Book Review: Critical Role Vox Machina: Kith and Kin by Marieke Nijkamp

Critical Role: Vox Machina—Kith & Kin by Marieke Nijkamp
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kith & Kin stars the twins from Campaign one of Critical Role, Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan (played by Laura Bailey and Liam O’Brien) and how they solved three problems. It does go back when they were younger in the village of Byroden and to their father’s home in Syngorn, which I have to say, I really don’t like their father, even when they went to Syngorn to see their father and deal with the prejudices their father had against them (which is bullshit). Anyway, reading about Vex and Vax (and Trinket, can’t forget about the bear) before they joined up with the others and became Vox Machina was pretty good to read about, even though this book felt like a normal D&D book, sans the dice.

So all of this started was when Vex was at a book stall, looking for a book on dragons when a rich looking man appeared and tried to get her to hang out with her. Vex said no, turning him down, and what does the officer of the court of law does? Put out a hit on her. Thank god for Vax following her and taking down the person that was going to kill his sister, then going down to the tunnels to go and have a talk to the Clasp. He does, meeting Spireling Gideor, who gives him a little job: get a ring in the village of Jorenn, and the hit/contract on your sister is gone.

Vax agrees, and the three of them head off to Jorenn, and before they could even enter the city, they are attacked by Ash Walkers. Vax is badly wounded, and Vex went to the city, where she meets the Shademaster Derowen and her daughter, Aswin, and Wick, a half-giant. Vex gets close to the Shademaster and Aswin while trying to find her brother, who is with another group outside of the Umbra Hills who lives in the mines.

With Vax, it’s a totally different story. He meets Thorn, another half-elf, and he tells the story of how the Shademaster basically killed his sister, and how he became the leader of the miners when she died, and he wants vengeance on the woman that killed his sister and is hunting him down. Many times Thorn pushed Vax away, telling him that it’s not his fight, but Vax, after hearing his story and everyone else’s story, decided that yes, it was his fight, and joined in.

There was an attack on the miners thanks to Vex trying to look for her brother, and once they found each other, both of them on different sides, thats when everything went to hell, honestly. Thorn got captured and was wounded when the Ash Walkers attacked him, the ring, it turns out, summons them and also create a shield to protect the people of Jorenn, and Derowen keeps calling the miners outlaws when they didn’t really do anything. When Vax broke into the Shademaster’s Office and found a notebook full of things that were sus and sounds EVIL af, that’s when the twins talked and tried to figure out what they wanted to do, and they decided to do the right thing.

Vex was in the room with Thorn when Derowen entered and basically nearly killed him, and then she and Vex got into a fight, when Derowen’s brother, Culwen, appeared, and killed her when the Ash Walkers attacked. Vex was shocked, but then before all of this went down. Vax went to have a little chat with Culwen, and it turns out Culwen works for the Clasp and is actually one of the Spirelings. Culwen made Vax a deal and I don’t think he took it, so Culwen appeared in the room Vex was in once the conversation was over, and then…well…he killed his own sister. Which was fucked up, by the way. Vax somehow stole the ring (he rolled it expertly off of Derwoen’s finger) and then he and Culwen got into a fight, using Thorn’s serpent belt for help. Vex took the ring from Vax and with Wick, went to a spot to stop and get rid of the Ash Walkers, and once she was done doing that, she told Wick everything that happened. It was heartbreaking for Wick, because he did walk in and saw that Derwoen was dead, and that Aswin won’t have a mother anymore (thanks Culwen, you piece of shit).

After everyone said their goodbyes, the twins went back to Westruun, where Vax got branded as one of the members of the Clasp, Vex was about to get a new bow but didn’t, and then the two walked into the sunset (along with Trinket).

Speaking of Trinket, he was in the book, but he basically took care of Aswin while the twins did their thing.

I truly did enjoy this book and I’m so glad there’s now a written form of the Vox Machina story before their show comes back on (and I will watch it). I would reread this book in a heartbeat because it was that damned good.

View all my reviews