Title: The Kindred
Author: Alechia Dow
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Publication date: January 4th, 2022
400 pages
5/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
To save a galactic kingdom from revolution, Kindred mind-pairings were created to ensure each and every person would be seen and heard, no matter how rich or poor…
Joy Abara knows her place. A commoner from the lowly planet Hali, she lives a simple life—apart from the notoriety that being Kindred to the nobility’s most infamous playboy brings.
Duke Felix Hamdi has a plan. He will exasperate his noble family to the point that they agree to let him choose his own future and finally meet his Kindred face-to-face.
Then the royal family is assassinated, putting Felix next in line for the throne…and accused of the murders. Someone will stop at nothing until he’s dead, which means they’ll target Joy, too. Meeting in person for the first time as they steal a spacecraft and flee amid chaos might not be ideal…and neither is crash-landing on the strange backward planet called Earth. But hiding might just be the perfect way to discover the true strength of the Kindred bond and expose a scandal—and a love—that may decide the future of a galaxy.
Review
After loving The Sound of Stars, I knew I wanted to read The Kindred – especially after seeing they are written in the same universe. The Kindred is set before TSOS, and I honestly loved it even more than TSOS.
Joy and Felix are Kindred, paired at both to have their minds connected for life – they know each other’s thoughts, secrets, desires, and can even look through the other’s eyes to see what they are experiencing in real time. The catch, Felix is noble and Joy is poor and on a planet in their system that is very much denigrated. It shouldn’t have happened that these two are connected, but they are the best of friends and love each other so deeply. But when the royal family is killed and Felix & Joy are blamed for their murder, they have to escape to the first safe place they can find – Earth.
I freaking loved everything about this book. There is so much diversity, Joy is demi-ace and Felix is also LGBTQIAP. They are both racially diverse and learn what that means when they crash land on Earth… in Florida. Joy is plus size and there are a lot of conversations on socio-economic status. There are cameos by some of the characters in TSOS. The plot line is also so interesting – sci-fi, political intrigue, and themes of love, family, and friendship.
Thank you to Inkyard Press and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Happy reading, folks!
Baltimore Bibliophile 