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A review by the_magpie_reader
The Kishi by Antoine Bandele
3.0
Awesome cover art and an intriguing premise, but the pacing was too slow for my taste.
I was also pretty disappointed that a novel about hyena shapeshifters, with a major subplot about a risky pregnancy, would completely overlook important aspects of hyena ethology and biology. Specifically, how hyenas live in matrilineal clans, how hyena societies are matriarchal, and how their unique reproductive anatomy leads to a higher-than-average rate of childbirth complications compared to most mammals. This was a huge missed opportunity to write a truly original story!
I find it particularly frustrating to open a book about *badass hyena shapeshifters* and be confronted with yet another tale of patriarchal males oppressing defenseless women. Let's be honest: the novel wasn’t really about hyenas at all. You could have swapped out the hyena-demons for lion-demons, crocodile-demons, or hippopotamus-demons, and the story wouldn’t have changed much. What I would have loved to see instead is a thoroughly researched novel where the biology and ethology of the animal are integrated into the worldbuilding, adding an extra layer to the shapeshifter and/or demon aspects.
I was also pretty disappointed that a novel about hyena shapeshifters, with a major subplot about a risky pregnancy, would completely overlook important aspects of hyena ethology and biology. Specifically, how hyenas live in matrilineal clans, how hyena societies are matriarchal, and how their unique reproductive anatomy leads to a higher-than-average rate of childbirth complications compared to most mammals. This was a huge missed opportunity to write a truly original story!
I find it particularly frustrating to open a book about *badass hyena shapeshifters* and be confronted with yet another tale of patriarchal males oppressing defenseless women. Let's be honest: the novel wasn’t really about hyenas at all. You could have swapped out the hyena-demons for lion-demons, crocodile-demons, or hippopotamus-demons, and the story wouldn’t have changed much. What I would have loved to see instead is a thoroughly researched novel where the biology and ethology of the animal are integrated into the worldbuilding, adding an extra layer to the shapeshifter and/or demon aspects.