Brian Pratt is one of the best page turning fantasy writer that I have ever found. He suffers from a lack of good editing with several instances of term confusion, for instance, "affective" when it should read "effective". That said, the Broken Key is a rapid read, can't wait until the end, rollicking fantasy.
It's the story of four friends, Riyun, the shepherd, who literaly falls into a long lost treasure trove when the ground sort of fall out below him,Chad, the miller's son and a mysterious, recently arrived in their town, Bart, whose talents become invaluable.
After Riyun's original find, he collects his friends to investigate the revealed catacombs, the entrance still well hidden from other potential prying eyes. In their initial run through the caverns, they find many ancient coins, dead knights with their armor intact and what appears to be the mother lode which, however, needs a key to open and only a portion of the key is in this location.
The story is that of the friends search for the missing fragments, their maturing into very capable men and their challenges in evading their hunters who start looking for the boys when some of the discovered coins are fenced to finance the mission. Along the way, they add another friend, Kevik, an apprentice magic user who is working on his goal to become a master.
In my opinion, the Broken Key is not quite on a par with the Morcyth Saga but should be a must read for fantasy enthusiasts.