Beasts Made of Night

July 31, 2017
Themes of belonging, self-discovery, and inequity round out the richly imagined world of Onyebuchi’s debut, where war and dark magic are around every corner. Taj is an aki, a sin eater; important yet reviled, aki battle and consume the sins of others, which take on the physical form of beasts. The tattoos of the sins Taj has eaten cover his body, marking him as other: “The lion etched into my skin will be with me forever now, a marker of Prince Haris’s sin. Now he can walk around pure and noble and free while I carry the evidence of his crimes.” When Taj and fellow aki Bo are summoned to eat the sin of King Kolade himself, the dragon that manifests from his sin nearly kills Taj, resulting in a tattoo unlike any other. Immediately threatened with arrest, Taj flees but is captured and forced into the king’s service. Onyebuchi’s worldbuilding is vivid and beguiling, and Taj’s outward cockiness hides a core of vulnerability. A coming revolution will have readers looking forward to the next book. Ages 12–up. Agent: Noah Ballard, Curtis Brown.

Listeners will benefit from narrator Prentice Onayemi's theater background as he sweeps them into the world of Kos, in which a sinner can pay to have a mage remove his or her sins. The sins turn into a beast that can be eaten by a paid sin-eater. The voice of the most gifted sin-eater, Taj, is the heart of the story. Onayemi gives him an African-sounding accent that is reflective of the story's use of African mythology. Taj is easily differentiated from the other characters, including the darker characters who would use his talent, and the princess who cares for him. Onayemi allows the suspense to build naturally throughout the story. B.F. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine