Wow! Now Beasts of Prey is the kind of Fantasy book that hooks me from beginning to end. There was a lot of action and not a minute went by without something happening, which will definitely make for an incredible movie on Netflix.

This gave me some of the same feelings that books like Children of Blood & Bone, Gravemaidens, and Song of Wraiths & Ruin gave me. Epic Fantasy is not my every day genre, but when I do pick one up, I need it to leave me completely empty inside, like this one did. Like I’ve just spent a year hiking a dangerous trail filled with killer bears and venomous snakes, only to find out that my home has burnt down and I have no where to go… Beasts of Prey is that trail! Now I need a sequel immediately. I won’t feel at home until I have one!

Koffi and Ekon were incredible MC’s!! I was rooting for them to end up together by the ending. Having a little Romance never hurt anyone. However, this is set to be a slooooooooooow burn. Which I am here for, as long as we get pay out in the end!😂

Wow. This book is a ride! The character development and plot (along with the twists) are so fun to read. Thr fantasy setting is fantastic. And Beasts of Prey as a metaphor is woven throughout the story. I will recommend this to any fantasy reader.

Thank you so much to Penguin Teen for an early copy in exchange for an honest review:

The beginning started off pretty slow but it’s definitely a WIN for ya fantasy!! WHAT A DEBUT!!!

the magic was beautiful— it’s a non-eurocentric fantasy book inspired by Pan-Africa. And I loved reading all the sly tributes they had to some well-known African myths, and cultures.


- there multiple POVS so the pacing made it easy to follow along
- the main characters are unlikely allies, kind of enemies to lovers which is a yes for me
-equal amount of romance and plot which was amazing
- and i’m a sucker for past present storylines which IT GAVE!!

plus that ENDING??? book two yesterday please!!!

Overall rating: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Pacing: 5/5

This was hands down one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. I had been in a fantasy reading slump (and a normal reading slump before that) for weeks before reading Beasts of Prey, and this was the book that finally pulled me out of it.

The plot is so creative and unique, but the best part of the book is Grey’s writing. I can almost see the jungle as she describes it; her words created an entire movie that played in my head while I was reading. The world of Lokossa was so vibrant and beautiful to the point where the city and its inhabitants seemed real.

Koffi and Ekon were such a fantastic duo together. Koffi was such an easy character to relate to and root for; you love her from the moment she’s introduced. Although I love Koffi with my whole heart, my favorite character was definitely Ekon. There’s barely any mental health representation in fantasy (a disappointing but very true fact) so I was so happy to see that rep with Ekon. He deals with OCD and anxiety, and I love how it’s not portrayed as a problem he has to fix or overcome. Koffi accepts him wholeheartedly for who he is and never pushes him to try and change himself.

Anyways I’m so in love with this story! I honestly wish I hadn’t read it as soon as it came out because now I’ll have to wait anxiously for months to find out what happens to these characters (I’ll be checking my Goodreads for updates every day),

Overall: Easy to understand worldbuilding, diverse, mental health rep

First is all... Wow!
This book has an amazing world, magic system and characters. I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this story. This story does jump through two different timelines, which took me a bit to figure out and also through 3 different characters POV's. The magic system is so unique from anything else I've read. I enjoyed watching the characters grow and learn. I felt their hope and failures, sadness and happiness.
Some of my favorite scenes were in the Greater Jungle and seeing all the different creatures. Definitely not a jungle I'd want to wander through.
Heads up, one hell of a cliff hanger at the end!
Thank you to Penguin Publishing and Netgalley for a free e-arc to read and review.

Thank you to Penguin Teen Canada for sending me an ARC via netgalley for an honest review.
3.5/5 stars
I had really high hopes for this book, but I found it a little bit too slow for my taste, and it didn’t feel like something brand new.
I enjoyed reading Beasts of Prey and I thought the writing flowed well. The worldbuilding with the Greater Jungle was really good, but I wanted a little bit more about the impact of the Rapture, and also more explanation for politics and race. Things were alluded to, but I didn’t feel like I’d been given a thorough explanation. The beasts that were encountered in the book were really neat, and I liked hearing the stories and folktales that Koffi and Ekon knew.
Koffi is a girl who is an indentured slave to the Night Zoo, but when she accidentally uses magic and destroys the zoo, she makes a deal with the owner to bring back the Shetani and erase her debts along with her mother’s. The Shetani is a feared creature that has been stalking Lkossa for a century and brutally killing people. I thought Koffi was an interesting character, but I didn’t really connect with her. Koffi’s journey to find the Shetani intersects with Ekon’s journey to kill the Shetani.
I liked Ekon a bit more than Koffi, and I liked the anxiety and mental health rep through his counting and his fixation on numbers. Ekon has believed that becoming a Son of the Six warrior will prove he’s a man, and that it will make his late father proud. When something interrupts his initiation, Ekon is desperate to do something that will prove he’s worthy of the position. He decides to hunt and kill the Shetani.
Ekon and Koffi work together to navigate the Greater Jungle in their search for the Shetani. I thought that together they made a good team, but the romance didn’t feel very necessary.
In terms of pacing, the beginning was quite slow, and there were a few sections in the middle that slowed down a bit too much for me. I found it easy to get distracted while reading, and I would have to go back to remind myself of what had happened on the previous page. I was also really confused over the chapters about Adiah for over half of the book. They seemed strange, and they pulled me out of Koffi and Ekon’s story. Once everything was revealed, it made sense why they were there but it was just an unexpected confusion for a large portion of the story.
Overall, it was a good YA fantasy. I think younger YA readers will really enjoy this one.

