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A review by ajthequeen
Beasts of War by Ayana Gray
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Full disclosure: I'm 24, so this review may be affected by the fact I'm no longer a "young adult" and probably not necessarily the intended audience.
I felt like the characters across the board this book were EXTREMELY immature, especially the beginning. They all seemed very two dimensional the entire book.
Makena was treated like, and acted like, a young child rather than a teenager. Ekon and Zain acted like they were about 13 years old. The love triangle was super weird and forced and never really got any resolution. Ekon and Koffi never actually talked or had a good conversation, they were just suddenly together in the epilogue despite not having any romantic scenes or conversations (I'm NOT talking about smut or spice, I'm talking about things like holding hands, being close to each other, brushing hands/shoulders, moments of peril where they felt like the other was going to be hurt/die, a hug, etc).
The author shoehorned in a couple pop culture references (Ekon asks, and I quote: "Is this water sanitary? It seems...dubious to me." Which if you're on Instagram reels or TikTok, youve heard the popular sound "is this water sanitary? It seems questionable to me.") There was a reference to a "cranky old man" who is particular/cranky about his cabbages in one of the markets, which is likely a reference to ATLA.
At one point Ekon remarks that it's terrible that some worshippers of Amakoya pay and get special treatment. He asks if Koffi could believe that, and Koffi says some long paragraph about how she could believe people are afforded luxuries based on wealth and class that others can't obtain no matter how hard they try or deserve it (paraphrasing). Which is not wrong, but it felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over my head. It just felt like a random social justice statement that didn't fit anywhere within the book or plot whatsoever. No further social justice or political commentary was in the book and then characters don't attempt to change these systems whatsoever, so it really just didn't make sense. If they were looking to topple a corrupt government, maybe this would've fit better. It just served to break immersion.
The plot was an entire mess. Plotholes galore. If I discussed all of them here id be here all night. I feel like nothing actually happened in this book. Every big encounter they had was conveniently saved by someone just jumping in or walking by. Atuno was apparently removed from mortals but just happened to save the gang? How did he know they were there? Ekon talks with Itaashe, but never gets a chance to mention it to Koffi, so when Itaashe shows up Koffi had no idea she was coming but never showed any surprise other than whispering her name. It's never mentioned again, and Ekon never explains it. Fedu was absent the entire book. For a big bad, he didn't do much. He sent the untethered a total of two times and killed a whole village (which is never mentioned by anyone ever again after they tell Koffi when she wakes up!) But overall he mostly just... Doesn't do anything. No run ins during the journey, no build up. He promises to use koffis weakness against her but never does?
Koffi is called a powerful daraja and the most powerful daraja of their time ala Percy Jackson, but she doesn't actually.. do anything with the splendor. She scares herself and everyone else a couple times, makes a shield, passes out, and gets a couple of pock marks (which are never explained). Rinse and repeat three times and that totals the amount of splendor she uses this book. She has no control over the splendor, can't fight with it, and is overall useless. Thus leading the author to have a group of people randomly save the day every time they have a fight because for a group of daraja, they're completely useless.
The ending was rushed and had about as much emotion as a sack of potatoes despite the fact that one of the group literally DIES. No one is shown mourning him, which the author tries to rectify in the epilogue but it falls flat since there's no grief journey. This book felt like a standalone. There was no need for a whole trilogy for this ending. Koffi could've met with badwa a couple times, got the splendor, and had this whole book happen in about 450-500 pages (being generous). This book rendered the first/second book basically useless. It should've been: Start at night zoo, discover/kill the shetani, meet badwa, unlock splendor, go on journey to kusonga plains/gather gods to stop fedu, end. 500 pages max.
Makena was treated like, and acted like, a young child rather than a teenager. Ekon and Zain acted like they were about 13 years old. The love triangle was super weird and forced and never really got any resolution. Ekon and Koffi never actually talked or had a good conversation, they were just suddenly together in the epilogue despite not having any romantic scenes or conversations (I'm NOT talking about smut or spice, I'm talking about things like holding hands, being close to each other, brushing hands/shoulders, moments of peril where they felt like the other was going to be hurt/die, a hug, etc).
The author shoehorned in a couple pop culture references (Ekon asks, and I quote: "Is this water sanitary? It seems...dubious to me." Which if you're on Instagram reels or TikTok, youve heard the popular sound "is this water sanitary? It seems questionable to me.") There was a reference to a "cranky old man" who is particular/cranky about his cabbages in one of the markets, which is likely a reference to ATLA.
At one point Ekon remarks that it's terrible that some worshippers of Amakoya pay and get special treatment. He asks if Koffi could believe that, and Koffi says some long paragraph about how she could believe people are afforded luxuries based on wealth and class that others can't obtain no matter how hard they try or deserve it (paraphrasing). Which is not wrong, but it felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over my head. It just felt like a random social justice statement that didn't fit anywhere within the book or plot whatsoever. No further social justice or political commentary was in the book and then characters don't attempt to change these systems whatsoever, so it really just didn't make sense. If they were looking to topple a corrupt government, maybe this would've fit better. It just served to break immersion.
The plot was an entire mess. Plotholes galore. If I discussed all of them here id be here all night. I feel like nothing actually happened in this book. Every big encounter they had was conveniently saved by someone just jumping in or walking by. Atuno was apparently removed from mortals but just happened to save the gang? How did he know they were there? Ekon talks with Itaashe, but never gets a chance to mention it to Koffi, so when Itaashe shows up Koffi had no idea she was coming but never showed any surprise other than whispering her name. It's never mentioned again, and Ekon never explains it. Fedu was absent the entire book. For a big bad, he didn't do much. He sent the untethered a total of two times and killed a whole village (which is never mentioned by anyone ever again after they tell Koffi when she wakes up!) But overall he mostly just... Doesn't do anything. No run ins during the journey, no build up. He promises to use koffis weakness against her but never does?
Koffi is called a powerful daraja and the most powerful daraja of their time ala Percy Jackson, but she doesn't actually.. do anything with the splendor. She scares herself and everyone else a couple times, makes a shield, passes out, and gets a couple of pock marks (which are never explained). Rinse and repeat three times and that totals the amount of splendor she uses this book. She has no control over the splendor, can't fight with it, and is overall useless. Thus leading the author to have a group of people randomly save the day every time they have a fight because for a group of daraja, they're completely useless.
The ending was rushed and had about as much emotion as a sack of potatoes despite the fact that one of the group literally DIES. No one is shown mourning him, which the author tries to rectify in the epilogue but it falls flat since there's no grief journey. This book felt like a standalone. There was no need for a whole trilogy for this ending. Koffi could've met with badwa a couple times, got the splendor, and had this whole book happen in about 450-500 pages (being generous). This book rendered the first/second book basically useless. It should've been: Start at night zoo, discover/kill the shetani, meet badwa, unlock splendor, go on journey to kusonga plains/gather gods to stop fedu, end. 500 pages max.