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A review by squids_can_read
The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
3.0
Ren has never been accepted by the Reapers for her mixed blood and now she has made her last mistake. Ren rushes off to Japan with her half brother hoping to find the mother that gave her away and finally find her place in the world. But maybe wherever she lands they will only see what they want to see.
I really wanted to like this book. I think that the premise is really interesting especially since it combines different death mythologies. The world was built extremely well. I could understand the rules of the worlds that Ren found herself in as she learned them. The world never seemed to be hard to understand to me.
The problem that I had with the story was the characters. I really enjoyed Ren's little brother who was the only character that I though was fully fleshed out. He seemed to have real depth and reasons behind his feeling that he could articulate in a decent manner. Ren on the other hand seemed very flat to me. She never really grew throughout the entire piece and only changed due to her brother after betraying him. Ren's reasons for doing what she did just seemed extremely surface level to me. I wanted to dig into the deeper reasons behind her thoughts and feelings but that just never happened. Our other main character Hiro was just kinda gross.
The romance felt forced to me. I understood by our male love interest loved Ren but I really couldn't understand why Ren felt anything for him. She immediately shows him trust after having been surrounded by untrustworthy people her whole life. It eventually gets to the point where she trusts a love interest she has known for a couple of weeks more than her brother without any apparent reason.
Finally, I think that this book should have been split into two books. I think that if we spent a whole book on Ren's life with the Reapers and then running from the Reapers ending with Japan followed by a whole book of Ren's adventures in Japan it would have worked better. I think this would have allowed the characters to really breathe and to let all the amazing plot points be fully explained instead of being glassed over.
Overall, I really wanted to like this book but the characters were a bit of a let down. Still a fun read overall.
I really wanted to like this book. I think that the premise is really interesting especially since it combines different death mythologies. The world was built extremely well. I could understand the rules of the worlds that Ren found herself in as she learned them. The world never seemed to be hard to understand to me.
The problem that I had with the story was the characters. I really enjoyed Ren's little brother who was the only character that I though was fully fleshed out. He seemed to have real depth and reasons behind his feeling that he could articulate in a decent manner. Ren on the other hand seemed very flat to me. She never really grew throughout the entire piece and only changed due to her brother after betraying him. Ren's reasons for doing what she did just seemed extremely surface level to me. I wanted to dig into the deeper reasons behind her thoughts and feelings but that just never happened. Our other main character Hiro was just kinda gross.
The romance felt forced to me. I understood by our male love interest loved Ren but I really couldn't understand why Ren felt anything for him. She immediately shows him trust after having been surrounded by untrustworthy people her whole life. It eventually gets to the point where she trusts a love interest she has known for a couple of weeks more than her brother without any apparent reason.
Finally, I think that this book should have been split into two books. I think that if we spent a whole book on Ren's life with the Reapers and then running from the Reapers ending with Japan followed by a whole book of Ren's adventures in Japan it would have worked better. I think this would have allowed the characters to really breathe and to let all the amazing plot points be fully explained instead of being glassed over.
Overall, I really wanted to like this book but the characters were a bit of a let down. Still a fun read overall.