OMG!!! My heart just about stopped when I saw The Kindred by Alechia Dow on NetGalley. Dow’s debut novel, The Sound of Stars, was absolutely phenomenal, and I knew all her books would be instant buys for me! I have to say, I loved The Kindred just as much as The Sound of Stars!
In the system of Monchuri everyone is paired with a Kindred at birth; someone who is connected to your every thought, feeling, and belief. The Kindred program was intended to create equality among everyone, leaving no person’s voice go unheard, but Joy knows better than anyone that inequality is not gone. Joy’s Kindred was a mistake; she was never meant to be paired with Duke Felix, but she can’t imagine her life without him. Unfortunately, she knows she can never be with him. When the threat of the Third Chaos threatens their world, Joy and Felix go on an adventure that brings their true feelings to light, and that could change everything.
This book is absolutely everything you could ever ask for! First off, I adored the fact that it is connected to The Sound of Stars. We even see a couple characters from Dow’s debut novel in The Kindred!
I certainly don’t have enough words to describe how amazing this book is, but it is truly a work of art. Dow has an unparalleled talent for writing stories that bring prejudices to light, encourage us to accept ourselves for who we are, and inspire humanity to be better than we have been in the past. She flawlessly uses aliens and other worlds to reveal hard realities of our own world. Perhaps the greatest aspect of her books is that Dow clearly believes humanity has the ability to change.
Honestly, if everyone read The Kindred, I think our world would be changed for the better. There is no conceivable way that someone could read either of Dow’s books and not be moved.
Additionally, Felix and Joy are the cutest! It was refreshing to read a story where the boy admits his feelings for the girl first. Joy was unsure, but full of sunshine at the same time, and her character felt so genuine. Similarly, I sincerely, yet maybe unrealistically, hope that Alechia Dow continues to write stories about demi, plus sized, Black girls! She does an outstanding job at incorporating the importance of Joy’s identity into the story, while also showing her simply living life.
If you’re still not sure about reading The Kindred, trust me when I say, you need this book in your life!
The Biased Bibliophile 