tw: child abuse & beatings, abandonment, violence, death of a parent

Set in the walled land of Kos, Beasts Made of Night is a Nigerian inspired high fantasy about deeply reviled beings called Aki, who feed on Sin. Spiritual leaders called Mages use their power to extract a person's sins which then materialise into fearsome beasts and its an Aki's job to defeat the creature and consume it. In this setting we meet the main character Taj, a detached and highly talented Aki whose skills have earned him the attention of the Royal Kayas, supposedly the purest beings in Kos.

With such an intricate magic system I appreciated the simple structure of this story and the natural execution of the world-building and the exposition, two things I find it's very easy to get wrong in any fantasy novel. I was impressed by the way in which Onyebuchi crafted this fantasy world, it was extremely detailed but with digestible prose and easy dialogue. I thought it was interesting how the story draws upon different cultural sources from Nigerian mythology and food to Islamic practices such as prayer and the Arabic language to create a richly reimagined world.

On the other hand I thought the main villain, Izu, lacked substance, he seemed very one-dimensional. Also, despite how much I loved the action throughout the story, the ending felt very frenzied to the point of disconnect. To it's credit though, I enjoyed the feeling of high stakes the action scenes gave me and because of my overall enjoyment of this novel I've awarded it 4 stars!