Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The Good Neighbors: Kin by Holly Black

Kin tells the story of a girl, Rue, whose mother disappeared three weeks before the story begins. Rue begins to see strange people everywhere-- a winged girl sitting in a tree, a demon-headed woman at a club. Then, one of her father's students is found dead, and her father is accused of murder. Rue goes looking for answers, and discovers a labyrinth of strange and terrifying secrets, both about her parents and about herself.
Kin is quite a good graphic novel. The writing isn't quite as polished as it could be, but then again, Holly Black has never written a graphic novel before. The art, while at times awkward, is generally good, and at times quite beautiful. The plot is perhaps a bit complex for the short format--at times I found myself a bit confused as to what, exactly, was going on, but aside from that, the book works both as a cohesive whole and as the beginning of a longer story. The loose ends that need to be tied up are knotted well, and the loose ends that will be (presumably) tied up later are left hanging in a well-constructed, sequel-setting-up sort of way.
I mean, it's Holly Black, so it's good. It was interesting to see her writing in a different format, and I think it turned out well-- Kin is definitely worth reading. (Speaking of which, I've heard tell that you can get it now, even though it doesn't officially come out until October.)
I say put it near the top of your pile.

Goodly, neighborly yours,
Eli

2 comments:

Khyrinthia said...

Want want want want want. Holly Black is a wonderful author.

serafina-zane said...

I loved Kin. As I said in the review I just posted of it, of course. I agree with your point about the art, but I didn't find the writing that awkward or confusing.
Also, I think there might be two sequels...for some reason I think there's going to be three of them.

But yeah, it is now generally available. Got it at Borders myself on Wednesday.