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.

I think this pretty much solidifies Japanese mythology as one of my absolute favourites to read.

I really do judge a book by its cover, and I'm sorry to say that I dragged my feet on starting this one because the style of the cover art just did not appeal to me. That was clearly my loss and mistake because I was obsessed with this right from the very first chapter.

Ren is half-Shinigami, half-Reaper; half-Japanese, half-British. As such, she is an immortal servant of a death god, and she takes the souls of those who are ready to die. In London, this means she can stop time around her and tear out a soul through a person's mouth. But her Japanese heritage means she also has the power to control light and darkness, which makes her dangerous. When the British Reapers decide she is a threat that must be stopped, she flees to Japan with her younger half-brother. In order to be deemed a Shinigami by the Japanese death goddess, she must kill three Yokai demons.

This was such a cool world with so much to love! Japanese mythology is so vast and rich, and Baker taps into it to bring this story to life in so many great ways. The magic of the Reapers and the Shinigami fit into the story so well and take it in exciting directions. I especially love the advantage the combined magic gave Ren in her quest to kill these supposedly undefeatable Yokai. And speaking of the Yokai, they were only mildly terrifying! One freezes men in the snow, one eats men in the sea, and another is a nine-tailed fox. I enjoyed how Ren had to work to figure out how to beat them.

Can we take a second to appreciate how morally grey the characters in this book were, though? Not everyone can pull it off, and Baker absolutely did with Ren. Her motivations, her decisions, the justifications she applied to certain actions. It really is something of a villain origin story and I loved that so much!

I found it so interesting how much Ren is driven by her identity. She is never seen just as who she is, no matter where in the world she is, but always as something half and lesser for it. In London, she is called Shinigami as an insult; in Japan she is belittled with the title Reaper. She is too Japanese for the Brits, but in the place where she was born, she is deemed a foreigner. She cannot ever be just one, but the world won't let her be both either. It really makes you sympathize with her as she makes her decisions based on how she wishes to be viewed and what pieces of her identity are most important to her. And it also makes you wonder whether those were the right choices or not.

That ending was incredible! So many fabulous twists, one after the other, that kept me on my toes and left me absolutely begging for the sequel because it looks like it is going to be a doozy.

Ren is such a great character and is relatable. Neven was my favorite character ever, such a sweet boy. I need to read book two to see if she ever finds what she was seeking!

I absolutely loved the Japanese folklore and mythology that was included in this book. I would argue it was the best part and in addition to the dark atmosphere, it made for some terrifying characters ahaha. I’m thinking of one character in particular, iykyk, I am absolutely terrified of her ahahaha. This book is packed with morally grey characters, the world and concepts of Reapers and Shinigami and their powers totally rocked my socks (even if there are a couple holes where things don’t make too much sense). I am a huge fan of powers that include time manipulation and squealed when I found out this had been included.

I appreciated the fact this book didn’t focus too too much on the romance. We actually get a deeper sibling relationship between Ren and her brother Neven, though, as a result, I didn’t really get why she would opt to prioritize Hiro, her love interest, when they first meet, instead of her brother, who she’s known and loved for more than a century. I am not a huge fan of MC’s making questionable decisions for the sake of adding conflict to the plot, which this clearly was to me, and it also made Ren and Hiro feel very instalove, which isn’t a trope I enjoy either. I also wish Ren’s character had gotten a bit more development - I would’ve loved to see more of Japan through her eyes, watch her fall in love with it and really want to become a Shinigami for that reason vs just wanting to belong.

In terms of content warnings, there is racism/conflict around Ren being “Other”, bullying, violence, death.

I listened to this as an audiobook and thought the narrators were great. If you’re one to get lost/confused when there’s a bunch of new terminology in a different language, I’d suggest reading a physical or ebook.

Overall, I’d probably give this a 3.5-3.75 stars (rounded to 4).

A huge thanks to Inkyard Press, Harper Collins Canada and Netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Morally grey character? yes please! bi racial main character?! Honestly this book had so many good points! the story was very interesting, however the 2nd half of the book could of been a bit better. Otherwise I enjoyed this book

I really enjoyed this book. I hope the author continues to write more books in the future. I can't wait to see what the author releases in the future.

I loved the concept for this book. The atmosphere and the way the Reapers and Yokai magic works was interesting. The plot unfortunately was a little tropey and predictable.