Kin

 

Kin
A Tale of Beauty and Madness, book 3

Lili St. Crow

Razor Bill, an imprint of Penguin Group, 2015

In this final book of the Tales of Beauty and Madness series, Kin is a different take on Little Red Riding Hood. It seems Ruby and her kin are wolves, or rather, werewolves – at least we are meant to think they are – the author never really comes out and says it – she just describes it. They are evolved werewolves, running in true form only once a month under the full moon and in the safety of The Park, a walled area that keeps them from running through the city and keeps the mere-humans and others safe. Their true form is a closely guarded secret – not even Ruby’s best friends know. Everyone lives in relative harmony until one of their kin is murdered. As the murders continue, who will be there to rescue Ruby?

MAIN CHARACTERS:

• Ruby de Varre, seventeen, one of the few female rootkin (not branchkin – it makes a difference, although it’s not clear (to me) why) born since the Reeve (after the Reeve, fewer and fewer females have been born), has always been Wild but now she is being forced by her grandmother to settle down, marry and have cubs to strengthen the Clan
• Edalie “Gran” de Varre, Clanmother, Ruby’s grandmother, may or may not be Ruby’s biological grandmother, but certainly the one who raised her; Gran is very powerful, few would ever cross her, even a Family member; even threatens to “collar” Ruby if she doesn’t settle down
• Conrad Tiercey, from the Grimtree clan overWaste, rootkin and sent to Woodsdowne to meet and possibly become betrothed to Ruby; he has a dark secret that Ruby discovers and may even endanger her
CONTINUING CHARACTERS:

• Cami Vultisino, best friends and school mate, betrothed to Nico Vultisino, the Head of one of the Seven Families in New Haven that run things and, oh by the way, are vampires (not explicitly labeled as such in the book but a careful reader figures it out early on!)
• Ellie Sinder, best friend and school mate, engaged to Avery , both charmers with magic pouring from their finger tips
• Thorne & Hunter, cousins to Ruby (but not too close) who we first meet in Nameless, they have grown up with Ruby and are constantly trying to outdo each other in a bid for Ruby’s attentions

In Kin, we are introduced to the Woodsdowne area of New Haven given a few more pieces to the puzzle of the inhabitants that live and work there. We meet oncles (uncles) and tantes (aunts) of the clan and understand a bit more of why Ruby was so Wild in the other books in the series.

I enjoyed the book, though not as much as my favorite, Nameless, and besides the obvious themes of skewed fairy tales, a future world deftly created by the author and the bond between friends, in all three books there is a theme of ‘girl power’ , rescue, and above all, teen angst. In each book, each girl pushes her best friends away when she goes through something awful, feeling alone in the world and at fault for everything that goes wrong in their lives. My mom tells me it has been so long since she was a teen girl she can’t remember feeling like that, but she is sure she did – you know, hormones and everything. It does get a bit annoying at times to here the girls blame themselves for everything and to shut themselves away, but that is a viewpoint of an 11 year old cat (that’s approximately 90 to you humans). I am quite certain the angst runs true to the feelings of teen-aged girls.

The thing I loved and hated the most about this book is how Ruby allows herself to enter into a physically and emotionally abusive relationship, hides it and even defends her attacker. She constantly thinks – ‘is this the way having a boyfriend is supposed to be?’. I blame her Gran for that – it is also a lesson for parents of preteen and teen girls to take note – tell the girls that if a boy truly cares for them he will respect their wishes, their body, their space, their person. Tell her she doesn’t have to put up with the crap delivered by boys who want them all for themselves. My mom told me about a young girl who used to be in a youth group she once lead – it was the priest’s daughter, so sweet, so nice, but she ended up being abused by her boyfriend because as much as her parents loved and adored her, they never taught her to love and respect herself and much as she loved and respected her faith and people.

Also, I felt the ending of the book was too abrupt. I needed more closure since this is the last book of the series. Sometimes stories are just wrapped up a little too neatly, and this is one of those. But nonetheless, I loved the book and the series!!

Rating: 4 out of 5 paws for Kin and 5 out of 5 paws for the series because I love the world Ms St. Crow created and while part of me would like another book or two in the series, I also would be afraid that she might grow the characters into a place I don’t like. So I guess I’m saying that the series is perfect.

Reviewer: Piper

 Lili St. Crow

Here’s some artwork I found; click on the image for the link:

Wayfarer

Wayfarer, A Tale of Beauty and Madness, book 2

Lili St. Crow

Razor Bill, an imprint of Penguin Group, 2014

Wayfarer is a retelling of Cinderella with hints of Hansel and Gretel in it. Ellie’s father is killed in an accident, leaving her with a horrible stepmother. The Strep beats, starves and forces her stepdaughter to do all the chores around the house since she has fired most of the staff. She also forces Ellie to charm (charming is performing magic to make animate objects do certain things, like charming shoes to keep you standing upright no matter how tall the heels are) when she is unable to do it herself and comes very close to killing her. All Ellie can do is save money and make plans to escape the hell she is living in.

