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Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows

Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows #2

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Far below Keyhouse lies the Drowning Cave, a place where shadows obscure ancient secrets, and the stones are stained with ancient blood. Kinsey Locke descends into the cavern, looking for answers to her family's troubled past, only to discover that it's easier to get in than it is to get out...

26 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 16, 2009

4 people are currently reading
121 people want to read

About the author

Joe Hill

506 books29.9k followers
Joe Hill's debut, Heart-Shaped Box, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His second, Horns, was made into a film freakfest starring Daniel Radcliffe. His other novels include NOS4A2, and his #1 New York Times Best-Seller, The Fireman... which was also the winner of a 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror Novel.

He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.

He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.

He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.

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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Profile Image for Tawfek.
3,817 reviews2,206 followers
December 31, 2021
I was really annoyed that we didn't get to read rendell's message on the wall.
Fearless kinsey is really a danger to her self, i thought they would do the sensible thing and go back when they saw the cave drowned.
It also seemed to be signed by all of rendell's friends.
Profile Image for Andrew✌️.
343 reviews22 followers
December 19, 2023
In this episode Kinsey goes down to the drowning cave with three friends. After freeing herself from her fears, she is reckless and the situation risks costing all four dearly.

The story proceeds slowly and, as in the previous issue, there are no major developments. The only thing worthy of note is the final sequence, in the last comic strips. When the boys are now safe .

I hope that something more is revealed in the next issue, I'm curious to see where it goes.
Profile Image for Maria Bazarte-De La Luz.
124 reviews
December 30, 2020
Kinsey goes down to the “drowning caves” with two new friends and her friend Jackie. She is acting reckless because she no longer has fear in her. She goes into freezing, cold water and ends up bringing all her friends into it. She comes really close to finding out the names of all the kids who knew about the keys (including Luke/Zack), but things go crazy before that. At the end, we see Luke’s dead body.

Profile Image for itchy.
2,975 reviews33 followers
February 24, 2021
spelling:
p7: I figured I was more likely to get that then a make-out session.

The cave isn't ready to give up its secrets yet.
Profile Image for Michael Sorbello.
Author 1 book316 followers
October 20, 2020
This is a review of the entire series.

The story follows the Locke siblings; the curious young Bode, his rebellious sister Kinsey and his mature brother Tyler. After their father is tragically murdered in a mysterious home invasion, they move to their ancestral home in Lovecraft (a very suitable name for the hellish place they're moving into) with their alcoholic mother. The Locke house holds many strange secrets, keys that unlock forbidden powers and ancient evils never meant to be released. It turns out that the murder of the Locke family's father may not have been a coincidence. There are higher forces at play, manipulating the living from the shadows and orchestrating the downfall of the entire world.

This was a great surprise. I've been reading manga my entire life, but I confess that I never got into American comics and graphic novels (until now that is.) This series managed to win me over and open up an entire new medium of fiction to me. I was impressed by how realistic and human the characters are, there are so many unique people that are developed with utmost respect and is an example of diversity done extremely well. It really does rival the best of Stephen King and other big horror writers of the same ilk. It's got body swapping, spirit battles, mind-bending powers, ghosts and demons, heavy metal culture, blood and guts, tears and trauma, it's a thrilling ride all the way through.

Every volume packed a handful of punches. Volume 4 was the weakest of the series but even that one had a strong finish that eventually led to an even stronger ending. Suffering and grief is portrayed with rich emotion. The character development is moving. The villain is merciless and is actively involved with the plot at all times. All the side characters play a big role in the climactic finale and they all get the satisfying resolutions they deserve. Great series.

***

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Profile Image for Laurene Allibert.
578 reviews1 follower
August 15, 2021
The drowning cave is a bit different from the TV show. In fact the Omega door is at the entrance of the cave whereas in the show it's at the end of the cave, you need to go deeper into the water if you want to see it. It is then safer in the comics because there's a door that say do not trespass even though youngsters do not care about being cautious.
Profile Image for Pachiwi.
51 reviews19 followers
April 9, 2020
Esta Kinsey me gusta más que la de la serie y hacen las misma pelotudeces.
Profile Image for cauldronofevil.
1,231 reviews5 followers
August 20, 2025

Fantastic cover on this one.


”Chapter Two: In the Cave” starts with Tyler talking to Jordan about school. They are leaning on a statue of a old revolutionary colonel.

Tyler tries to convince her that her seeing his head chopped off was a trick. He also lets her use his homework to cheat and gets rewarded with a kiss. Fair deal.

Kinsey is hanging out with Dodge and gets a kiss for free. Dodge gets away before he is seen.

Scott Kavanaugh pops around a tree and introduces himself to Kinsey. He tells her he knows her father’s name was Rendell and his name is carved on the walls of the Drowning Cave. He says he’s gone deeper in that cave than anyone except the kids who died.

They agree to meet after school to go to the cave. Kinsey and her friend Jackie and Scott and his friend Jamal go into the cave.

When they go down into the WWII Observation station (past all the ‘Unsafe’ signs) they find that it is flooded at the bottom. Scott swears Rendell’s name is carved on the walls just below the stairs.

Kinsey takes a glow stick to swim down for a look.

A large rat jumps on Jamal and scares him into jumping on the stairs which promptly collapse dumping them all into the water.

Kinsey never does get to see the message carved by her father. But there were a lot more names that just his. And. Something. Else…

Another fantastic one. And nothing supernatural except supernaturally stupid kids doing things that almost get them killed. (No judgment, I was worse than any of them. Everyone including me is surprised I’m still here).

Fantastic art, spooky kids stuff, Easter eggs all over the place. 5 stars
Profile Image for Vikas.
Author 3 books178 followers
July 5, 2022
And that's why ladies, gentlemen, and kids we need fear so that we have a voice to stop us yes sir both fear and pain and important things that help us to stay alive. So Kinsey in her new braver and stupider avatar goes to the cave with a few friends and of course, things go to hell right away and the water holds many more mysteries.

I have always loved comics, and I hope to always love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics, Diamond Comics, or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on the international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I can. I love comics to bits, may the comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.
Profile Image for Andrew Sorrentino.
300 reviews7 followers
April 11, 2025
Names in the cave

Kinsey had removed her fear thinking that it would make her courageous. That's right, but it also removed her respect of danger, it removed her caution. We're seeing consequences of choices made in the previous volume.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

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