*Little Kin* by Katya de Becerra is an eerie, beautifully written story that lingers long after the final page. Blending folklore, mystery, and emotional depth, it creates a haunting atmosphere that pulls you in right away. The characters feel authentic and layered, and the slow-building tension makes the payoff especially satisfying. A captivating and unsettling read for fans of dark, thought-provoking fiction.

Little Kin feels both beautiful and deeply unsettling. The writing has this quiet, almost hypnotic tone, and the way it blends folklore with themes of identity and belonging really stood out to me.

It’s intimate, eerie, and the kind of story that lingers after you finish.

Little Kin by Katya de Becerra is exactly the kind of folk horror that gets under your skin and stays there. Described as a tale of survival and belonging rooted in folkloric tradition, it sits firmly in the company of T. Kingfisher’s quiet, creeping dread and the sun-drenched nightmare logic of Ari Aster’s Midsommar, and de Becerra earns that comparison fully.
What de Becerra does exceptionally well is build horror out of the things that should feel safe: community, family, ritual, a sense of place. Her background in Cultural Anthropology is not incidental here. The folklore woven through this story does not feel decorative or borrowed. It feels lived-in, specific, and genuinely strange in the way that real folk traditions can be when you look at them closely enough. That grounded quality is what separates Little Kin from folk horror that only gestures at its source material.
The novel continues de Becerra’s preoccupation with complicated family dynamics and the weight of cultural memory, themes she has explored across her previous work with increasing confidence and depth. This feels like a writer at the height of her powers, stretching into territory that is more unsettling and more emotionally resonant than anything she has done before.
Fans of folk horror, ritual horror, and atmospheric storytelling that asks as many questions as it answers will not want to miss this one.

3.5☆
"The sacred balance must be kept. If we tell lies to the land, it will break us all"

Cassini Shanradoff-Krim is still reeling from the death of her mother, and mourning a father who is still alive but losing his battle to alzheimer's disease, when she recieves a letter that a mysterious Aunt Brigra she knew nothing about has left her their family's ancestral home. Cass embarks on a journey that will bring her closer to finding out who her birth parents are, and perhaps propel her anthropological career into the big leagues.

Little Kin is full of folklore and dark fantasy storytelling. Katya de Becerra definitely knows how to bring a world to life. The story did end up having a little too much fantasy sprinkled in for my taste, especially when it was marketed as a horror.

I think it can be hard for YA authors to find their adult audience writing style, and in my opinion Katya is not quite there yet. Besides for some spicier scenes, you could easily substitute the adult main characters for 17 year old characters, and the story would work. It reads very much like a throwback to the teen dystopian book era ( which I loved), but was lacking the grit and depth I feel an adult novel should have.

I would absolutely read Katya de Becerra's next adult novel, if there is one. Once her character's voices mature a little bit more, I think she'll be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to writing adult novels.

This was such a good book and beautifuly written. The author did such a good job setting the scene...dark and foggy folk horror. No electronics work as you near the island. Don't go out at night, don't answer the door....very creepy.

This one is a beautifully crafted and unsettling horror! It’s got folklore, world building layers, and uncanny moments. I loved the main character, Cass, as she navigates through this betrayal set of events on this island. It was a unique and memorable read!

I love folk horror and I’ve always found anthropology fascinating, so I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this book.

It was a fast paced read. At times I felt the plot was moving so quickly that I didn’t get a chance to appreciate the world of Rothagisht and the intricacies of the remote island and its mysterious customs.

I enjoyed following the main character Cass on her journey of self-discovery and empowerment. Elements of the story felt like Alice in Wonderland with Cass caught in a wild fever dream and I was happily along on the ride.

I would recommend for fans of The Wickerman and Midsommer. There were similar vibes right from that start in which a character is lured to a remote society and we can tell immediately that something is off but can’t put on our finger on what it might be. The plot kept me guessing until the climax which encouraged me to keep reading “just one more chapter” until the book was done.

Thank you for an E-ARC of Little Kin!

I will say that I liked the last 20% a lot. I wish would could have spent more time with that. This story is about a young woman going back to a home she has never known and the mysteries and horrors of what she discovers once she arrives.

When Cass inherits her family's ancestral home on a remote subarctic island, she hopes it will lead her to answers about her past. Instead, she finds herself caught in an ancient covenant, surrounded by unsettling folklore, impossible beings, and a desperate fight for survival. Little Kin was an eerie, immersive read with family secrets, dark fantasy, and folk horror.

I really enjoyed the mystery surrounding Cass's family history as she pieced together the truth about where she came from. The mythology and lore were incredibly imaginative, and it was clear how much care went into creating this unique world. While I appreciated the fantasy elements, I did find they occasionally overshadowed the horror. I went in expecting something a little darker and scarier...which is totally on me.

However, the story kept me invested from beginning to end. With the constant mystery, the unforgettable setting, and the surprising twists, I was always eager to see what would happen next.

Thank you, @blackstonepublishing, Katya de Becerra & NetGalley, for the #gifted earc. All opinions are my own.

The world building here is just top-notch. I was immediately immersed in the atmosphere and invested in both the island’s lore and Cass’s origins. The horror here is pretty light—it has a lot of folk horror elements, but it reads more as a dark fantasy to me. It is a little creepy and unsettling at times, but certainly nothing that kept me up at night. The protagonist, Cass, is an anthropologist and approaches her experience as such, which I thought was a clever way to make the “outsider vs. isolated community” trope feel very natural for the story. That lens also brings the fantasy elements down to earth—somehow, despite the magic, elf-like creatures, ancestral swords, and rock monsters, the vast majority of this story feels remarkably realistic. Things do take a more fantastical turn eventually, but it stays pretty grounded overall. There were a few wild twists I didn’t really expect, and I was briefly concerned about how a few situations might resolve, but man, the ending was so satisfying! Every loose end I cared about was wrapped up exactly how I’d hoped. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author!

