The first third of the book spent too much time meandering on unrelated storylines, but about halfway through it picks back up and made me excited to read book 3 again! ( )

It's okay. The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy isn't the best I've ever read but it's not the worst. That spot is saved for the Twilight series. However I'm the kind of person once you start a series, I must finish it. No matter how bad it is (i.e. Twilight series, but as a plus I can bash it with a clear conscious because I know first-hand how terrible it is). But I digress. The Hollow Kingdom books are a good read if you're not looking for much thought provoking reading. ( )

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 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. ( )

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 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 ( )

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 more if it had not been sacrificed for the rhetoric. ( )