Kayak Review

Special thanks to Tenebrous Press for the ARC copy they provided.

I had a feeling I would like this one from the moment I heard the concept. Aliens brought to Earth, clinging to the dust of a meteor. And when that dust carries on the air currents to settle on the land, the aliens emerge.

And ultimately wreak havoc.

As any apocalyptic tale, death and destruction follow, and the main characters struggle to survive. And reading Kayak, for most of the book you’re tempted to think that is the whole of the story: a lost and terrified protagonist, doing his best to survive alone, against nearly insurmountable odds.

But as with any truly great tale, there is more tucked into the nooks and crannies of Kristal Stittle’s book than meets the eye. You have to wait for the dust to settle and the seeds within to grow. Because at its core, Kayak is about grief and loss and the ways we find ourselves through them. Kayak is above all a story about the battles we fight inside, not aliens or the horrors we may face in the day to day of life.

Reading this book is like slowly, gradually being guided back to the instinctual understanding that while what we face in our fragile reality may shape and affect what we experience inside ourselves, if we can’t overcome self and our inner darknesses, we can’t adequately fight the horrors raging around us.

What I find to be the best part of Kayak is this gradual realization. Stittle writes the narrative in a duo storyline that splits between the Then and the Now, and these alternating chapters deliver plot in small sips that tantalize with the promise of more you always have to wait for. Yet as these timelines converge, Stittle’s theme unfolds like a scissor clawed dirt devil from the earth beneath your feet. The subtleness is superb.

But also, let’s talk about the emotion this book evokes. Because… excuse me, but this gave me anxiety attacks in the best possible way. As the years have gone on, my anxiety appears to be triggered much more frequently, while doing common tasks.

Like reading.

Still, not just any book can send my heart racing and my flight instinct racing. Only the most well-crafted books manage to do that, and Kayak DEFINITELY made my heart thump and my chest tighten. Every. Single Time Keith had to set foot on shore to gather supplies, I had an anxiety attack on his behalf.

Well done Kristal Stittle, I won’t be forgetting your book anytime soon.

And if you dare to dive into its pages, it might just pull you under too. Take the plunge. You won’t regret it.