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kayladaila's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Racism, Gore, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent and Suicidal thoughts
asipofcozy's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to Inkyard Press for sending me a review copy of The Keeper of Night. This review is based on my honest opinion and feelings.
CW: bullying, racial slurs, racism, gore, blood, violence, mention of beheading, mention of mutilation and cutting up a pregnant woman, harming of a child, beheading, and animal death.
The Keeper Of Night follows Ren, a Half British Reaper and Half Japanese Shinigami, who was driven out of London after failing to control her Shinigami abilities. Accompanied by her brother, Neven, she travels to Japan to enter the Japanese underworld to earn her place among the Shinigami and gain the respect of the Goddess of Death. Respect that she never received from her fellow Reapers. To earn her place, Ren must kill 3 Yokai demons.
This story was dark, gruesome, and harsh. The reading experience that I can accumulate in this book is if you decided to go for a walk during a dark foggy day and felt like you saw movements in the shadows. That's what this book felt like; every page, you felt like there was evil, death stalking in dark corners. I loved every minute of it. While this is considered young adult literature, I would almost classify this with more new adults due to the themes and how dark this book is.
CW: bullying, racial slurs, racism, gore, blood, violence, mention of beheading, mention of mutilation and cutting up a pregnant woman, harming of a child, beheading, and animal death.
The Keeper Of Night follows Ren, a Half British Reaper and Half Japanese Shinigami, who was driven out of London after failing to control her Shinigami abilities. Accompanied by her brother, Neven, she travels to Japan to enter the Japanese underworld to earn her place among the Shinigami and gain the respect of the Goddess of Death. Respect that she never received from her fellow Reapers. To earn her place, Ren must kill 3 Yokai demons.
This story was dark, gruesome, and harsh. The reading experience that I can accumulate in this book is if you decided to go for a walk during a dark foggy day and felt like you saw movements in the shadows. That's what this book felt like; every page, you felt like there was evil, death stalking in dark corners. I loved every minute of it. While this is considered young adult literature, I would almost classify this with more new adults due to the themes and how dark this book is.
"I would drown all the islands of Japan if you asked me to."
"That's horrible," I said. But still, I didn't push him away. Was this not how humans showed affection? With grandiose declarations of devotion?
Ren is a morally grey character. Simple as that. As the story progresses, we see Ren struggle with what little humanity she has and this absolute obsession of finding her place in this world and doing whatever it takes to achieve that goal. There were many moments where Ren would toe that line between humanity and being a creature of death herself. It was almost like with each page that passed by; Ren would strip herself of another layer of humanity and slowly become that darkness that makes up the Yomi.
I was a butterfly twisted inside a tornado, the brightest colors between day and night, a little brown bird in the maw of the fox, waiting for the teeth to bite down.
Her only saving grace, and what keeps her humanity in check, is her brother Neven. Oh, Neven. Neven, while a reaper, is the complete opposite of what a Reaper is meant to be. He is caring, loving, afraid of the dark, struggles with doing his reaper duties, and is quite naive. While Ren does love Neven, and I genuinely believe he is the reason for her not ridding herself of humanity, he was a privileged character. Ren uses the word "privileged ignorance," and I couldn't agree more. Neven is ignorant of Ren's pain and struggles. Because Neven is white and isn't discriminated against, he never understands why Ren is so desperate to be a part of her Japanese culture. He looks at her and sees's "sister," not a sister that is part Japanese; he almost ignores it...which goes to show how white privileged he is.
While Neven is considered an outcast and Ren and Neven's love is wonderful for a brother and sister - I couldn't ignore the ignorance. It almost made me feel anger towards Neven. Also, I struggled with the fact that he cried, whined, and moaned about everything he came across. Especially when it came to the actions of his sister.
I am not giving Ren ANY excuses for her actions in the book, but when you are torn between two ethnicities and not accepted into either culture, you have someone who is blind to your pain...I would be on a rampage as well.
I was impressed by this unique world and how well the author brought together the culture of Japan to the forefront of her story-telling. I loved that she touched on so many issues, especially regarding family dynamics, racial differences, being biracial, heritage, and finding acceptance.