This is a fantastic debut novel. What a magical new series to sink my teeth into. I was stunned to discover that this was a debut novel as it is majestically written. I loved the magic system. The back story. The two lead characters were extremely well written and the world building was beautiful. Very descriptive but not overwhelming. Loved that dramatic ending and I need the next book now. Please and thank you.

Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Young Readers Group, for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, I left this at 20%.

I really enjoyed the lush forest setting and wish it was utilized more, along with the animals. I felt like there was too much focus on these two characters that were...definitely YA cookie cutter characters, making the same stupid mistakes, a bit too tropey for my liking. It's a shame because the worldbuilding is great, but I can't stand either of the main characters to keep reading.

I enjoyed reading this book which is about 16 year old Koffi who cares for magical creatures but is threatened by the Zoo’s master and then there is Ekom who is an elite warrior but has to face the Shetani. Both have an alliance to hunt down the creature. I enjoyed the fact that this book had parts to section off the story which helps build up the story. Though I do have to say that the beginning was a little slow but once the action starts then the book is amazing with great pacing and conflicts. I enjoyed the world building of the book and the plot structure was well done. Also I loved the setting of the jungle which I thought was very cool and unique. This book is also written in three povs so you have a variety of main characters.

The main characters are Koffi, Ekon and Aidah, most I enjoyed. They all had great characters developed in the book and fitted so well together though Ekon was a character that I couldn’t get along with. There were also not that many side characters and I wish there were but the villain in the story was very well written. There is also barely any romance in the book so don’t expect that but the main theme of it instead is friendship. I think the developing of the characters friendship was well done so kudos to that.

The ending was great and wasn’t rushed at all. I loved the diversity of this book and the pan African myth background. I’m really glad to have read this book because the magic system was so well done with great conflicts thrown in that it made the story so much more interesting. I did have some few problems with the book but overall it was a great read. I will be reading more books from this author and recommend this book to fans of Woven in Moonlight and Blood Like Magic.

What can I say about this amazing book that hasn’t already been said? Ayana Gray is 109% one of the hottest new YA authors and I cannot WAIT to see where her amazing talent continues to take us! Not only is her story brilliantly written, but it’s so vibrant with such a unique magic system I really was pulled in from the first page. And I’m obsessed with our main couple, I need more of them right now! I cannot wait until it’s time for book 2 in this series!

I kid you not when I say this is one of the best fantasy books of the decade (technically the decade just started but I mean the whole two decades of my existence and most likely the upcoming decade so-)

Everything from the visuals to the descriptions to the world and the African myth and lore inspiration behind it, the characters, their hardships and desires, their will and intent, but most of all their personalities- were absolutely STELLAR

I loved every single minute I spend reading this book and every single minute after the fact that I spent thinking about it. I can’t wait for more, I NEED more.

Thank you to the Penguin Teen Influencers program for sharing this e-arc of Beasts of Prey with me!

I am so happy to say that Beasts of Prey lives up to the hype!! It was a bit slow to start, but once the story got going it did not stop. I became hooked about half way through and I couldn’t put it down. I love the cliffhanger ending and I can’t wait to find out what happens next.
My favorite part is definitely the imagery and depictions of all the beasts. The author is so creative! I’m super excited to see this world come to life in the Netflix show!!
I do have one complaint . . . WHY IS IT ALWAYS SPIDERS?! Warning for my fellow arachnophobes: there is a HORRIBLE sequence involving spiders that I had to skim through. Ugh I’m even getting freaked out just writing this!

Despite the slow start and terrifying spider scene, I really loved Beasts of Prey! I’m so excited to find out what happens next and to watch the Netflix adaptation!!

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of Beasts of Prey!!

This is an incredible YA fantasy debut! It is quite simply a beautifully woven story about two characters from different places in their society who struggle to figure out their place and who come to realize that they have been lied to about some key features of their world throughout their lives. It also features some super awesome magical animals (a whole Night Zoo full of them!) and some really breathtaking world-building. The characters, both main characters and side characters, are very deep and well-crafted, and I was left wanting to know what happens next. I also really loved the weaving of past and present throughout the book, and though I'm usually bothered a lot when there are random first-person parts in a mostly third-person novel, I didn't mind it here, and I actually thought it worked very well due to Ayana Gray's incredible writing ability.

Beasts of Prey is one of my favorite YA fantasy novels of the year, and I highly recommend it!!

