Review: “The Kindred” by Alechia Dow

Release Date: January 4, 2022
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Description

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.

My Thoughts

Their plans are torn apart when Felix’s royal relations are abruptly assassinated and he and Joy are framed for their deaths. The two teens flee in a spaceship, aiming for sanctuary on a nearby neutral planet but instead crashland on Earth. Despite the dark themes underscoring the novel, Dow keeps things light and playful. In between attempts to repair their damaged ship and hide from scouts sent by the new ruler to capture them, the aliens play dress-up, attend cheer practice, and make friends with the local high school students. Things get messy as their enemies multiply and conspiracies are revealed. Given what we know of the state of our planet in The Sound of Stars, we know there is no happy ending for Earth, but Joy and Felix’s fates will be decided not by the people trying to destroy them but by the choices the teens make.

Read the rest of my review at locusmag.com.

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