A review by ilucam
Critical Role: Vox Machina — Kith & Kin by Marieke Nijkamp

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I'm a huge Critical Role fan, and this book had promise. But it let me down in two major ways:
The central conflict felt contrived, with tenuous in-world rationale to continue it. I kept wanting to yell at Vex and Vax, " just talk to each other!"
Being invested in characters' situations is hard when we know they're going to be relatively ok when we next meet them. This is a problem with prequels in general, rather than with with this title in particular, but I was already having a hard time staying interested in the plot due to my first point.
The pacing is unbalanced; some scenes feel drawn out while others are over too quickly, and it makes for an odd experience. 
The flashbacks to Syngorn and Byroden are great additions, and having the full story of how Vax got wrapped up with the Clasp is nice, but this book, even with cast performances, is a bit disappointing.
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