“Sin-beasts are shadows, beasts made of night. And an aki is like a ray of sunlight that comes down from the sky and shatters the sin, kills the shadows.”
Taj is the most talented sin-eater in the walled city of Kos where aki–sin-eaters–can vanquish a person’s sins for a price. Reviled by society and at the mercy of mages who control them, aki have a precarious existence within Kos society.
Taj is cocky and desperate to support his family. He knows it’s only a matter of time before he runs out of skin to cover in sin beasts he has killed–physical tattoos that manifest on his skin and transfer the guilt of the sin to the sin-eater–but Taj has no other options to support himself or survive.
When Taj is hired to eat a royal sin he is drawn into a web of intrigue and danger where the future of the entire city–and every sin-eater in Kos–is at stake in Beasts Made of Night (2017) by Tochi Onyebuchi.
Beasts Made of Night is Onyebuchi’s debut novel and inspired by Nigerian culture and folklore.
This book is wonderfully written and set in a fantastically evocative and well-realized world where sins can be summoned as physical beasts and danger is everywhere. Taj is a fast-talking character with a lot of charm, wit, and not enough caution.
Erratic pacing and a meandering plot make this a richly detailed but sometimes unsatisfying novel. While the city of Kos is detailed enough to be a character itself some of the internal logic for the magic in the novel–especially as it pertains to sin eating–is vague and poorly explained. Taj’s honest narration and winning personality, however, will quickly eclipse any gaps in the story’s world building.
Beasts Made of Night is a great story filled with action, memorable characters, and a fascinating world. While most of Taj’s story is resolved in this volume, fans will hope that this book is the start of a series.
Possible Pairings: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, Frostblood by Elly Blake, Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, Furyborn by Claire Legrand, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Nocturna by Maya Motayne, Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan, Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch, The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury, Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration at BookExpo 2017*
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