The writing was well done and I found myself loving every moment of Baker's storytelling. There was never a dull moment and that makes this book all the more worthwhile to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Gore, Blood, Violence, and Animal death
Minor: Child abuse
Mentions of mutilation Mentions of cutting up a pregnant woman Attempted child murder Mentions of beheading Actual attempt of beheadingthenovelmaura's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Whatever I expected when I first picked up this book, Lee Baker threw those expectations out the window from the very first page. This was a fast-paced, borderline villain-origin story, so you have to like your characters morally grey in order to enjoy this one. And the book is gruesome! These monsters from Japanese folklore are terrifyingly described, but that's what makes the fight scenes so enthralling. Ren's anger at her treatment as a biracial Reaper-Shinigami and her confusion about her identity are so relatable to those of us who have been there. I also liked the prominent and complex sibling relationship between Neven and Ren. His involvement ended up making things a lot more interesting than if Ren had undertaken the journey on her own.
Something about the pacing didn't sit quite right with me; events could happen so quickly that they ended up feeling brushed over. This fed into the instalove relationship that ended up feeling shallow, as well. Personally, I liked the ending and don't necessarily think it needs a sequel, but I'm curious to see where Lee Baker will go with the story. All that being said, if you're looking for an intense rollercoaster of a YA fantasy, then this may be the book for you!
Something about the pacing didn't sit quite right with me; events could happen so quickly that they ended up feeling brushed over. This fed into the instalove relationship that ended up feeling shallow, as well. Personally, I liked the ending and don't necessarily think it needs a sequel, but I'm curious to see where Lee Baker will go with the story. All that being said, if you're looking for an intense rollercoaster of a YA fantasy, then this may be the book for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, Violence, and Racism
Minor: Bullying
kkmillsaps1's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Bullying, Gore, Violence, Body horror, and Cannibalism
jennlcollier's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia
kristie_deaver's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A fantastic book about belonging. A book taking a deep look into the darkness and pushing even further. Ren shows us the duality of light and dark; and the depths of despair love can lead you to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Racism
silene's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This one is very much a tragedy, but there’s supposed to be a sequel that might ease that or make it worse. The world building is fantastic, and I love the merging of English and Japanese myths. The characters are deeply flawed, but their motivations and thought processes are believable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Animal death, and Racism
jackierabbit's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
Um. I wanted to like this. I wanted to love it. Unfortunately, even from the ninth page, all my annotations were about plot-holes or things that bothered me.
After reaching page 130, I flipped through the pages to land on a random one, page 336, and picked up from there. Everything still made sense and I skimmed the rest.
Ren was deeply unlikeable—morally grey doesn’t describe her, she is just…bad. Good for her, but I didn’t enjoy reading about it, nor did I connect with her. Whether that caused, or was a result of, my skipping half the book, who knows. She continuously made stupid decisions and trusted the wrong people.
The writing style was fantastic though. Easy to read while still being gorgeously descriptive.
Can’t believe the only worthwhile character DIED. WTF. Rest in pieces Neven.
Also I should have known I wasn’t going to enjoy this book when the cat died in chapter four.
After reaching page 130, I flipped through the pages to land on a random one, page 336, and picked up from there. Everything still made sense and I skimmed the rest.
Ren was deeply unlikeable—morally grey doesn’t describe her, she is just…bad. Good for her, but I didn’t enjoy reading about it, nor did I connect with her. Whether that caused, or was a result of, my skipping half the book, who knows. She continuously made stupid decisions and trusted the wrong people.
The writing style was fantastic though. Easy to read while still being gorgeously descriptive.
Also I should have known I wasn’t going to enjoy this book when the cat died in chapter four.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Body horror
Moderate: Racism
anniereads221's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Abandonment, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Torture, and Violence
annegoodreads's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The dark fantasy/horror/thriller is set in 1890s Britain and Japan. But the story gives insight into worldwide folklore surrounding death and the idea of Death personified. Death is one thing every single person in this world has in common. Half British Reaper, half Japanese Shinigami, Ren Scarborough is a tormented girl. She’s unloved by her father and stepmother. She’s bullied for being biracial. And she’s harboring her secret magical powers. She does know the amazing true love of her stepbrother Neven. For all the torment and darkness in the story, Neven is hopeful, loving, and empathetic. Ren flees Britain to go to Japan to find her mother. Neven goes with her just because he loves her. The venture to Yokohama. They meet the Goddess of Death Izanami. To try to find her purpose and place of belonging Ren must defeat the Yokai. Neven is so nice and trusting, he doesn’t stand a chance in the underworld.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Racism, Torture, and Violence