Of Kith and Kin by LauraLee Dooley unfolds from a premise that immediately unsettles any stable sense of identity: a woman who has outlived centuries is confronted by a stranger insisting he is her long-dead twin. The recognition that follows does not rely on appearance but on memory, on fragments of a shared past that feel more convincing than the visible body in front of her. As a reader, I found this opening both disorienting and quietly compelling, since it asks you to accept continuity where everything material has shifted. The introduction of the threlphax—beings that inhabit human hosts and extend life in ways that blur the line between self and other—adds a speculative layer that never fully resolves into clarity, which, in this case, works in the novel’s favour. It keeps the narrative slightly off-balance, as if knowledge is always partial (which is the case nonetheless).

Much of the book’s emotional weight gathers inside KSH House, a communal space that operates less as a setting and more as a fragile ecosystem of trust. The relationships here held my attention more than the broader mythology. Kit’s gradual integration into the household, along with his relationship with Jong-hyun Park, gives the story a sense of intimacy that offsets the larger, more abstract stakes. I appreciated how care, consent, and attentiveness shape these interactions; they feel deliberate, even when the surrounding plot leans into uncertainty. At times, the pacing lingers longer than I expected, especially early on, and some revelations lose their force through repetition. Even so, I didn’t mind spending time in this environment, since the characters are given space to exist beyond their narrative function.

OF KITH AND KIN moves between domestic closeness and an expanding network of hidden histories, where the threlphax presence stretches across time and bodies. There were moments when the underlying system—its rules, its intentions—felt difficult to fully grasp, and I occasionally found myself reading for emotional continuity rather than conceptual precision. What stayed with me, though, is the insistence on connection: between siblings separated by decades, between chosen family members, and between human and nonhuman forms of life. A fantastic read for paranormal Sci-Fi enthusiasts!

~ Alejandro Soto