Keystone by Katie Delahanty

When Ella Karman debuts on the Social Stock Exchange, she finds out life as a high-profile "Influencer" isn't what she expected. Everyone around her is consumed by their rankings, in creating the smoke and mirrors that make them the envy of the world.

But then Ella’s best friend betrays her, her rankings tank, and she loses—everything.

Leaving her old life behind, she joins Keystone, a secret school for thieves, where students are being trained to steal everything analog and original because something—or someone—is changing history to suit their needs.

Partnered with the annoyingly hot—and utterly impossible—Garrett Alexander, who has plenty of his own secrets, Ella is forced to return to the Influencer world, while unraveling a conspiracy that began decades ago.

One wrong move and she could lose everything—again. - From Goodreads

Paperback, 390 pages

Expected publication: January 7th 2020

Publisher: Entangled: Teen

ISBN: 640638245

Keystone by Katie Delahanty
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

REVIEW

Keystone by Katie Delahanty is original and unique, looking at a future dystopian world in which everyone is graded on the Social Stock exchange. Think Instagram on major steroids and then times that by 1000. It’s the current currency and if you don’t rank or are unrankable, life can be pretty difficult. As Ella says:

“My parents taught me Index ranking is everything. If you don’t rank, you don’t matter.”

Ella is the main character and narrator – gifted with extreme intuitive sense; she is the daughter of two major influencers but they have a secret. When Ella becomes indebted to a group of high-ranking mean girls, they use her parents secret to manipulate her into an act that has serious consequences.

Ella, now Elisha, is taken under the wing a woman who is part of Keystone; a school that teaches the art of thieving everything ‘analog and original’ for the main purpose of obstructing those in power from changing history.

"Our Mission is to steal analog history – to preserve the truth – before corporations and the government can alter the past to benefit their personal futures."

Ella must now prove her worth by actions not rankings. There are, of course, mean girls at Keystone but Ella also makes friends there, real friends and they are interesting characters to read about. Most of the students at Keystone have grown up there, learning how to steal from a very young age and have a distinct advantage over Ella. They also don’t know that prior to coming to Keystone she was a highly ranked social elite. More secrets and a lot of competition ensue!
I liked the pace of this book; it starts out with a lot of action and takes a now and then approach. I found it worked well in this story. It slowly unveils the story behind Ella and what drives her. There’s a cliff-hanger ending so it’s my guess that there’s another book coming and I’m happy about that!

I recommend this for any fan of YA dystopian with a dash of romance and intrigue!

A big thank you to NetGalley, Entangled Publishing – Entangled: Teen, and Katie Delahanty for providing Keystone in exchange for my honest review.


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