I really got swept up into Ren's world as a half British Reaper and half Japanese Shinigami. It's very dark, complex, and creative with enchanting world-building. The world-building is easily the strongest point of the novel, but the characters themselves are intriguing to follow too.

DNF @ 50%

I started reading this book and fell asleep within 10 minutes about 10 times. I wanted to like this book so much because the concept is really cool, but I just can't relate/root for any of the characters and the storyline is just a tad boring.

After reading The Scarlet Alchemist I was KICKING myself when I noticed I had an ARC for TKoN that I hadn´t read yet.
So I finally got around to reading it and wasn´t disappointed. It did have some debut hickups, but overall it was a very atmospheric read that felt very much like someone telling me a gruesome fairytale. (Seriously, we thought the original Grimm were bad?!)
I loved the MC and her struggle with fitting in, being good/evil. I really felt that/for her.
The only thing I might critique is a bit of a spoiler for the end:
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you have been warned:
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I thought it might be a bit in bad taste, that the only person with a disability turned out to be the villain. As well as the MC as a foreigner being portraied as "the big bad". I understand the reasoning, but I think it could have been dealt with differently?!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of <i>The Keeper of Night</i> in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

<h4 style="margin-top: 84px;">The Gist</h4>

<i>The Keeper of Night</i> by Kylie Lee Baker is a dark fantasy novel that weaves together elements of Japanese folklore and supernatural intrigue to create a unique and haunting story. While the book offers a rich and immersive world with a compelling protagonist, it struggles with pacing and character development, resulting in a mixed reading experience.

<h4>The Details</h4>

The story follows Ren Scarborough, a half-British Reaper and half-Japanese Shinigami, who has never truly belonged in either world. After a violent incident forces her to flee London, Ren travels to Japan with her younger brother, Neven, in search of acceptance and a place within the Japanese underworld. To gain the favor of the Goddess of Death, Ren must complete a series of dangerous tasks, each more harrowing than the last.

Baker excels in creating a vividly atmospheric setting. The depiction of the Japanese underworld is both eerie and enchanting, filled with mythical creatures and gods that add depth and authenticity to the story. The blend of Western and Eastern mythologies is handled skillfully, providing a fresh take on the supernatural genre.

Ren is a fascinating protagonist. Her internal conflict and struggle for identity are compelling, and her determination to carve out her own place in the world is relatable. However, her character development sometimes feels inconsistent. At times, her actions and decisions lack clear motivation, making it difficult to fully connect with her journey.

The relationship between Ren and her brother is one of the book's strengths. Their bond adds emotional weight to the story, and Neven's loyalty and innocence provide a stark contrast to Ren's darker inclinations. However, some secondary characters feel underdeveloped, and their roles in the story could have been more fleshed out to enhance the narrative.

However, the pacing of the novel is uneven. The initial chapters are gripping and set up an intriguing premise, but the middle section tends to drag with repetitive challenges and slower plot progression. The climax, while thrilling, feels somewhat rushed and leaves certain plot points unresolved or underexplored.

Baker's writing is lyrical and descriptive, effectively conveying the dark beauty of the setting and the intensity of Ren's emotions. However, there are moments where the prose becomes overly elaborate, slowing down the narrative and detracting from the story's momentum.

<h4>The Verdict</h4>

Overall, <i>The Keeper of Night</i> by Kylie Lee Baker is an imaginative and atmospheric fantasy that offers a fresh perspective on the supernatural genre. Despite its flaws in pacing and character development, the novel's unique setting and compelling protagonist make it a worthwhile read for fans of dark fantasy and Japanese folklore. While it may not fully realize its potential, it sets the stage for what could be an exciting and intriguing series.

The Keeper of Night follows half Reaper, half Shinigami Ren Scarborough, a girl who has never had a place in the violent hierarchy of reapers in her "home" of London despite her best efforts to navigate its cruelty. When defending herself leads to exile and a death sentence, she leaves behind everything she knows to seek refuge in Japan, only bringing along her younger brother in her quest to become a true Shinigami and serve the Goddess of Death, who requires Ren to prove herself by slaying three demons.

Ren's narration really left me torn. There were aspects of being her head that I truly did not enjoy, but the parts I did like were enough to help me finish the book! I liked the honest expression of anger and regret portrayed in her journey, and how she pushed the person who cared for her away to keep reaching for something she only thought she wanted. I really liked how this came together in the ending. The way her struggles with her heritage weave into the narrative was well done, and I am not surprised to glance at other reviews and see so many readers it resonated with! I also enjoyed the historical aspect and the exploration of Japanese folklore.

Overall, though, I think there were too many aspects that fell flat for me. There was a bit more telling than showing for me, especially when it came to the romance between Ren and Hiro, and at the end of the day, I did not enjoy the chosen portrayal of Reapers and Shinigami. They felt far more like humans with powers than the otherworldly spirits and specters of death I would have expected them to be. I recognize this is purely a personal preference, but it became very hard for me to appreciate the book for what it was rather than what I wanted it to be, and the more I thought about the more that the worldbuilding around them felt really underdeveloped. I think just approaching it as humans with powers or servants of Gods would have served the narrative a bit better.

I will be trying Kylie Lee Baker's other work, but I don't think I'll be reading the sequel. I would still recommend you try this if you read the summary and think it might be something you'll enjoy!

Thank you so much to Harper Collins Canada for sending me an ARC in exchange for review!

DNF 20%

I wanted so much to love this book. The concept is incredible, and the first scene sucked me right in. It was harrowing and intriguing all at once. But after that I struggled to connect to the character, and felt there was too much information and not enough emotional connection to establish me in the plot. I just couldn’t get into it, though I really wanted to. Perhaps the MC’s voice/personality just isn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

I found the pacing difficult to follow with at times, but overall I found that the mythological aspects were engaging, and I did finally manage to finish.

I know next to nothing of the tales of the Japanese afterlife, and so enjoyed learning about it through this book! It was well written and perfectly paced, and the twist actually caught me off guard, which I can't say happens frequently. I also loved the morally grey main character! Overall a great read that I have happily purchased for my library since reading it here, and recommend it frequently to my teen patrons.

It took almost two years since it was released, but I finally got around to reading THE KEEPER OF NIGHT! The premise promised shinigami and Japanese lore entwined into a tale about a half-British/half-Japanese main character looking for a place where she can be accepted completely... and this definitely delivered on that front. I enjoyed the way the author incorporated Japanese lore (which certainly leaned towards the darker, slightly more horror-leaning aspects of it by featuring shinigami and yokai) in tandem with a compelling character journey (both externally with some action sequences that I quite enjoyed and internally with Ren's emotional struggles).

However, a few things I feel are worth commenting on:

* The pacing wasn't always consistent. The beginning was a bit slow, though there was also a time skip that contradicted that early on.
* This book also incorporates a lot of familiar trope touchstones in the characters and the plot that veterans of fantasy reads and anime will easily recognize.
* While I appreciated the way the author portrayed Ren, I didn't always find her likable. There were times when I really found her very frustrating, though I could still empathize with her feelings and thought process.

Overall, I did get pretty swept up in THE KEEPER OF NIGHT! If you like morally gray characters, stories that incorporate Japanese lore (especially centered around shinigami, death and yokai in particular) and books that have the feel of an anime, this is one I'd easily recommend checking out.

Note: I listened to the audiobook narrated by Rebecca Yeo, and it was a great way to read the book! The narrator did a great job bringing Ren and her story to life.

“Everything I saw was a story that had been stolen from me”

“How could I possibly feel so close to the precipice of unraveling, so powerful yet so untethered? I was a butterfly twisted inside a tornado, the brightest colors between day and night, a little brown bird in the maw of a fox, waiting for the teeth to bite down.”

“I wouldn't give her my story to add to her collection, because it wasn't over yet”

This book was dark. it was immersive and most of all it was addicted. The author created a dark fantasy world that seemed to tie in issues that we see in our real world, but handled in a way that is fitting to the world created. I think as with most stories, the characters at times made frustrating decisions that were annoying to read about at times but overall necessary for the character arc and development. The cliffhanger however was brutal so I cannot wait to see how it further unravels.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley, Inkyard Press, and Kylie Lee Baker for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

I read this as a buddy read with someone from a Facebook group and I’m so glad I had an amazing buddy read experience with this person! We legit just finished this last night – I’m technically writing this on Saturday night so I finished it TONIGHT but this is posting on Sunday so… yeah you get what I mean – and I immediately had to text her to let her know what’s up.

WE WERE BOTH SHOOKETH AT THE ENDING!


I adored this book so freaking much, and I’m really, really glad that I got to read this. I adored the dichotomy of the light and the dark, how Ren never felt full Reaper or full Shinigami because she wasn’t. She was both, and yet people couldn’t see her as either because she was both… and ugh those parts just really got to me because I felt that. I’ve been super vocal about my experiences of being treated as not enough of what I am, both outside and within the book community, so I’m sure you know how much I relate to characters who go through the same thing. I loved her journey to and through Japan, and I loved the sibling dynamic between Ren and Neven and my gosh. Hiro. Hiro, Hiro, Hiro. The ending was freaking traumatizing honestly and it’s making me seriously wish that the second book would come out already. Or at least the synopsis! I need to know what’s going to happen next.

