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aloraschneider 's review for:
Beasts of Prey
by Ayana Gray
The only flaw this book has was the cliffhanger ending. It's going to be actual torture waiting for the next book to come out because this is a new release.
Koffi and Ekon both live in the same region of Lkossa but lead two opposite lives. One is on the top of the social hierarchy, the other one on the bottom. Koffi has experience with the beasts and monsters of the Night Zoo, but is burdened with her father's debt and is forced to work as an indentured servant to pay it off. Ekon is training to be one of the temple's warriors, the Sons of the Six. One thing they both have in common is their search for redemption, and as they join forces they realize that they have more in common than they once thought, and those that they wish to impress aren't exactly what they seem...
I loved the African influences in this novel, and I feel like it connected the story to the real world while still remaining a true fantasy novel with its own magic and monsters. Another thing: the monsters. They were genuinely terrifying but at the same time felt like the kinds of creatures my mind would come up with as a child. It's like Gray reached into my childhood and wrote them out for me to read. The strong cultural ties in the names and religious beliefs made me feel like the characters were deeper than just a page.
The never-ending plot twists kept me reading, and tiny details from earlier always showed up when you least expected it. One of my favorite features in books is the parallelism and continuity, and there was a clear storyline with recurring details and themes. This was my first book of 2022 and easily scooped me out of a holiday reading slump.
The world-building was impeccable, as the history interwoven with the present provided a clear look into the continent of Eshoza.
One complaint that keeps me from rating this 5 stars is that the "hero's journey" gets to be a little boring at times because of the alternating perspectives in each chapter. Sometimes One perspective would explain a situation, and the next would go back and retell it from a different view. Sometimes this was helpful, but in more minor plot points seemed unnecessary.
Koffi and Ekon both live in the same region of Lkossa but lead two opposite lives. One is on the top of the social hierarchy, the other one on the bottom. Koffi has experience with the beasts and monsters of the Night Zoo, but is burdened with her father's debt and is forced to work as an indentured servant to pay it off. Ekon is training to be one of the temple's warriors, the Sons of the Six. One thing they both have in common is their search for redemption, and as they join forces they realize that they have more in common than they once thought, and those that they wish to impress aren't exactly what they seem...
I loved the African influences in this novel, and I feel like it connected the story to the real world while still remaining a true fantasy novel with its own magic and monsters. Another thing: the monsters. They were genuinely terrifying but at the same time felt like the kinds of creatures my mind would come up with as a child. It's like Gray reached into my childhood and wrote them out for me to read. The strong cultural ties in the names and religious beliefs made me feel like the characters were deeper than just a page.
The never-ending plot twists kept me reading, and tiny details from earlier always showed up when you least expected it. One of my favorite features in books is the parallelism and continuity, and there was a clear storyline with recurring details and themes. This was my first book of 2022 and easily scooped me out of a holiday reading slump.
The world-building was impeccable, as the history interwoven with the present provided a clear look into the continent of Eshoza.
One complaint that keeps me from rating this 5 stars is that the "hero's journey" gets to be a little boring at times because of the alternating perspectives in each chapter. Sometimes One perspective would explain a situation, and the next would go back and retell it from a different view. Sometimes this was helpful, but in more minor plot points seemed unnecessary.