When a young man accosts Tae-hee Kim on the bus, claiming to be her twin brother Tae-soo, she’s alarmed and suspicious. He doesn’t look like Tae-soo, and she saw her brother’s corpse decades ago. But Tae-hee isn’t like most humans; she was born in 1867, and stopped aging in her late 20s. She also heals incredibly quickly. These powers are courtesy of an alien energy being, a threlphax, that she “hosts.” Tae-soo was also a threlphax host, and soon convinces his sister of his identity—explaining that he jumped into a new body as he was dying and now shares it with its original inhabitant. Tae-see brings her brother (now going by the name Kit) to meet her friends at KSH House, a communal living space where a mix of other threlphax-hosts and regular humans have formed a found family.
In OF KITH AND KIN: Chronicles of the Threlphax, these hosts enjoy augmented health and near-immortality. However, it’s a lonely existence—and the threlphax have their own agenda that's largely opaque to their human hosts. As one rogue threlphax experiments dangerously with the human-alien bond, others lay dormant until their plans spring into action. Author Laura Lee Dooley does a very good job balancing the developing human relationships at KSH House, with the slow reveal of just how extensive the threlphax network is. The result is a story with a lot of heart, as the affectionate bonds between Tae-soo, Tae-hee, and the other residents form a solid emotional foundation for the story while giving the ending some real emotional heft.
The pacing’s a bit slow in the early going, and Tae-hee accepts her long-lost brother a tad too quickly—as if Dooley were eager to get past the setup and dig into the real story. Repeated revelations that people are secretly threlphax hosts blunts the surprise factor after a while, feeling repetitive. However, the warmhearted approach to the characters and a deft hand at explaining the details of “threlphax energy” keeps the reader engaged and caring about everyone. While it takes a while to establish the stakes and the antagonists, the time spent with the folks at KSH House is certainly not wasted. A unique take on the “aliens among us” concept, OF KITH AND KIN remains anchored by appealing characters.
This inventive premise with an enjoyable focus on character could move a bit faster and have a more focused antagonist, but Laura Lee Dooley's OF KITH AND KIN: Chronicles of the Threlphax still offers a satisfyingly complex story that will appeal to readers looking for sci-fi found families.
~Jeff Somers for IndieReader