Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the review copy of “Little Kin” by Katya de Becerra.
While the premise of this book wasn’t highly original: outsider arrives in remote/closed off society/town and feels a connection/familiarity and deeply wishes to fit in and belong, every writer puts their own spin on the idea, and the promise of Icelandic folklore appealed to me. Unfortunately, this book fell pretty flat for me. We are given the folklore, and it’s great. The characters are kind of flat, Cass herself doesn’t seem to have any real direction or interests, and the people of Rothagisht are stand-offish to the point of uncivil. Cass is told to stay indoors after dark, but no one will tell her why. The villagers could have at least given her some story about people being killed or injured by a wild animal to give her at least some reason to believe them (because she wouldn’t believe the truth, at least not at first) but instead they just bark at her to stay inside. She slowly learns a bit about her birth and connection to Rothagisht, which was well-presented. Readers are aware that Cass is adopted, and her parents have a scholarly connection to Rothagisht. Then things take a weird turn, and not in a way that’s believable. I get it, this is Gothic fiction, but the surprise twist really didn’t do much for me, and then it was just downhill from there.
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