Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
4.5/5 stars
I really enjoyed this book! I did have to put it down a bit because this is one that requires attention to detail and my neurodivergent can’t always handle that. I put the book down so as to make sure I was giving this book a fair review. When I did picked this book back up, I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful and engaging the writing style and world building was. The author is clearly talented!
Beast of Prey is a dual POV story done well. We follow Koffi and Ekon both of which are fighting for different things. Koffi to be free and Ekon to become a son of the six. However, they come together in pursue of a seemingly mutual outcome.
What I liked:
The world building is amazing
All the characters were well developed
I loved reading an own voice book that wasn’t centered in trauma and pain.
The story telling was engaging
What I didn’t like:
Some parts were hard to follow
Overall I loved this book! I’m excited to know that books like this are being made for the younger generations. I needed more of this as a child and now reading them as an adult is definitely healing my inner child! Can’t wait to read the second book!
I really enjoyed this book! I did have to put it down a bit because this is one that requires attention to detail and my neurodivergent can’t always handle that. I put the book down so as to make sure I was giving this book a fair review. When I did picked this book back up, I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful and engaging the writing style and world building was. The author is clearly talented!
Beast of Prey is a dual POV story done well. We follow Koffi and Ekon both of which are fighting for different things. Koffi to be free and Ekon to become a son of the six. However, they come together in pursue of a seemingly mutual outcome.
What I liked:
The world building is amazing
All the characters were well developed
I loved reading an own voice book that wasn’t centered in trauma and pain.
The story telling was engaging
What I didn’t like:
Some parts were hard to follow
Overall I loved this book! I’m excited to know that books like this are being made for the younger generations. I needed more of this as a child and now reading them as an adult is definitely healing my inner child! Can’t wait to read the second book!
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
An incredible first book in a fantasy trilogy series, “Beasts of Prey” is a book I’d had on my TBR for years and I’m regretting not picking it up sooner.
Ayana Grey’s world-building is paced out so well; the series of events that occur each feel like they’re allowed a good amount of time inside the story, slowly building upon one another to craft an in-depth world inspired by African mythos and folklore. Between the zoo and the magic system and the antagonistic beasts the MC encounter each was crafted so purposefully, easily immersing readers into this unique world. The world building is by far the strongest part of this book, and the main thing that had me keep coming back for more.
Koffi and Ekon were really intriguing main characters, both on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of social class within their society , while also containing parallels in their arcs. I loved the exploration of mental illness and PTSD in Ekon’s character, his stimming was written with such care and attention to detail. The way his story also tackles elements of power and control, woven together so perfect, was absolutely incredible. His complex relationship with the Son of the Six, his withholding of the truth from Koffi, his ultimate betrayal, and so much more all came together to build a highly compelling and multi-faceted character.
In comparison, Koffi’s storyline was a little less alluring to me, she often acted wildly immature, as if she was merely 12 at times, so it was difficult to see her as a more fully fleshed-out character. She felt so flat, especially in comparison to Ekon, often merely defined by her ability to wield magic. Her development was so abrupt, especially in her mastery of Splendor, and lacked a natural flow. I also feel like she was vastly emotionally stunted in comparison to Ekon, and it felt like she immediately forgot about her mother and family the second she was in the forest and more entangled with Ekon.
I was a fan of the third timeline POV from the past we got in the story, it felt a little out of place at certain moments but by the Big Reveal, everything started to flow more cohesively, and those moments served to shed light on how the progression of events led Koffi and Ekon to where they are in the story.
I could have done without the cheesy and forced romance between Koffi and Ekon, it felt like they had far more platonic chemistry than romantic chemistry, especially with how petulant Koffi was at times. There were even moments where they were veering into acting like siblings, specifically the scene where they sneak into the temple, but it never felt like their romance was organic.
All in all, a fairly good and strong start to a fantasy series, it’ll be interesting where the story goes in book 2 and 3, especially in terms of Koffi’s character development.
