Book Review: The Kin by Peter Dickinson

The Kin is an epic novel about some of the first tribes on Earth and how they managed to survive.

The story is split into four sections, each one told from the perspective of one of the main characters. Although this mean that I had to re-orientate myself each time, it helped me gain a fuller understanding of each character, and as a result I understood more about how the people in those times thought and behaved. So I think that the author conveyed his message effectively.

Before I carry on, let me just tell you that this book has 632 pages, even longer than the last good novel I read, Watership Down. When I book that is this big, I wouldn't normally choose it because I'd worry that I wouldn'd ever finish it but I started reading The Kin and it kept my interest and I definitely think that it was worth spending my time on. So it has stopped me getting scared of every long book I see.

The story starts with action. After their kin abandons the weaker and younger children in a cave,  two cousins Suth and Noli run away from their tribe to rescue the children Ko, Mana, Tinu and Otan from the cave. The  four sections are told from the points of views of these character. The pace is good and what kept my interest most was learning about their customs, like how they never received a gift without giving anything in return.

In between the chapters were "OldTales". They were stories told by people who lived 200,00 years ago. Those people of course didn't talk like we do now. They spoke more simply. So the stories were told in fewer words than we would use.

What interested me about the book was that in those times they were different Kins (tribes). Some of them spoke very little with their vocabulary consisting more of grunts, different sounds and gestures. Other Kins had more words and spoke a little bit like we do now but with fewer words.

Before reading this book I thought that people with grunts and gestures existed before the people with more complex vocabulary but in this book I discovered that they lived at the same time and made an effort to interact with each other. It made me want to learn about the evolution of writing.

I would rate this book eight out of 10 and recommend it to children aged 8 and above.