For this installment of our weekly book reviews from Booklist, the American Library Association’s nationally distributed book and media review publication, we have Stephanie Klose’s review of “Little Kin” by Katya de Becerra, first published July 20, 2026, in Booklist Online.
Enjoy.
“Little Kin”
By Katya de Becerra. Sept. 2026. 320p. Blackstone, $29.99.
What little Cass knows about the remote arctic island of Rothagisht is limited to her adoptive parents’ research until a mysterious aunt dies and leaves her a house there. Cass sets off for a visit, hoping to find material to further her own graduate studies in anthropology, but she is soon caught up in conflict among the island’s secretive human inhabitants, the destructive Garathin, the enigmatic, gnome-like Movoi, and the island itself—not to mention her own feelings for a certain tall, handsome resident. Though the prose tends to be rather blunt and inelegant, the book’s strength is in its creative world building and the tension between Cass’ training as an anthropologist and her realization that, as much as she wants to observe the denizens of Rothagisht from a professional distance, she’s not just one of them; she might just hold the key to the island’s survival. Recommend to fans of “Dark Matter” (2010), by Michelle Paver, “Moon of the Crusted Snow” (2018), by Waubgeshig Rice, “Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories” (2019), or “Cunning Folk” (2021), by Adam Nevill.— Stephanie Klose
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