Close Kin

The second title in Dunkle's Hollow Kingdom Trilogy, Close Kin follows the dual narratives of Emily, younger sister of Kate, the heroine of the first book, and Seylin, the goblin who loves her. When Emily fails to recognize a marriage proposal from her old friend, the resultant hurt and misunderstanding leads the two on very different quests. As Seylin searches far and wide for the elves that some believe are extinct, Emily and her companion find themselves in the human world...

I was impressed by Dunkle's world-building, as she delved much deeper into some of the alien customs of both elves and goblins in this second title, laying bare the bigotry and hatred displayed by all the races towards one another. The "debased" state of the elf show more survivors was somewhat ironic, given their physical beauty, and seemed to offer an insightful meditation on the fragility of culture.

But although I felt that Dunkle did an excellent job building the history of the goblin-elf conflict, I did not find this as strong a narrative as the first, perhaps because it was split between two story-lines. I continued, moreover, to feel somewhat troubled by the controlling nature of the male characters - both goblin and elf - and the absence of real choice for the women of the story. show less

*For my thoughts on the entire series, see my review for the Hollow Kingdom.

The second book in the series focuses on Kate's younger sister, Emily. Unlike Kate, who had to be forced into joining the goblin world, Emily went willingly and with enthusiasm. But immersing herself into that world and her role in it, she didn't see the signs of the one goblin who truly loved her. When she realizes that Seylin has left the kingdom to seek out his distant elven kinsman due to her inattention, she follows him.

Emily and Seylin are great characters that add to the relationship between goblins, elves, and humans. As with the first book, I'm always intrigued that goblins are presented as the heroes while the elves are not so exalted (the reverse of show more most fantasy worlds).

Oddly, there is an overt lesson in racism in this book when a goblin teacher of human studies must accompany Emily on her adventures, but I feel like the is a much more subtle message here. In the fantasy world, good and evil are not always as clearly defined as we're used to. show less

I randomly picked up this book (and the other two books in the series) from my local public library, only for it to sit on my shelf until about a week before it was due. I had several other books waiting that I thought I was going to enjoy more, but boy was I wrong.

When I picked this book up, I literally did not put it (or the two other books in the series) down unless I needed to or and sleep. It took me less than two days to get through the whole series, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Book two in the Hollow Kingdom Trilogy follows the story of Emily, the sister of Kate who is also the wife of Marak, the King of the Goblins. Emily has always loved the Goblin Kingdom and has grown up there since her sister traded her freedom for the show more sake of her younger sister. As a child, Emily was best-friends with a goblin named Seylin, whose feelings for Emily continued to grow as she came of age. When Seylin decided to voice those feelings, Emily, who was distracted at the time, inadvertently rejects Seylin.

Fresh from the pain of rejection, Seylin decides to leave the goblin Kingdom in search of those who more closely resemble his looks. After she realizes what she has done, Emily leaves in search of the Goblin she now realizes she loves. show less

When her sister Kate became the Goblin King's Wife, Emily also came to live underground. Emily finds the goblins fascinating, their kingdom is beautiful to her and she loves her new life. She's become good friends with Seylin, a goblin whose elf-looks make him a target and keeps him apart from the others. One day after a squabble, Seylin leaves the kingdom to search out the elves, perhaps take a bride, and Emily, following her heart, goes after him.

Goblin-Elf-Human biases come to the forefront with this book and I have to admit, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the first. The conversations between the elf girls and the goblin men are so repetitive it just bored me to no end. I think Seylin and Emily's romance could have been so much show more more if it had not been sacrificed for the rhetoric. show less

We met the sisters Kate and Emily in the first book, Hollow Kingdom. Their life since the joining Goblin society has been "uneventful." They both have their jobs to do, although those jobs would seem strange to most humans, and have made a place for themselves in the underground kingdom. However, Emily is getting older, and as a human woman, the Goblin King is not so patiently waiting to see which of his subjects she will choose to marry. Everything goes a little crazy when Seylin, a friend Emily made in the first book, proposes and Emily doesn't even realize it! Completely offended and heartbroken, Seylin leaves the kingdom to try and find his ancestors, the elves. Once Emily realizes that Seylin has left and what she did to him, she show more sets off to find him and bring him back.

I still love Emily's character and I really wish we had seen more of her in this book. From the description, I thought it would be about half about her and half about Seylin. While Seylin was very heavily featured, Emily really lagged behind in coverage. Seylin is a very interesting character, but I didn't see him really grow or develop much here. I'm afraid that the second book in The Hollow Kingdom just isn't quite as good as the first, which is a trait I find quite often in series. I'm still going to try and read the third, but it will have to wait until I get some extra spending money.

3/5 show less

Book two of the Hollow Kingdom trilogy focuses on Kate’s more boisterous sister Emily who has unwittingly rejected her childhood companion’s marriage proposal – Seylin, a goblin who looks like an elf. Emily tries to undo the damage by venturing out into the human world to convince him to come home. Seylin meanwhile manages to find a band of elves that no one knew even existed – even though they are not what anyone imagined: they are dirty, mean spirited and almost devoid of magic. The goblin King Marak intelligently tries to capture the elves to become brides for his subjects but old fears and prejudices are awakened and must be controlled before old wars begin anew.Loved it, loved it! And now we're off to read number 3... yipee!

I was a little disappointed with this sequel although young tweeners (the target age range for this book) would probably still enjoy it. All the adventure, the suspense, the strong female protagonist - all the things that caused me to give The Hollow Kingdom a five star rating were missing from this sequel. This book was more character driven than the previous but unfortunately none of the very abundant characters was ever allowed to develop sufficiently to make the reader care anything about them.