Close Kin: Book II -- The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy
Selected Book Details
- Hardcover
- Author: Clare B. Dunkle
- Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
- Release Date: October 2004
- Reading Level: Young Adult
- ISBN-10: 080507497X
- ISBN-13: 9780805074970
- List Price: $16.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
Summary The goblin King's face lit up with amusement. "Seylin was proposing marriage to you," he cried, "and you wanted him to change into a cat?" |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
A Goblin Love Story
Rating:
(this is the second book in the hollow kingdom trilogy, so spoilers for the first book - the hollow kingdom - are unavoidable really...)
in a sentence or so: Seylin finally bucks up the courage to awkwardly propose to Emily, only to be inadvertently turned down which triggers the heartbroken Seylin to head out and find his elvish ancestors. when Emily realizes what's happened, she too sets on a quest to find Seylin, and set things right...whatever that may be.
Emily and Seylin's tale begins in the hollow kingdom about five years after the conclusion of the previous book. Emily continues to spend time with the goblin children, while nearing the end of her education and nearing the inevitable marriage age. her long time friend Seylin has been acting weird lately, and it doesn't even dawn on her that his awkward behavior and even more awkward conversation about marriage are because of and for her. heartbroken at his rejection, Seylin requests permission to leave the kingdom and find out if there really are elves out in the world, and hopes he will find acceptance with them where he didn't find it with his true love.
the writing alternates between Seylin's search for the elves, Emily's search of Seylin, and life back in the goblin kingdom. the whole book takes place over a few days, which is exciting and holds the reader's interest. the author also sprinkles in some additional folklore of the elves intermittently, which helps the reader explore the past while discovering the future.
i knew to expect good things from "close kin", as i really liked the "hollow kingdom". what i didn't expect, however, were the issues of domestic abuse, prejudice, use of gifts and talents, healthy and unhealthy relationships, change, disappointment, and growing up. the outer shell of the story is Seylin and Emily's love story...but we discover so much more about goblins, elves, and human nature in the process.
i adore the folklore created by Dunkle, the creativity in plot and the rooted characters. i will certainly be finishing off the trilogy by reading "in the coils of the snake" sometime in the not too distant future.
fave quote: "Emily stood up from behind a rock. She was pale and grubby, and she had circles under her eyes. Seylin had never seen a sight more beautiful." (141)
fix er up: maybe it's because i was already familiar with the folklore and mythology, but "close kin" just didn't hold the same excitement as "hollow kingdom".
Left Me Ready for More
Rating:
Alas I had to wait, two weeks between readingClose Kin: Book II -- The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy before reading the final volume In the Coils of the Snake: Book III -- The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy I enjoyed this book as a natural extension of the first but as typical middle volumes it is the bridge and would be my last favorite of the three but definitely an important part of the series. I really did enjoy it and the characters are endearing for their foibles and follies, as well as their strengths.
I would recommend reading all three volumes in order and without too much delay between. If this was the end book I would be disappointed but things wrap up nicely in the third book.
Angieville: CLOSE KIN
Rating:
CLOSE KIN is the second book in Clare B. Dunkle's Hollow Kingdom trilogy. It takes place around five years after The Hollow Kingdom: Book I -- The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy and follows Kate's younger sister Emily. Or at least it seems to. Where The Hollow Kingdom: Book I -- The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy stuck pretty closely to Kate's story, CLOSE KIN jumps around a fair bit, splitting its time three different ways as it traces the paths of Emily, her friend and would-be suitor Seylin, and an extremely unhappy elf named Sable.
When Emily fails to take Seylin's romantic advances seriously, half goblin/half elf Seylin informs the Goblin King he is leaving to search out his other heritage and see if he can find any elves who managed to survive the last goblin harrowing. He does, in fact, come across a rather feral group of elves but, having suffered much in the name of mere survival, they are barely recognizable as the beautiful, carefree creatures Seylin dreamt of. Among this group is a young woman named Sable who, to avoid being forced into an unwanted marriage, sliced her perfect face to ribbons and who now occupies a position lower than slave. Meanwhile, once Emily finds out Seylin has gone for good she immediately sets out on a quest of her own to bring the poor boy back home and attempt to sort out her feelings for him. Most likely in that order. All of this is, naturally, being overseen by the affectionate, if somewhat insufferably know-it-all, Marak.
This book suffered from a fairly uneven approach to the telling of the story. The narrative jumped from Seylin, to Emily, to Sable sometimes within the space of a few sentences and it was a bit jarring to try to figure out whose perspective I was getting from moment to moment. I was also not as enamored of Emily as I was of her sister Kate in the first book, which made it a bit difficult to really care whether or not she set herself straight and found her way to happiness. Sable, on the other hand, I liked quite a bit and it was both painful and comforting to watch her learn to trust others for probably the first time in her dismal life, and to accept that some helping hands are extended in precisely the spirit of kindness they claim to be. My favorite scenes were any scenes Marak was in and he continues to be my favorite thing about these books. It was good to see that he and Kate were well and happy and as suited to each other as I thought they were. I look forward to the final volume in the Hollow Kingdom trilogy.
Sable stole the show; Tinsel stole my heart!
Rating:
Our favorite characters are back for a second story, but under considerably different circumstances, obviously. Emily and Seylin take the center stage this time, though we do catch a glimpse of Kate and Marak.
As to the plot...
Emily is too busy baby-sitting goblin children for her old friend Seylin, who's rather lonely anyway, on account of his elvish looks (which, though very handsome, are out of place in an underground kingdom where the citizens often have claws instead of hands). And when he finally proposes, Emily, being occupied by utterly mundane things like spills and caramels, completely misunderstands him. So Seylin naively decides that he'll never fit in with the goblins, and gets Marak's permission to search for the elves, who are thought to be long-dead. Seylin actually finds an elf camp,but things are not at all how he expected. The leader, Thorn, is nothing more than a bully, and is especially vicious to Sable, a woman who's strangely scarred.
Emily and Seylin were nice, but Sable and Tinsel really stole the show, as
mentioned above. I think of them as the main characters, though the book
is supposed to be about the former pair.
Close Kin measures up to The Hollow Kingdom in every way; the only fault I
can find with it is that it goes by too quickly!
Still the same magic, if not the same level
Rating:
While this works as a good sequel to "The Hollow Kingdom" I just don't feel this is quite the same level. Still, it is a brilliantly well-written fantasy that is worth reading. The adventures of various characters are continued while some loveable new ones are introduced. The story and history of the elves are given more careful attention--and it is pretty clear Dunkle has some issues with the entire elven race (which is not a bad thing in this elf-loving fantasy world of fiction). I love Dunkle's examination of that old myth of goblins carrying away girls--it may bug the ultra-feminists, but there is something darkly romantic about the whole thing, very Victorian.
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