by Aimster (link)
Genre science fiction, suspense/thriller, mystery
Pairings Isaac/Nikki, Taylor/Natalie, Zac/Kate
Length 10 chapters
Status Completed (part of the Kindred series)
My reviews for the previous few fics in this series have been quite short, I know, but I expect this one may be a bit longer. I have a lot of thoughts about the series as a whole that I wasn’t sure where to talk about, and this seems like as good as time and place as any.
Although this fic focuses mostly on the aftermath of the lab’s destruction, it also has a few other threads running through it. Walker has gone back to work for the cloning company, hoping this will help him to keep Taylor safe. It’s a noble move, but I still doubt his intentions overall. Meanwhile, Mac encounters a thus-far unknown clone, suggesting there’s still more going on with the clone world than thought. Of course there are still plenty of clones out in the world, and the Russians are still a looming threat. In fact, there are a lot of looming threats that aren’t gone even though the lab has been distroyed.
Aimster admits in the comments that she left a lot of threads untied so that the series could potentially be continued, and I have to say, that might not be a bad idea. Although there are some happy, or at least bittersweet, endings offered in this installment, there’s still so much left unsolved that I would like the answers to.
At the same time, twelve seems like a good place to stop. There were originally twelve clone embryos, and though each of these fics doesn’t focus on one of them, it seems like a good structure to leave as is. At one point, I had thought that The Kindred might have worked better as one long story, given how brief most of the installments are, but a lot of tension would have been lost that way. It’s all so carefully crafted that I’m really not sure I would change a thing at all–up to and possibly including all those loose ends.
Review by Bethany (website)