Key to Aten: The First Chronicle of Aten

Lynn Sinclair
Brown Barn Books (2005)
ISBN 0974648175
Reviewed by Ian McCurley, age 13, for Reader Views (1/07)

Jodi is 16 years old and hasn’t talked to her friend Neil much in the past three years.  One day, when she’s walking through the forest, she comes upon him sleeping on the side of a path.  When she touches his arm to wake him up, she is sucked through the earth and finds herself on a hilltop with Neil.  They are captured by the Hachi, basketball-sized spiders which eat their victims alive.  Jodi and Neil are rescued by Arax and his nephew, Caden, who are the leaders of one of the many tribes of Aten.  While at first they seem friendly, Jodi and Neil find that they are to be sold as slaves in the town of Holo.  When Jodi and Caden are separated from Neil, Arax and the rest of the tribe, she learns that Caden is not the monster she once thought he was, and that he had the ability to control people with his voice.  She also realizes that she is falling in love with him.  They wind up in the forest of the Awes where they meet up with Aladar who steals Jodi and threatens to marry her off to his cook.  However, this is just an elaborate prank, and she is taken to Holo anyway.  The major spots her immediately as an outsider, attempts to kidnap her and fails.  Jodi is just about to be sold when Neil awakens.  They are both back on the side of the path in the forest.  Several days later, she finds Neil at the same spot again, and they are transported back to Aten.  This time, they find themselves at the side of an old, cracked highway.  Since on Aten they normally fight with swords and bows and ride horses down dirt roads, what was a highway doing in Aten?  As Jodi meets up with Caden’s tribe once more, the question is asked, “Is Aten just a dream world, or is it something more?”

“Key to Aten” is for kids age 11 and up who enjoy science-fiction and fantasy.  The author’s point is that not all is as it seems because in “Key to Aten,” Jodi’s allies become her enemies just as her foes become her friends.  Even the world of Aten itself is not what it first seemed. 

Lynn Sinclair outdoes herself in the book “Key to Aten” which is a story full of harsh environments and lovable characters.  Watch out for the second chronicle of Aten, “Return to Aten.”

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