Ayana Grey’s world-building is paced out so well; the series of events that occur each feel like they’re allowed a good amount of time inside the story, slowly building upon one another to craft an in-depth world inspired by African mythos and folklore. Between the zoo and the magic system and the antagonistic beasts the MC encounter each was crafted so purposefully, easily immersing readers into this unique world. The world building is by far the strongest part of this book, and the main thing that had me keep coming back for more.
Koffi and Ekon were really intriguing main characters, both on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of social class within their society , while also containing parallels in their arcs. I loved the exploration of mental illness and PTSD in Ekon’s character, his stimming was written with such care and attention to detail. The way his story also tackles elements of power and control, woven together so perfect, was absolutely incredible. His complex relationship with the Son of the Six, his withholding of the truth from Koffi, his ultimate betrayal, and so much more all came together to build a highly compelling and multi-faceted character.
In comparison, Koffi’s storyline was a little less alluring to me, she often acted wildly immature, as if she was merely 12 at times, so it was difficult to see her as a more fully fleshed-out character. She felt so flat, especially in comparison to Ekon, often merely defined by her ability to wield magic. Her development was so abrupt, especially in her mastery of Splendor, and lacked a natural flow. I also feel like she was vastly emotionally stunted in comparison to Ekon, and it felt like she immediately forgot about her mother and family the second she was in the forest and more entangled with Ekon.
I was a fan of the third timeline POV from the past we got in the story, it felt a little out of place at certain moments but by the Big Reveal, everything started to flow more cohesively, and those moments served to shed light on how the progression of events led Koffi and Ekon to where they are in the story.
I could have done without the cheesy and forced romance between Koffi and Ekon, it felt like they had far more platonic chemistry than romantic chemistry, especially with how petulant Koffi was at times. There were even moments where they were veering into acting like siblings, specifically the scene where they sneak into the temple, but it never felt like their romance was organic.
All in all, a fairly good and strong start to a fantasy series, it’ll be interesting where the story goes in book 2 and 3, especially in terms of Koffi’s character development.
Koffi works with dangerous magical creatures. Ekon has experience with the treacherous Greater Jungle. Teaming up, they venture into the mysterious Greater Jungle to hunt a menacing beast whose capture would be enough to fix their life-altering mistakes. However, the Greater Jungle isn't the only one with secrets. I thought the world-building in this book was fantastic. Koffi and Ekon's journey was quite the rollercoaster between the twists and turns, and cliffhanger ending. The writing and imagery are incredible, and I'm looking forward to reading Beasts of Ruin.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I was looking at the line of April TBR book spines on my shelf last night, thinking about how good they all looked and wondering how many of them will disappoint me. I’ll say it yet again: I wanted to like Beasts of Prey (Beasts of Prey #1) by Ayana Gray. For a little while there, I thought I was going to. But this book starts off so much better than where it goes and where it ends, and I am not on board with this book. We need more African fantasy, yup. But this is not it.
Koffi is an indentured beastkeeper, stuck indefinitely with her mother in the Night Zoo. But when the ringmaster makes Koffi really mad, things happen that she can’t control and doesn’t understand, leaving Koffi on her own and the Zoo a pile of ash. Meanwhile, Ekon is about to follow his ancestors into the role of a Son of the Six, but he pauses in his mission and throws his future into uncertainty. Koffi and Ekon both need to hunt down the murderous Shetani in the Greater Jungle in order to turn their destinies back around. What would happen if they worked together?
When I started reading Beasts of Prey, the African fantasy world-building was so interesting, so intriguing. I really wanted to like it; heck, I was madder and madder the further I read because the first few chapters were of a caliber that was acceptable, but then deteriorated rapidly. I saw some good in it, and then it was a slow train wreck. I think my first indication that something was off was the slave-master dynamic a couple chapters into Koffi’s perspective. (This is a three POV book.) It was really off, and not consistent with either the slave’s (indentured servant, technically) or master’s characters as they were given thus far. Then the beginning dragged on. Then the downward spiral picked up speed.
