Happy Sunday, friend! Hope you have had a nice weekend and are planning to relax before going back to work. Today, I am sharing a book discussion about The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker. This was my first buddy read with SK and it was a lot of fun. Check out the synopsis below and then read on for our thoughts.
Death is her destiny.
Half British Reaper, half Japanese Shinigami, Ren Scarborough has been collecting souls in the London streets for centuries. Expected to obey the harsh hierarchy of the Reapers who despise her, Ren conceals her emotions and avoids her tormentors as best she can.
When her failure to control her Shinigami abilities drives Ren out of London, she flees to Japan to seek the acceptance she’s never gotten from her fellow Reapers. Accompanied by her younger brother, the only being on earth to care for her, Ren enters the Japanese underworld to serve the Goddess of Death… only to learn that here, too, she must prove herself worthy. Determined to earn respect, Ren accepts an impossible task—find and eliminate three dangerous Yokai demons—and learns how far she’ll go to claim her place at Death’s side.
Content Notes include Death, Violence, Body horror, Racism, Abandonment, Animal death, Death of parent, Bullying.
The Keeper of Night
SK brought The Keeper of Night to my attention and I thought it would be a good one to discuss with her! Published in 2021, I had seen this book around a bit but hadn’t gotten around to adding it to my list. SK, what piqued your interest in this book?
I was finishing up my r/Fantasy bingo board and I was planning to read The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu (still am planning to read it!) for the “set in Asia” square when I heard about this book from a reading group I’m in. I love mythology and folklore surrounding Death, and so I immediately knew I wanted to read this book. It was awesome to mention to you and buddy read it with you!
I loved how The Keeper of Night delved into two distinct geographical areas and analyzed the legends of death in England and Japan. I have read a few books dealing with time recently and I enjoyed how the reapers can control time while the shinigami have influence on light and dark. What did you think about these different ways in which death and soul collection is carried out in different parts of the world? I think the book mentioned some other places too but I do not recall what their powers were.
I really loved how other-worldly the Reapers were portrayed. I had not heard of Ankou as a personification of death before, so I immediately did some reading and found that he’s very similar to our Grim Reaper, with the robe, hood (or hat!), and scythe etc. The time powers of the Reapers were very cool and I really enjoyed how Ren had both Reaper and Shinigami powers, giving her an edge. The powers being different was fascinating and I would love to explore other places and other interpretations of the personification of death. The Reapers were brutal with their soul collection, but the Shinigami were brutal in other ways.
I haven’t done much reading with reapers or shinigami in the last decade so this was a refreshing book for me! The Japanese underworld seemed a lot more wroth with danger than England and the mission that Izanami sends Ren on is beyond dangerous.
I would say I interpreted the two are equally dangerous but in different ways. Izanami and the head Reapers were both callous and without mercy, safely ensconced in their power. So I felt that they both had dangers, they just came out in different ways. For instance, in the Reaper underworld, Ren had to contend with petty cruelties leading to unjust punishments. She didn’t have to deal with that among the Shinigami (though she saw it) and the petty cruelty was more in passing rather than ritualized. But in the Shinigami underworld, she was far from safe, and realizing that there are monsters there added a lot of tension for me. I loved the different ways of getting into the Underworlds, too, and how they tied directly back to their powers.
I liked how Neven tried to keep Ren empathetic and questioned her decisions as she got closer and rasher in her judgement. Ren may not be human but she still has human traits, feelings, ambitions and this is what made her a good protagonist in my mind – she is a grey character with her struggles and successes.
I loved Neven!! He broke my heart with his kindness and compassion and his anchoring of Ren to a world of empathy and understanding. He softens her a lot, which we saw right away was something she saw as dangerous, and that continued along her journey. I think all three– Neven, Ren, and Hiro – were grey characters, falling in different places on the scale, but they all balanced good and bad in themselves, and in the end (minor spoilers) it seems that’s what this book was really about– that tug of war between darkness and light, between empathy and judgement.
The way Ren is introduced in the first chapter, taking a soul from a dying human, was a captivating start to the story. She develops so much throughout The Keeper of Night and I connected with her on many levels. Our origins and roots play an important role in helping us feel we belong and it was heartbreaking to learn about her upbringing in England. She felt that she would find a place in her other culture but being seen as an outsider even there was very hard for her. Having moved countries and settled in a place completely different from the one I grew up in, I related to her endeavors to be accepted.
I loved this aspect of the book too, and I was so sad for Ren when we learn that she had to learn about her country of birth in secret. Her teaching herself Japanese was something I identified with strongly, and the struggles therein (though I have not studied Japanese). Her being bullied came through really strong and rang true for me, too, so her character made sense and I identified with her right away. As the book went on, I pulled away a bit, screaming at her in my head along with Neven, but I understood her reasons for every action. That was so well done!
Age makes this a bit more complicated- throughout the book I thought of Ren as a young adult or new adult, at best, even though she and her other servants of death have lived for centuries. We expected to grow wiser with age but maybe they haven’t had the life experiences to grow into something more? While I did relate to Ren’s quest to find acceptance, I also felt that in some ways, she needed to accept herself more than she needed others to accept her.