Beasts of Prey was an absolute joy to read. This novel felt very reminiscent of the typical fantasy tropes but in a new and reimagined way. The night zoo itself had me hooked from the beginning, in such a fantastical way. The jungle also had me very intrigued and interested. However, not only the setting had me hooked on this fanatical tale. I very much enjoyed the plot and its structure, and the characters themselves.

This was my most anticipated read of 2021 and it did not disappoint. First off enemies to lovers in YA have never been done quite like this! This was one of the best African mythology books I've read in a long time. I found myself looking up each creature, and was delighted to discover there was fiction on them. So happy that this author is bringing those paranormal entities to the mainstream of American pop culture. Also, super excited that this is the first-ever Pan-African fantasy and cannot wait to see what comes next now that the door has been opened.

I had a lot of fun reading Beasts of Prey! What I loved most was the world building. The city of Lkossa had such rich history and folklore that it felt like a real place. The interweaving of mythology into the creatures of the jungle made for a really interesting read. All of the creatures felt very unique and I had a lot of fun imagining them and what they looked like. The writing style added this ambiance of a mystical adventure which definitely propelled me through the book. It also helped me visualize the setting and the city. I have a clear image in my mind of what the city looks like and I can't wait to learn more about it.

My favourite character would have to be Ekon. I related to him the most and I thought that his OCD and anxiety was written very well. While Ekon and Koffi have similar goals, they couldn't be more different. The dual perspective was very distinctive and you could see each of the characters come to life. I was invested in the romance right from the get go. We have this really cute dynamic of a rule breaker with a strict rule follower. It was intriguing to see what they brought out in each other. The plot was very unique and is what drew me into this book initially. At times it did become a bit slow but otherwise it was engaging. I didn't see any of the plot twists coming but some of them weren't super shocking. That said there was lot of action especially towards the end. I'll definitely be picking up the next book in the series!

This book is filled with interesting creatures, dynamic characters and a beautiful setting.

This book was a rollercoaster. It has three points of view - two from the present time of the main character and one from a past mysterious character. And all of their storylines tie together by the end in an amazing way. The magic system in this world is truly amazing, along with the beings in it. The entire world building throughout this book is brilliant. I can’t wait for the next book….and the movie!!

Have you ever read a book that was objectively good and that you enjoyed, but still felt let down when you finished it? That’s how I felt reading Beasts of Prey. It was a solid four star read. The magic and plot were interesting. The characters were nothing special, but they weren’t bad. But I had gone into the book with really high hopes. I’d seen multiple reviews calling this book their “new favorite read” and “life changing”, and for me, it was just good. I definitely want to pick up the sequel when it comes out—YES there will be a sequel! The book was pushed and marketed like a standalone, Goodreads has it marked as a standalone, but it ends on a cliffhanger and there will be a book 2. And when book 2 comes out, I will read it as well as any more books there end up being in the series. If my expectations hadn’t been so high, I might have been more excited and impatient for those releases, but right now I feel vaguely indifferent towards having to wait for more.
I did really enjoy the pan-African setting and culture. There are so few high fantasy novels featuring Black characters and an African inspired setting (I can only think of three—Children of Blood and Bone, Raybearer, and A Song of Wraiths and Ruin), so seeing that representation is great and necessary. The premise of the magic and mythology was familiar and unique at the same time—and I mean that in the best way. There was the familiar underscores of magic can be dangerous and too much corrupts in the mythology of the world, but the way that magical elements (and especially the forest) manifested in the present day of the novel wasn’t anything I’d seen before, and was very intriguing.
The plot was interesting, but there were places where it dragged and turns that the plot took that I just didn’t quite enjoy. I liked the big plot twist and where it ended up taking the story, but I didn’t enjoy the way it played out in the reveal and everything with Badwa. I think the whole, mystical mentor thing can be very difficult to pull off, the execution didn’t work for me.
However, the turns the plot took after that point were enjoyable and kept me engaged. I got really into the book and read the last 1/3 of it in one sitting.
Again, the characters were fine. There was nothing wrong with them, I just never fully connected with them. I think Ekon was supposed to have OCD. I have OCD myself, and while I found it cool to see that representation in fantasy where it is exceedingly rare, something about the way it was portrayed rang a little hollow. The romance felt very out of place to me. I felt absolutely no chemistry. It kind of felt like the author was told “you need a romance to sell books”, so she added one in. There was just no spark between them, no chemistry. It felt forced, and I think the book would have been better (and otherwise unchanged) without it.
And I know this review is pretty critical. I’m sorry about that. I genuinely did enjoy this book, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a high fantasy recommendation.

I enjoyed this book so much! First the cover drew me in but the story made me stay. I loved the magic, the mythology and especially the diversity. Cannot wait to read more from this author.

I loved it so much. You'll love it too if you love: Quests, labrynth vibes, monsters, bookish boys, scholar boys go on adventures with badass girls, goddesses, magic, fancy plant knowledge, OCD representation, an entirely POC cast, diverse hairstyles. THAT ENDING. pls i need book 2 immediately