A review by cora_hreads
The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker

dark tense medium-paced

4.0

The Keeper of Night had started out as a generic fantasy — only set in Japan — but as Ren made her way through the mission given to her by Izanami, the depths of her, Neven, and Hiro all came to fruition smoothly. Ren was both a storyteller and her own character, which let me follow her conflicts and emotions like we were one in the same. The explicit detail that Lee Baker wrote in about Japan and Yomi was engrossing; there were moments of beauty and fantastic scenery alongside rich darkness and images that could terrorize your dreams. Additionally, the gore and death was easy to handle, in my opinion, but in retrospect it was written as equally in detail as the scenery, which could be off-putting for a more sensitive reader.

The plot “twist” could’ve started to reveal itself sooner than when
Hiro, Ren, and Izanami had begun to fight,
but the buildup itself was incredible. Neven’s fears were confirmed, and Ren had to suffer the consequences for all eternity. Ren wasn’t just a main character who got the best in the end — she was human, ironic as it sounds. She had to choose between extremely hard decisions, try to deny what was true, and just make mistakes. This sums up Ren extremely well, and I’d certainly recommend it to another reader to not only extend their knowledge of darker fantasy, but also the struggles that surround being from two cultures that equally won’t accept you.
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