are places where the story dragged a bit, but overall I was kept guessing and the story went places I wouldn't expect. I liked her take on the realities of reincarnated personalities, and there were definitely thought-provoking details that make her storytelling so unique.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reincarnated powers is certainly not a completely original idea. But its done pretty well here. The characters are mostly interesting and different. The powers also interesting and different and not obvious ones that have been done again and again. The ending felt a little soft, like it built up to nothing in particular. But all in all a good read.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting mythology based on a folklore tale I was unfamiliar with. A strong mystery hook to start with, then, wham, a wonderful plot twist at about the one quarter mark. Well-written characters. I liked how they didn't take the easy way out of their problems.

Quibble: I wished the fives powers had been a little less alike.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cover is giving me Lara Croft / Tomb Raider & National Treasure vibes, and I LOVE that! Based on the cover, I would have thought this would have had more of an adventurous, treasure hunting story to it. Even though it did not go that way, I still really enjoyed it.

The story is very unique, and mysterious. It revolves around a myth about "The Hand of God". I have heard of the Hand of God, but never knew there was a myth behind it. I found that to be very interesting, and liked the little snippets from various tales over the years. I do wish the author went more into detail about the myth and the different powers associated with the Hand. The powers I thought were different, and would have liked there to be more experimenting with them, but I think Rhiannon will go into that further in the series.

Eric is an investigator by day, self proclaimed magician at night type guy. He tries to solve a series of mysterious murders that he thinks he is somehow linked to, and ends up in the middle of a mythical, century old, fight against the Gods.

Key I just adored! She was very innocent, and couldn't wait to get out in the world to discover who she really is. She was feisty and sexual, and that really clicked with me.

The reincarnation of the powers I thought was cool. It's interesting to think that you could have many lives, but possibly remember them when something triggers a memory. That's definitely something new that I have never read before.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading more into the series. It will be fun to see how the characters progress, and figure out their powers. If you like mysteries, mythology, urban fantasy, and just unique reads, this is for you.

**I was given this e-book in exchange for an honest & unbiased review**

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book.

This book was okay. I read it over the course of a few days. The story moved along, it just wasn't my favorite book. Interesting concept, just didn't do it for me.

[The Grimm Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was the first time I read something off a shelf in a place we were staying on vacation. Usually I bring my own books, but at that point I had read all of my own and desperately needed something more to read, so I picked it off the shelf and decided to read it. Mostly because it was the only fiction book in English in the Italian Villa -- irony or fate that it just happened to be in one of my typical reading genres?
Not the most popular book, in fact, I do not think I would have ever come across it if we had not been in the right place at the right time. I am glad we were. It was a good book with interesting characters and plot. The writing is pretty good, and it makes you curious from the beginning with good POV change too. It was different from anything I had read before, and I was not disappointed. I still think about it now and wish I had a come of my own.
The characters and plot were enjoyable and it had nice progression throughout the book and story. It read well, and I was able to binge it without having own of those "Jeez, I'm so bored but have nothing else to do" or "God, this book is a slow read!" moments.
As much as I liked the characters and plot, I have to say I was most intrigued and in love with the characters past reincarnations. I SO wish those were a story. I would love to read them, even more so than Hound and Key.
I liked this book quite a bit. It was a nice middle of the road book that was still very interesting to read. I hope irony -- or fate -- will put you in its path so you can read it. Enjoy.

[Notthatcatwoman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Copy received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
The idea had merit, but it was poorly executed. The mythology was very thin and I would have liked to see it expanded upon. The story was very one dimensional and the characters were extremely irritating, which led to great apathy on my part. It actually took me three goes to finish this book and it was a close call.

The blurb was misleading (though I can't blame that on the author), the 'escape' didn't happen until the end, the 'truth' about Ariadne's magic was literally in the last couple of chapters and the majority of the book was filled with Key whining or complaining about lack of memories, when at the end she 'realised' she didn't need them. Add that to the fact that she seemed to be written as a bit of a slut which was annoying.

I don't know if there will be a sequel but if there is I don't thing I could justify wasting my time.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The characters seemed so real you could touch them. And the world the author built was written so well that I actually dreamed about it the night I read it. Lol. I really enjoyed this book. This is a fascinating fantasy novel that I highly recommend.

*** Received a copy of book from NetGally.com and Rhiannon Held****
L

[Megan =^..^= · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique and brilliantly written sci-fi novel. All fans of fantasy should definitely add this to their must read list! Great story with awesome characters, highly recommend!!