I inhaled this book!! Loved it! Highly recommend!!

After inheriting a cabin on an Arctic island her adoptive parents used to visit for their own research, she decided to move to the island in hopes of continuing their work and discovering her origins in the process. What she found is a community of people cut off from the world with deep, rich folkloric roots. Ready to pick up where her parents left off, but quickly pulled away before she can start her research, she finds this island is inhabited with magical creatures she cannot explain away. The twists and turns of her time on the island reveal a dark history she may or may not be the missing link to resolving.

I have been a fan of this author’s YA work for quite some time. Her adult debut novel did not disappoint. The world building and folklore are impeccable. This read definitely leans into fantasy with horror elements. I am not a huge fantasy reader as I feel the plot can get too thick sometimes, but this one will hit big with fans of T Kingfisher. The creatures are terrifying and the atmosphere and tone are so well set. If you enjoy high stakes, fantastic creatures, and body horror, definitely check this one out.

I picked up LITTLE KIN on a whim because I was intrigued by the summary and powered through it in less than 24 hours. It took me a little while to get used to the author's writing style, and the slow burn of the plot, but she had such a beautiful way of describing the elements and the heroine's loneliness, that I still wanted to find out more. And oh my god, is this story ever worth the wait.

Set on an island in the Arctic Circle called Rothagisht, the heroine, Cassi, goes there as a sort of linguistic field agent to take notes on the peculiar language and culture. She also has roots there; even though she's adopted, her biological parents are from Rothagisht, which gives her the feeling that she's returning home as soon as she lands on those foggy, bitterly cold shores.

But it's immediately clear that this isn't your typical isolated community. They need to take a vote to see if she is "allowed" to stay, and she gets a weird feeling from the rocks that are stacked up on the shores. She also gets the feeling that people are coming in and out of her house when she's not around, moving things, burning things, and then there's the strange door in her basement that doesn't seem to serve a purpose.

I've seen a few people comparing this author to T. Kingfisher but this book is actually a lot darker than Kingfisher's book, and I don't think that's the best comparison for finding this book's target audience. I'd say that this felt more like THE HAAR by David Sodergren with how it combined an ultimately wholesome message with a lot of tragedy and blood lust, and BONETIDE by Karina Halle with the arctic (in her case, maybe sub-arctic) monster setting and a girl with a doomed inheritance.

Before I was even halfway through this book I bought almost all of the author's other books, so that should tell you how good this is. Absolute cinema.

This is atmospheric, character-driven fantasy at its best, and it's clear every page carries a real writer's fingerprints. The isolated island of Rothagisht is drawn with such texture, its rituals, its Council, its ancient covenant, that you feel the fog and dread settle in around Cass from the first chapter. Her arc from a newcomer clinging to her old life to someone reckoning with a hidden truth about herself (and the slow-burn pull toward Arder) is handled with real emotional patience rather than rushed convenience.

What stands out most is the craftsmanship: the myth and ritual feel lived-in rather than decorative, and the prose has a distinct, deliberate voice you can tell was shaped by a human hand, full of small, idiosyncratic choices no algorithm would think to make. It's the kind of layered, personal storytelling that reminds you why original fiction from a dedicated author matters. A rich, immersive read I'd happily recommend to anyone who wants their fantasy laced with mystery and heart.

This is one of those truly surprising reads where you go in expecting to like it and it resonates so hard you want more and more of this story. The magic is captivating. The pacing is great. The action is intense. This foggy, rocky, ethereal vibe of the island, and the community, just all of it comes together in a harmony you'll want to be a part of, long to be a part of.
Thank-you, Blackstone Publishing and Katya de Becerra, for this complimentary copy. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Little Kin was everything I wanted to kick off the season. Folk magic, anthropology, morally gray characters, complicated relationships, and a mystery that genuinely kept me guessing—it checked so many boxes for me.

What I especially loved was that the romance was not front and center. This really felt like Cass’s story and her journey of self-discovery. The romantic elements are there, but they never overshadow her personal journey or the larger mystery. I also appreciated the LGBTQ+ representation and how naturally it was incorporated into the story without being made into a huge plot point. That said, I do wish the romance had been developed a little more because it definitely left me wanting more from those relationships.

And then there was the plot twist. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I am rarely genuinely surprised by the direction a mystery takes or by which character turns out to be responsible. This one got me. I did not see it coming, and looking back, I really want to reread the book knowing what I know now.

One of my favorite aspects was the anthropology woven throughout the story. Katya de Becerra’s academic background really shows in her writing, but never in a way that makes the book feel overly academic or like you are reading a textbook. Instead, it gives the story and its exploration of folklore, culture, and belief an extra layer of depth. Low-key, this book had me wondering if it is too late to switch my major to anthropology.

Overall, Little Kin gave me exactly the atmospheric, folk-magic-filled read I was looking for. I would absolutely reread it, and if a special edition ever becomes available, I would seriously consider adding it to my shelf.

I also noticed one small typo in the eBook review copy that I wanted to mention in case it is helpful. In Chapter 31, at Loc. 2833, Arder asks, “Have long have you been awake?” I believe this should read, “How long have you been awake?”

I assume this was specific to the advance review copy and may have already been caught prior to the final edition, but I wanted to flag it just in case.