Review: Kindred by JA Redmerski

Kindred by J.A. Redmerski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Always a good sign when I'm up until 1.30am on a work night to finish reading. There was no way I was putting it down until I finished. Of course, that only caused the primal scream of frustration when I remembered that book 3 isn't out yet. SIGH. I only have a few months to wait for the conclusion at least.

Overall, I'm really enjoying this series. It does have a few parallels to Twilight, yes, but with a more real-to-life bent. Adria *is* afraid of Isaac, even though she loves him. And she isn't obsessed with "becoming like him" since he's immortal. She's willing to take the time they have now and worry about aging later. The book also treats sex in a more realistic fashion - and as much as I appreciated Edward's wanting to embrace the customs of "his time," it always felt more like a convenient excuse from an author unwilling (for personal reasons) to write sex before marriage. I loved the "jumping off a cliff" metaphor - it was well employed. She used it just enough to get the feeling across, but didn't lace it into every scene they had together, or even every time they were passionate.

Just a few little quibbles though. For one, the two fight scenes. To me, the use of capslock was more jarring than effective and seemed to just jump out of nowhere. The emotion in these scenes is enough to convey the emphasis (and exclamation point would have probably done fine to put the punch in there.) Also, the sex scene. It was natural, it fit the intensity of the moment Adria confronts Isaac, but...I couldn't tell if their conversation took place after they'd finished...or during the act. The first would make sense, the second...not so much.

The end, seen partially through Isaac's eyes, was where I had to keep reading until I got to the end...and I nearly woke my husband up, cackling out a laugh, during Isacc's scene with Zia.

A very good job with a difficult middle book - the trilogy arc was set up well while still answering the questions raised in Mayfair Moon and not leaving the reader with absolutely NO answers. Its a fine balance and the author did a great job with it. I'm not all frustrated and in the dark about everything, but I'm still hungry for more in the conclusion.



View all my reviews