Kindred is about a young black woman named Dana, living in the US in the 1970s. While moving into a new home with her husband, Dana suddenly finds herself transported back in time to the early 1800s, to a slave plantation, where she then saves the life of the plantation owner's son. Dana soon learns that this boy is her ancestor and, as she is repeatedly transported back to his world whenever his life is in danger, she learns that she must save his life in order that he live long enough ensure the line of succession that will lead to Dana's own birth. Dana must also learn to survive in this world that is so very different from the one she has come from, and that treats her so differently because of the colour of her skin. 
 This was a really enjoyable, easy read which I was not really expecting given the subject matter. The inclusion of the excitement of the time travel element, as well as Butler's approachable writing style, gives a novel that allows us to read about such a heavy topic in a sensitive way without it feeling inaccessible to a wider audience. This did, however, have the drawback of making me feel like I could have felt more. This book had the potential to inspire a real emotional investment in the characters and the struggles and, although I liked the characters and I wanted good things to happen for them, I wasn't too invested in them and I kind of wish I had been. 
 Other than the ending, which annoyed me, this was the only major fault I found with Kindred. It is a very good, well-written book with complex, flawed characters. 
 Dana herself is very likeable as a character but she is still not perfect - and her flaws are not superficial. She says herself that she is not as brave or resilient as the slaves she lives with when she time travels. She does selfish things during the book but she is still, overall, a good person and a likeable character. She is complexly imagined and that is always wonderful in a book. Many of the characters are like this - they are imperfect but still, ultimately, good and likeable people. There is such a culture in books of writing characters that are flawless, or that only have superficial flaws, in order to make them likeable and this was lovely in the way that it so completely didn't do that. I think the characters are definitely the best thing about this, and I've always been fond of character-driven novels, so that sits well with me. 
 I would also like to talk about Rufus - the plantation owner's son. I like how he is written as a real person, despite his faults, rather than just evilness personified. (view spoiler)[ Obviously I know he ends up being a whiny, awful rapist who pretends to sell his own children because he's awful, actually sells people, sometimes just out of jealousy, but he's not awful through the whole book and, as such, he presents a far more frightening villain that we often have, because he is believable as a person. (hide spoiler)] 
 So my one other fairly serious issue is the ending. I don't have a problem with what happened, as such, more with how it happened. I guess it felt kind of rushed? I don't know if that's it as such, but it didn't quite feel as natural and believable as the rest of the book. (view spoiler)[ I don't think Rufus would have raped Dana straight away. Sure, he probably would have eventually but I think he would have done it more like he did with Alice - where he tried to get her to come to him willingly and only forced her because she 'kept saying no'. I just feel like he would have tried a bit harder to woo her first. I actually feel like the whole ending was very much 'here's the ending - bye now!' rather than a natural continuation of the rest of the book. Maybe I'm just being bitter because I didn't get a happy ending. 
 I also would have liked a bit more wrap-up. I get invested in minor characters, damn it, I want to know what happened to them. Why weren't Nigel and Carrie on the list? What happened to Joe and Hagar? I need to know!!! (hide spoiler)]