(If you read this book and liked it, maybe skip to the end. My panning of it will probably just anger you.)
There is one writing misstep I can never forgive, and that is bad writing. Adequate writing I can work with, especially in genre fiction and especially if I am given good characters, a great story, or some other addictive quality. Below-average writing I can excuse in some cases. (See Twilight.) Consistently bad writing? That’s a big fat no for me. I’m going to let the text speak for itself for a minute.
“He thought he could see opaque tendrils of steam rolling off the very trees in wispy sighs, slicking their arms, legs, and foreheads in a sheen of sticky sweat. He licked his cracked lips involuntarily at the same time Koffi’s stomach audibly rumbled” (p293). (He thought he saw steam slicking their bodies with sweat? Or was it? The subject and object are off. And no to pairing the clauses in the next sentence. “Very” should not be there. Neither should “involuntarily.”)
“It took Ekon a moment to understand the cause of the unease running down his length, but then he pinpointed it” (p304). (His what? His length? And why go through this whole mental process (which is done like this constantly)?)
“Koffi almost thought it looked distinctly curious” (p369). (Too many modifiers. Adverb. Half-butted qualifiers. How about, “It looked curious to Koffi”? Or just “It looked curious.”)
“Lkossa’s stars twinkled like diamonds against its obsidian-black night sky. Through her barred window, Koffi could not see them” (p419). (Cliche much? And then you just described something we can’t see in our POV? Heck, no. And why, actually, can’t she see them? Also, obsidian and black are the same thing; one needs to go, and that would be “black.”)
What began with grammatical errors and typos led to overuse of adverbs (especially the word “very,” see above), repetitive adjectives, nonsensical spatial things, convenient plot devices, inconsistent characterizations and problematic reactions… And I kept stopping to wonder if Gray has ever been in a jungle. I’m going with no. Because the way the characters move through the jungle has weird physicality to it, lacks any sort of realism or sense of what that would really be like. And I’m sorry, but you can’t use a map in a jungle with zero landmarks and no trail. What were they even looking at to “figure out where they were”?
There are cliches (see above), difficult sentences (often with pronoun confusion), metaphors and similes that sound good but don’t make sense, and inconsistency, full stop. For example, someone would be wounded one second and then they would bound up and run to someone in the next. Or someone would be angry and then they’d smile at someone warmly. Or they wouldn’t know how to do something and then they’d do it. Or they’d tell us it was the most tired they’d even been when we’d just seen them more tired in the scene before. And don’t get me started on the POV shifts. Yes, I do mean the strange back and forth at the beginning when the reader keeps getting dragged back in time and I also mean that Adiah’s perspective is not needed (or at least could have been done better), but I mostly mean the confusing head-hopping. The plot was predictable, average, not always interesting. There were a lot of side-quests and randomness and long scenes of unbelievable introspection. We had to believe what we were being told without being convinced, basically. The romance between kinda flat, stock characters was neither earned nor timed right.
And the ending? Let’s begin here: I totally knew every twist long before it was revealed, like it had slapped me in the face ten, twenty chapters too early. (When I started the last chapter, I predicted the last word of the book. Not even joking.) I take that back, there was one surprise, but I kind of feel like there was no way of knowing that one, which is another type of cheat, actually. I would have to go back to make sure, but as a reader I felt cheated by it. Also, when a cliffhanger involves the bad guy on top, that is not an appropriate ending to a book. That is still the dark night of the soul or the All is Lost moment, which comes before the climax and resolution, even if there is more to the series.
Before I leave off my complaints, let me ask the obvious: why the new cover, publisher? The people on it are beautiful, but it’s not a great cover, it looks a little cheesy, and people were drawn to the old one. Lots of strange editorial choices all around.