I would agree with that completely. I think she really needed to just accept herself wholly and I think that would have changed the course of the book, if she’d been able to do that. But I think, while she’s hundreds of years old, she’s still in that new-adult range as far as maturity. I enjoyed her reflections on the briefer span of human lives and how humans still found meaning and happiness there. I also think that the longer lifespan and slower maturity means more time to for habits to be ingrained, which likely made it hard for her to change and learn the lessons– like how to accept herself as just who she is. For instance, Neven had no trouble accepting her and just Ren, both Reaper and Shinigami and not lessened by either, but he is younger than her and also had always accepted her that way. Her projection of her own fears on him I think was one sign that old habits die hard.
Neven is hands down my favorite character. The last couple characters of the book were very addicting and flew up. Ren’s descent into darkness felt inevitable. I got the impression that even though she attained the thing she had most wanted, she couldn’t quite enjoy it without Neven and for the next foreseeable future, her goal would be to find him. I am very interested in seeing how the next book continues the story and really hope that Neven features in it again. Brutal as it may be, it may also be best for him to not be there and really drive home the loss that Ren brought on herself because of her choices and greed.
I adore Neven!! He anchored her to her compassion and her wisdom– which made sense what happened in the end of the book. I was horrified when it was revealed what actually happened and felt justified at her reaction, her inability to enjoy anything and her obsession with finding her brother. I’d love to see Neven pop back up again, but I hope he stays a cinnamon roll! But yes, him never appearing again would really drive home that some things can’t be undone. That choices need to be thought out and not made out of anger, especially when they refer to someone else!
I have read some conflicting views of readers about Hiro and Ren’s chemistry and for me, I quite enjoyed it! In Hiro, Ren found someone to look upto and someone who understood her. He is secretive and has hidden agendas that were to be expected, but I felt that he cared for her and she was probably one of the best things that happened to him in a long time.
Hiro creeped me out, lol! I understood her attraction and there were a lot of qualities to admire to him, but his secrecy and the way he kept her under his thumb (even willingly) increasingly bothered me. Which meant that what happened with him made complete sense to me and worked really really well! I do think he cared about her, but I think he wasn’t able to love in a non-destructive way. I think his story was always going to end in tears because of that.
What did you think of Hiro and his relationship with Izanami? Was that something you were able to guess earlier in the story?
This came as a surprise to me but I really liked it. I had been thinking that perhaps Ren was related to Izanami, but the real reveal worked perfectly for me, and everything clicked into place. I loved it and thought it was extremely well done!
This book was very violent, and for me that worked in a fairytale sort of way. It matched the darker, closer-to-the-original Grimm tales and other mythology I immersed myself in when I was growing up, and I loved that because it worked so well with her being in a land of monsters and gods. How was it for you?
This felt like a fairy tale to me too! I did not grow up reading Grimm tales so I can’t relate the same way but the interactions I have had with fairy tales since moving to Canada, especially through Once Upon A Time, the TV series, was helpful in getting a feel for the stage that this is set in. Reading about gods is something I have started to enjoy more and more now, with Trudie’s The Thirteenth Hour and Hindu mythology retellings like The Girl and The Goddess and The Palace of Illusions. The Keeper of Night gave me some exposure to other mythologies that I haven’t dug into.
There was a strong thread of the nature of strength through the book. Ren is obsessed with seeming strong, because of trying to fit in with the Reapers and trying to prove herself. And yet, I think Neven was consistently shown to be the stronger one, even though he’s quiet and unassuming and blanches at gore and is merciful. Even though Neven is considered weak in the world of the Reapers and Shinigami. What do you think?
I agree with you! Naven has a strength that I found very appealing – something to turn to when all else fails. Ren’s experiences have not been positive and her treatment as an outsider wherever she goes has led her to focus on her power and be visible and threatening that way. She sees that as the way of showing her worth and she is not wrong. It is her power that ultimately makes people take her more seriously while Naven has not had to encounter that sort of resistance until he gets to the Shinigami world. I loved that he stayed true to his nature and did not attempt to do anything special just because he looks and is different. He owns his uniqueness in a self-sufficient way that Ren can learn from if she chooses to.
What did you think about the Yokai and how different their tactics had to be in combating them? I really enjoyed how they ended up learning something new each time, though the first time seemed most difficult aside from Neven’s intervention. It didn’t seem to be really about the difficulty, to me, but instead about the pieces of information Ren learns.
The first time was terrifying but key to revealing how Ren’s powers worked and how she had been affected by leaving Ankou. I felt that the chaos and trauma of each of the Yokai was presented well and made me question Izanami’s true intentions every time. It also brought Ren’s own drive to be accepted in view, exposing her good and bad traits. That she would go to any length to be accepted, but Naven’s safety is one of the paramount things for her, if she is thinking straight.
The ways into the Reaper stronghold and Izanami’s Underworld are both hidden ways. I love how we’re shown how in the beginning of the book how the key to getting into the Reapers’ home lies in their powers. Did you guess what it would be for the Shinigami? I was just guessing the key when she did, so that was a cool moment.
I did not do much guessing with this book. My brain was all in for the ride 🙂 Highly recommended as an audiobook!
Have you read this book yet? Tell us your thoughts in the comments or link to your reviews so we can check them out. If you are convinced to pick it up, add it to your Goodreads and Storygraph shelves. The Keeper of Night is the first book in the series of the same name. The follow-up book, The Empress of Time is expected to be released in October. We look forward to discussing that too!
Head to the buddy reads page to find other detailed book discussions!
Cover Photo by Aditya Vyas on Unsplash
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