Beasts Made of Night (Tochi Onyebuchi)

Beasts Made of Night
The Beasts Made of Night series, Book 1
Tochi Onyebuchi
Razorbill
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: In the great walled city of Kos, the people's sins cause sickness and death... unless they can afford a mage to draw it forth, giving it tangible substance, and an aki to kill and swallow the shadowstuff. Though the aki are essential, they are seen as untouchable, unclean, the marks of the sins they've eaten burning into their flesh like tattoos and the guilt of other people's misdeeds eventually driving them mad - all except for Taj. Known as Skyfist or Lightbringer among the other aki, Taj is among the longest-lived of his kind, and his sin marks never fade. He attributes his longevity and continued sanity to not caring about anyone but himself; if he focuses only on keeping himself alive and fed, on sending money home to the family he can never see again, he believes he can avoid the terrible fate of the rest of his kind. But when he is called to eat a sin of Kos's royal family, both Taj and his best friend Bo become part of a greater, deeper conspiracy, one that could see the aki raised from the shadows and brought into the light... or one that could see the whole city burned in the name of purification.

REVIEW: I previously read (and greatly enjoyed) another book by Onyebuchi, his brutal examination of the human cost of war and environmental devastation War Girls. So I looked forward to trying this, which was apparently his debut novel. The concept and setting certainly sounded intriguing. Unfortunately, I found Taj a rather dense main character to follow around. He insists he does not care about anyone, yet almost as soon as we meet him he's taking in an orphan, a new-minted aki, and showing him the ropes of his new life as both the lowest of the low and the city's only defense against the sickness of its sins... and against monsters out of legend, who will tear the city apart to cleanse it should the stain of sin grow too strong. He has flashbacks that show him very specific things, yet takes far too long to recognize said things when he sees them again. He has experiences that should drastically change how he views everything, even how he handles the shadow beasts... then he inexplicably forgets all about them until the very last minute. He also spends far too much time not really doing anything. Yes, he fights sin beasts and deals with the frustrations of his pariah existence, but he doesn't actually do much except react to things done to him. And yet somehow he's potentially the most important aki, possibly the most important person, in the city of Kos, and everyone seems to be fighting to control him and his destiny... especially the women, who too often feel like they exist solely based on their interest and usefulness to Taj. (This was especially disappointing given how much I enjoyed the fiercely independent and rounded women and girls of War Girls, who may have had terrible things done to them but also had some agency and were able to make their own decisions regardless of whether they benefited a man.) Then the story starts devolving into a sort of morality lesson, and ends on a cliffhanger setting up the second installment.
I enjoyed the originality of the setting, and the concept of the sin beasts and the aki. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy Taj or many of the other characters, especially as they seemed to spend more time meandering and dithering through the city than progressing the story. I doubt I'll bother pursuing the next installment, unless there's not much else available on Overdrive when I need a new audiobook.

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