Proceed With Caution:
This book contains violence, murder, racism, colorism, and dieting.
The Basics:
The Kindred is narrated by seventeen-year-olds Felix and Joy. Felix is a duke with every privilege imaginable, and Joy is his kindred aka his companion since birth, at least through their mental bond. Joy is Felix's opposite in terms of station, as she is from the very poorest planet. However, the two are the most important person in the other's life and soon they're on the run for their lives.
My Thoughts:
I was quite eager to read The Kindred because the blurb sounds exactly like something I'd love: queer Sc-Fi with romance and excitement and space travel! Unfortunately, it's just boring. There's no excitement at all. The romance has zero chemistry. The world-building was lacking. I just didn't like it.
The premise of The Kindred is that every citizen is linked at birth with someone else. It's suppose to be someone from a higher class with someone from a lower class so that everyone feels seen and heard. This way the planets can avoid another revolution and other conflicts. And this works, because...because the author said so. But this world has so many other issues other than just people uprising because they don't feel heard. Joy's living conditions are awful, while Felix's are extravagant, but there's no talk of equanimity. Colorism runs rampant.
So what does the kindred bond do other than make two people extremely close? This was also the root of my problem with the romance. The bond also statistically makes people more likely to fall in love with each other, which makes sense since you essentially know the other person inside and out and they know everything about you. But Felix and Joy came across as having a close sibling relationship at times, and other times it was him coming across as almost codependent on her. Not being able to live without someone (literally in some cases) isn't healthy, or romantic.
As for the plot, I just didn't care. The villain had a neon sign flashing over their head from the first chapter, yet we're suppose to believe that neither Felix or Joy could see it. Obviously, they wouldn't have been in on the plot to murder the king and his family, but they should have known this person was behind it. Their escape was too convenient to be exciting. They also find help and friends immediately upon crashing on Earth. There was really no sense of urgency or conflict. They had a fun few days shopping and listening to Taylor Swift, then flew back home.
The villain was killed off page, which is never a good thing. Felix is told about it in one sentence after the fact. If I had cared, I would have been majorly annoyed. As it was, I was just glad to be finished.