At book club, some people liked the world building, called it solid (though they admitted in the same breath that the structure and characters needed work). There was plenty of mythology, fable, and legend to look up. Everyone also seemed to like Ekon being neurodivergent (though some people thought he was just OCD. I and some others strongly disagreed). People also defended the teen characters regarding their bad decisions, because they’re teens. I found some of the decisions to be forehead-slapping stupid, but I can understand my fellow readers’ point. I think they were trying to be nice to a debut novel.
In conclusion, I would say this book suffered from a publisher seeing potential in an idea and an editor failing to edit this into a serviceable piece of literature. The author? It was on Gray to follow her characters, which it appears she very much did not, which led to a plot plan lacking authenticity.
People at book club recommended N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy, Akata Witch (Nnedi Okorafor), and The Gilded Ones (also a trilogy, Namina Forna) instead. I was also not a huge fan of the Tristan Strong series, but my son was, and it was better than this, though aimed at a younger audience. I will not be continuing the series, which is:
Beasts of Prey
Beasts of Ruin
Beasts of War (final book in 2024)
QUOTES:
“She knew that poverty could be a different kind of monster, always lurking and waiting to consume. For some, death was the kinder beast” (p45).
“A wise man keeps his weapons sharp, but his mind sharper” (p116).
“Tao thinks my biggest fear is that I won’t master my power with the splendor, but in truth, that is not what I fear most. / My fear is that I’ll never get used to it” (p153).
“’You do not have to be the largest or the most dangerous fighter, Ekon,’ he said quietly. ‘So long as you are the fastest’” (p187).
“Often, the beasts that lashed out the worst were also the ones hurting the worst” (p261).
“…whatever was buried in Ekon was buried deep. If he wanted to dig it out, he’d have to do that himself” (p261).
“’You must do more than try, Koffi,’ she said quietly. ‘You must succeed’” (p342).
***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***
Koffi is an indentured beastkeeper, stuck indefinitely with her mother in the Night Zoo. But when the ringmaster makes Koffi really mad, things happen that she can’t control and doesn’t understand, leaving Koffi on her own and the Zoo a pile of ash. Meanwhile, Ekon is about to follow his ancestors into the role of a Son of the Six, but he pauses in his mission and throws his future into uncertainty. Koffi and Ekon both need to hunt down the murderous Shetani in the Greater Jungle in order to turn their destinies back around. What would happen if they worked together?
When I started reading Beasts of Prey, the African fantasy world-building was so interesting, so intriguing. I really wanted to like it; heck, I was madder and madder the further I read because the first few chapters were of a caliber that was acceptable, but then deteriorated rapidly. I saw some good in it, and then it was a slow train wreck. I think my first indication that something was off was the slave-master dynamic a couple chapters into Koffi’s perspective. (This is a three POV book.) It was really off, and not consistent with either the slave’s (indentured servant, technically) or master’s characters as they were given thus far. Then the beginning dragged on. Then the downward spiral picked up speed.
(If you read this book and liked it, maybe skip to the end. My panning of it will probably just anger you.)
There is one writing misstep I can never forgive, and that is bad writing. Adequate writing I can work with, especially in genre fiction and especially if I am given good characters, a great story, or some other addictive quality. Below-average writing I can excuse in some cases. (See Twilight.) Consistently bad writing? That’s a big fat no for me. I’m going to let the text speak for itself for a minute.
“He thought he could see opaque tendrils of steam rolling off the very trees in wispy sighs, slicking their arms, legs, and foreheads in a sheen of sticky sweat. He licked his cracked lips involuntarily at the same time Koffi’s stomach audibly rumbled” (p293). (He thought he saw steam slicking their bodies with sweat? Or was it? The subject and object are off. And no to pairing the clauses in the next sentence. “Very” should not be there. Neither should “involuntarily.”)
“It took Ekon a moment to understand the cause of the unease running down his length, but then he pinpointed it” (p304). (His what? His length? And why go through this whole mental process (which is done like this constantly)?)
“Koffi almost thought it looked distinctly curious” (p369). (Too many modifiers. Adverb. Half-butted qualifiers. How about, “It looked curious to Koffi”? Or just “It looked curious.”)