I like a morally grey character and hey Ren, go off. But what I don't love is a morally grey character being morally grey just because of a boy. To be fair, the only other significant character is Ren's brother Neven whose personality is being whiny for the first half of the book, but still. I think there were elements of a good book here--about belonging, being 'enough' of something, about acceptance and costs and getting what you thought you wanted, but it gets pulled down by characters that are just...not good and worldbuilding that doesn't happen at all.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker is the first in a dark fantasy duology that focuses on one Reaper’s determination to find where she fits in the world. Ren Scarborough is a Reaper of London, taking souls to meet Death night after night. However, she is only half Reaper. Her other half is Shinigami, and for that she has been shunned and picked on during her 500 years of life. Until one day, she’s had enough. With her brother, Ren flees London for Japan in the hopes she can find what has been missing.

I really enjoyed this story. Ren is an anti-hero, morally grey, and really had me questioning my own sanity in rooting for her. She’s determined to find her mother at all costs. The longer she is on this path, the less she remembers her brother, the one constant in her life. This isn’t a happy story, this is like a villain origin story as it will only get darker.

The world-building is great! I loved the blend of eastern and western mythology as Ren herself is a product of the two. Reapers are exactly what one might expect. They slip between the seconds, pausing time, to take the soul from the body of someone who is dying, “reaping” them for Death. As much as I identified and understood this mythology, it was learning about and seeing how the author blended Japanese mythology into the story. I loved how this added to the fantasy and magic of the story.

While I had an eARC of this book, I wound up purchasing an audiobook copy. I loved the narrator! She was fantastic. I got lost in the story, completely engrossed in her storytelling. I highly recommend this format if you are a fan of audiobooks.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Keeper of Night, so much so I almost immediately dove into book two. Dark fantasy fans and fans of anti-heroes will enjoy this one. Highly recommend!

A good start to the duology. I love how dark this novel was, the reapers are supposed to be performing a job but some of them seem to take an unnecessary interest in that job. Ren has a lot of anger issues from being bullied and made to feel like an outsider by the reapers, including her own family. It will be interesting to see if Ren deals with this anger in the second book or uses it to attain her goals. Looking forward to reading book #2 The Empress of Time.

Ren has never really fit in. She's half Japanese shinigami, but living and working in London as a reaper with her father and half-brother, Neven. After losing control of her still-developing shinigami powers, Ren flees London and goes off in search of her mother in Japan. Turns out in Japan, she once again doesn't fit in, she isn't "Japanese enough" or shinigami enough to be accepted there. She makes a deal with the goddess of death that she can join the ranks if she kills 3 yokai that are upsetting the balance. But this quest is not as simple as it seems (never is, is it?)

This book was really good and so rich in Japanese lore. I felt like I learned a lot of the mythology there, but was also invested in the story. The only downside was that Ren is so utterly unlikeable, like from the first chapter. I did really enjoy it and I am excited to read the second book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book.

I enjoyed The Keeper of the Night! A unique fantasy that explores death and power, Baker also uses this as a way to analyze the experiences of being biracial. As someone who is white and Japanese, Ren’s struggles were often my own and I could see many experiences of my own echoed. Ultimately I felt like this book was missing something though and the pacing was a bit odd at times. 3.5 stars though and I will read the sequel!

This was not for me. I found there to be MOMENTS where I was pulled in and invested, but otherwise found it a bit of a drag to finish. Thank you for the opportunity to read, just this writing style was not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

Oh my goodness, I absolutely adored this book! I think the best part is the plot and the way it keeps you on your toes. There's betrayal, mistakes, and so much hope in belonging and finding a family. Ren is the kind of character that you want to root for right from the beginning, and her journey to simply find a place that she belongs is so touching and relatable. The world refuses to see her for who she is, and her journey is one that constantly tugs at your heart.

I think this was my first Japanese fantasy, and I adored the world and lore and how unique it is. The book is written to make it so uncanny and unsettling, and that's something that really highlights Ren's story.

I cannot wait to see where the next book takes Ren, and I would highly recommend this book to any fantasy fans!

The Keeper of Night is such a beautifully written fantasy. The world-building is outstanding. The story is well written with an enchanting storyline and well-developed characters that engage from start to finish. The world is atmospheric and feels real with vivid descriptions and rich imagery. Kylie Lee Baker has earned herself a spot on my auto-buy authors list. I cannot get enough. Highly recommended. Be sure to check out The Keeper of Night today.