Kin: A brooding otherworld

Kin by Holly Black

When I first opened Kin by Holly Black, I was surprised to find it was a graphic novel. Once I started reading, I was absorbed in the story of Rue Silver, a slightly punk college student who is facing an unexpected crisis in her life. Her mother has disappeared, and her father has been arrested for her murder, and the murder of one of his grad students. And to make matters worse, Rue has started seeing people — or more precisely things — that shouldn’t be able to exist.

Kin follows Rue as she tries to find the truth behind the allegations plaguing her father, and her sudden ability to see into the realm of Faerie. Holly Black has created a main character that will resonate with the YA readers of this tale, but may seem a bit angsty to anyone who has left their college years in the rear view mirror. Graphic novels are an interesting variation on the fantasy genre, because so much of the story is actually told in the artwork, making the author’s job much more focused on dialog rather than exposition. Black’s writing sometimes gets overwhelmed by Ted Naifeh’s amazing artwork. The book is so beautiful to look at that it is easy to overlook the relatively short storyline that is advanced. When I finished, I felt that I had read the first two chapters of a really good novel, rather than a completed work.

Even with a beautifully written story, and darkly elegant artwork by Naifeh, this is a fairly standard opening of a fairy tale. The characters all feel like they are playing out stock roles, rather than having any interesting depth of their own. However, I am hopeful that the next book in Black’s The Good Neighbors series will flesh out the variety of potentially interesting characters in this promising start. Black and Naifeh have opened up the door to a brooding otherworld, and I am interested to see where they will take this tale in future installments. Kin is recommended for YA readers, or anyone who feels like they just do not fit in.