“Lkossa’s stars twinkled like diamonds against its obsidian-black night sky. Through her barred window, Koffi could not see them” (p419). (Cliche much? And then you just described something we can’t see in our POV? Heck, no. And why, actually, can’t she see them? Also, obsidian and black are the same thing; one needs to go, and that would be “black.”)
What began with grammatical errors and typos led to overuse of adverbs (especially the word “very,” see above), repetitive adjectives, nonsensical spatial things, convenient plot devices, inconsistent characterizations and problematic reactions… And I kept stopping to wonder if Gray has ever been in a jungle. I’m going with no. Because the way the characters move through the jungle has weird physicality to it, lacks any sort of realism or sense of what that would really be like. And I’m sorry, but you can’t use a map in a jungle with zero landmarks and no trail. What were they even looking at to “figure out where they were”?
There are cliches (see above), difficult sentences (often with pronoun confusion), metaphors and similes that sound good but don’t make sense, and inconsistency, full stop. For example, someone would be wounded one second and then they would bound up and run to someone in the next. Or someone would be angry and then they’d smile at someone warmly. Or they wouldn’t know how to do something and then they’d do it. Or they’d tell us it was the most tired they’d even been when we’d just seen them more tired in the scene before. And don’t get me started on the POV shifts. Yes, I do mean the strange back and forth at the beginning when the reader keeps getting dragged back in time and I also mean that Adiah’s perspective is not needed (or at least could have been done better), but I mostly mean the confusing head-hopping. The plot was predictable, average, not always interesting. There were a lot of side-quests and randomness and long scenes of unbelievable introspection. We had to believe what we were being told without being convinced, basically. The romance between kinda flat, stock characters was neither earned nor timed right.
And the ending? Let’s begin here: I totally knew every twist long before it was revealed, like it had slapped me in the face ten, twenty chapters too early. (When I started the last chapter, I predicted the last word of the book. Not even joking.) I take that back, there was one surprise, but I kind of feel like there was no way of knowing that one, which is another type of cheat, actually. I would have to go back to make sure, but as a reader I felt cheated by it. Also, when a cliffhanger involves the bad guy on top, that is not an appropriate ending to a book. That is still the dark night of the soul or the All is Lost moment, which comes before the climax and resolution, even if there is more to the series.
Before I leave off my complaints, let me ask the obvious: why the new cover, publisher? The people on it are beautiful, but it’s not a great cover, it looks a little cheesy, and people were drawn to the old one. Lots of strange editorial choices all around.
At book club, some people liked the world building, called it solid (though they admitted in the same breath that the structure and characters needed work). There was plenty of mythology, fable, and legend to look up. Everyone also seemed to like Ekon being neurodivergent (though some people thought he was just OCD. I and some others strongly disagreed). People also defended the teen characters regarding their bad decisions, because they’re teens. I found some of the decisions to be forehead-slapping stupid, but I can understand my fellow readers’ point. I think they were trying to be nice to a debut novel.
In conclusion, I would say this book suffered from a publisher seeing potential in an idea and an editor failing to edit this into a serviceable piece of literature. The author? It was on Gray to follow her characters, which it appears she very much did not, which led to a plot plan lacking authenticity.
People at book club recommended N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy, Akata Witch (Nnedi Okorafor), and The Gilded Ones (also a trilogy, Namina Forna) instead. I was also not a huge fan of the Tristan Strong series, but my son was, and it was better than this, though aimed at a younger audience. I will not be continuing the series, which is:
Beasts of Prey
Beasts of Ruin
Beasts of War (final book in 2024)
QUOTES:
“She knew that poverty could be a different kind of monster, always lurking and waiting to consume. For some, death was the kinder beast” (p45).
“A wise man keeps his weapons sharp, but his mind sharper” (p116).
“Tao thinks my biggest fear is that I won’t master my power with the splendor, but in truth, that is not what I fear most. / My fear is that I’ll never get used to it” (p153).
