A quote and Close Kin - Clare B. Dunkle

For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to this agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails... and when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever.

--Anonymous 'curse' on book thieves from the monastry of San Pedro, Barcelona.

I don't know about you, but I know 'exactly' what the monks are driving at. LOL! Quote found in A Passion for Books edited by Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan which, for those who love books about books, is an absolute gem.

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Okay then, well Close Kin is the second book in The Hollow Kingdom trilogy, the first book of which I blogged about here. I liked it so much I ordered the last two straight away from Amazon.

Briefly, the story picks up a few years after the end of The Hollow Kingdom. The Goblin King, Marak, and Kate are married and have a son. (Sorry, that's a bit spoilerish but I can't see how I can avoid it.) Kate's sister, Em, is happily ensconced in the Goblin Kingdom, not thinking of marriage at all, when Marak's protegé, shape-shifter, Seylin, proposes. Not taking him seriously Em declines and Seylin, devastated, decides to go off into the outside world on a mission. His real self is very beautiful and elf-like in appearance and he decides to look for remnants of the long extinct elf tribes. Too late, realising her mistake, Em takes off after him with a cranky female goblin teacher and a part human urchin boy she picked up in the last book. She has some lessons to learn but then so does Seylin when his mission eventually come to fruition.

A few reviews I've seen describe this as the weakest of the three books. Not having read the third yet I can't judge, I do know though that I enjoyed this one every bit as much as the first. So there you go. I liked its humour, its pacey plot, the characters are all very real with weaknesses as well as strengths and I liked the satisfying ending. I have no complaints whatsoever. Excellent. :-)

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When we are collecting books, we are collecting happiness -- Vincent Starrett

I couldn't agree more. I'm currently reading Anne of Green Gables and am very happy indeed. :-)