MAIN CHARACTERS:
• Ellen “Ellie” Sinder, the girl with the plan, always thinking things through, knowing the only way she can survive hell is to plan her escape. But plans follow through and even though she makes more plans, those, too, are ruined. She sees herself as a charity case and thinks no one will miss her if she goes missing. She isolates herself from the people who care the most about her and refuses their help when it is offered.
• Avery Fletcher, the ‘golden boy’, from a prominent charm clan, and has loved Ellie for many years. He continues his pursuit of her even though she rebuffs him at every turn.
• Laurissa “The Strep” Choquefort-Sinder, Ellie’s Step-mother, comes from overWaste with Ellie’s father and kind in the beginning. Then when her father starts traveling a lot she gets mean and hateful and then when he dies she just goes all out on poor Ellie. In the meantime Ellie becomes aware she is dabbling in blackcharm (black magic) which is so bad it is illegal. Bad things await!

SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
• Camille “Cami” Vultisino, schoolchum and best friend, is now Family and is more self-assured – something Ellie is jealous of now that her world is falling apart.
• Ruby “Rube” de Varre, schoolmate and best friend, outgoing and wild, with seemingly not a care in the world – which makes Ellie envious as her as well. Ruby’s story is told in Kin, the third and final book of the series.
• Rita, mousy girl about Ellie’s age that the Strep brings from another province. She may be the Strep’s sister or her daughter…
• Auntie, an old woman in whose yard that Ellie literally stumbles into, takes her in and teaches her properly how to charm. But Auntie has a secret – a deadly secret it turns out!

Second time around for this book – and I enjoyed it more the second time. Still doesn’t rate a 5 out of 5 paws like Nameless did, but still, it is enchanting and magical and frightening and draws the reader into the dark world of New Haven. Wayfarer is well written, hypnotic and not to be missed!!

Rating: 4 of 5 paws because as much as I liked the book, I didn’t have the strong emotional reaction with Ellie’s story as I did with Cami’s.

Reviewer: Piper

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Nameless

Nameless, A Tale of Beauty and Madness, book 1

Lili St. Crow

Razor Bill, and imprint of Penguin Group, 2013

This is another retelling of the fairy tale, Snow White but without the dwarves and with a vampire twist. Now, I never read any books about vampires – the whole subject matter of drinking blood makes me nauseous and is repulsive to my very core. However, so subtle is the vampirism, so not the main theme of the book (in my opinion), when I read it the first time and realized there were vampires in it, I was completely hooked and unable to tear myself away – even if I wanted to.

New Haven, the city in which these events take place is both ancient and new, full of promises and dread; it is where fey, jacks and twists (malformed humans), vampires and mere-humans reside in close proximity. Magic both good and bad is abundant and the characters are caught up in the web the evil Queen weaves.

I have read this book four times and it is just as heart-clenching each time as it was the first time I read it. Actually if you count the number of times I have gone back and re-read the last 1/3 of the book each time, I’ve read it 8 times!

MAIN CHARACTERS:
• Camille “Cami” Vultisino – as a 6 year-old, she stumbled out of the woods on to a snowy road late at night and was almost run over. Enrico Vultisino’s limosene stopped in time, and she was taken in by one of the Seven Families and raised as one of their own. When she was found she was covered in wounds, fresh and old, and nonverbal. She didn’t remember where she came from until 10 years later when her world is turned upside down and she ultimately returns to where she began so long ago.
• Nico Vultisino, son of Enrico and heir to Vultisino Family, is hot-headed, dangerous and wild; but he loves Cami unconditionally even if she is not sure of that love.
• Ellen “Ellie” Sinder, schoolmate and best friend, is a charmer with great skill but severely abused by her stepmother. Her story is told in the second book of the series, Wayfarer. I am reading that now.
• Ruby “Rube” de Varre, schoolmate and best friend, is the outgoing, wild and daredevil of the three. She lives with her grandmother, Gran, who is skillfully charmed herself in a cottage in Woodstowne. Ruby’s story is told in Kin, the third and final book of the series.

SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
• Enrico “Papa” Vultisino, adopts the little girl found in the snow and names her Camille after his dead, mortal wife. He loves his “bambina” and arranges with Nico for her safety after he enters into the Unbreathing.
• Torin “Tor” Beale, a young man from the bad part of town, is hired on as a gardener and unwittingly at first, then unwillingly, brings Cami back to where her nightmares began
• Myra, housebound fey and housekeeper, sort of a governess to Cami, frets over her as if she were her own

Rating: 5 of 5 paws because of, well, everything – the story, the characters and their world, the writing – everything. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this book. It will be read again.

Reviewer: Piper

 Lili St. Crow