“’You do not have to be the largest or the most dangerous fighter, Ekon,’ he said quietly. ‘So long as you are the fastest’” (p187).
“Often, the beasts that lashed out the worst were also the ones hurting the worst” (p261).
“…whatever was buried in Ekon was buried deep. If he wanted to dig it out, he’d have to do that himself” (p261).
“’You must do more than try, Koffi,’ she said quietly. ‘You must succeed’” (p342).
***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***
adventurous
hopeful
The only flaw this book has was the cliffhanger ending. It's going to be actual torture waiting for the next book to come out because this is a new release.
Koffi and Ekon both live in the same region of Lkossa but lead two opposite lives. One is on the top of the social hierarchy, the other one on the bottom. Koffi has experience with the beasts and monsters of the Night Zoo, but is burdened with her father's debt and is forced to work as an indentured servant to pay it off. Ekon is training to be one of the temple's warriors, the Sons of the Six. One thing they both have in common is their search for redemption, and as they join forces they realize that they have more in common than they once thought, and those that they wish to impress aren't exactly what they seem...
I loved the African influences in this novel, and I feel like it connected the story to the real world while still remaining a true fantasy novel with its own magic and monsters. Another thing: the monsters. They were genuinely terrifying but at the same time felt like the kinds of creatures my mind would come up with as a child. It's like Gray reached into my childhood and wrote them out for me to read. The strong cultural ties in the names and religious beliefs made me feel like the characters were deeper than just a page.
The never-ending plot twists kept me reading, and tiny details from earlier always showed up when you least expected it. One of my favorite features in books is the parallelism and continuity, and there was a clear storyline with recurring details and themes. This was my first book of 2022 and easily scooped me out of a holiday reading slump.
The world-building was impeccable, as the history interwoven with the present provided a clear look into the continent of Eshoza.
One complaint that keeps me from rating this 5 stars is that the "hero's journey" gets to be a little boring at times because of the alternating perspectives in each chapter. Sometimes One perspective would explain a situation, and the next would go back and retell it from a different view. Sometimes this was helpful, but in more minor plot points seemed unnecessary.
Koffi and Ekon both live in the same region of Lkossa but lead two opposite lives. One is on the top of the social hierarchy, the other one on the bottom. Koffi has experience with the beasts and monsters of the Night Zoo, but is burdened with her father's debt and is forced to work as an indentured servant to pay it off. Ekon is training to be one of the temple's warriors, the Sons of the Six. One thing they both have in common is their search for redemption, and as they join forces they realize that they have more in common than they once thought, and those that they wish to impress aren't exactly what they seem...
I loved the African influences in this novel, and I feel like it connected the story to the real world while still remaining a true fantasy novel with its own magic and monsters. Another thing: the monsters. They were genuinely terrifying but at the same time felt like the kinds of creatures my mind would come up with as a child. It's like Gray reached into my childhood and wrote them out for me to read. The strong cultural ties in the names and religious beliefs made me feel like the characters were deeper than just a page.
The never-ending plot twists kept me reading, and tiny details from earlier always showed up when you least expected it. One of my favorite features in books is the parallelism and continuity, and there was a clear storyline with recurring details and themes. This was my first book of 2022 and easily scooped me out of a holiday reading slump.
The world-building was impeccable, as the history interwoven with the present provided a clear look into the continent of Eshoza.
One complaint that keeps me from rating this 5 stars is that the "hero's journey" gets to be a little boring at times because of the alternating perspectives in each chapter. Sometimes One perspective would explain a situation, and the next would go back and retell it from a different view. Sometimes this was helpful, but in more minor plot points seemed unnecessary.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm mad that the third book in the series is at the library but not the second, I need to read the next one asap. The story tucked me in, I liked the animal aspect of it. Really interesting their take on the gods and I thought i guessed who the bad guy was but I was WRONG-O
A great start to what is sure to be a fantastic series. I loved the African influence, and the unique spin on magic. Can't wait for the next in the series!