"Death is her destiny."
London, towards the end of the 19th Century. Ren Scarborough is a supernatural creature, an half-breed between a British reaper and a Japanese shinigami. Looked down upon and despised by her peers because of her hybrid nature, she only finds solace in collecting souls from the dying and in her relationship with her younger brother Neven, the only person who honestly cares for her.
One night, as she is being attacked by a particularly vicious tormentor of hers, Ren loses control of her powers, and in the aftermath is marked for destruction and hunted down by the High Reapers. Seeing no other way out, and hoping to find the acceptance she never had in London, she sets out to Japan, her mother's homeland. Accompanied by Neven and by an outcast shinigami named Hiro, Ren eventually manages to reach Yomi, the Japanese underworld, only to learn that, if she wants to earn the approval of the goddess of death Izanami, she will have to slay three dangerous youkai that have plagued the populace of Japan for centuries. Willing to find her place in the world, Ren accepts the task. How far is she willing to go in order to get the recognition and respect she's after?
The Keeper of Night is a 2021 YA novel by Kylie Lee Baker, published by Inkyard Press. It has a sequel, The Empress of Time, which came out in the following year.
The Keeper of Night contains examples of:
- Alpha Bitch: Ivy is Ren's main tormentor and loves to flaunt her status as an High Reaper.
- Everybody Hates Hades: Izanami turns out to be the Big Bad of the story, and the murderer of Ren's mother.
- Evil Matriarch: Izanami is Hiro's mother and a petty, megalomaniac control freak who hates her son and considers him a dishonor.
- Half-Breed Angst: The source of Ren's torment is the fact that, as an half-breed between reaper and shinigami, she is hated and discriminated against by the other reapers.
- It's All About Me: Ren's main flaw is that she refuses to acknowledge the needs and wishes of anyone except her own and Neven's. And when push comes to shove, she will prioritize herself over Neven.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Neven is the nicest person in the story. He loves cats and brings an adopted stray with him on the journey. It sadly gets killed soon enough.
- Morality Pet: Neven acts as Ren's conscience and the one person who keeps Ren's darker impulses in line. Sadly deconstructed, in that there are limits to what Neven is willing to tolerate, and in the end Ren's selfishness wins out on her affection for him.
- Nominal Hero: Ren is, quite frankly, a pretty shitty person who only cares about herself and her brother Neven. Her reason for hunting down three dangerous youkai isn't to make Japan a safer place for people, but just to earn herself a place at Izanami's side.
- Time Stands Still: Ren's main power is to freeze time in order to reap souls, which she activates thanks to Neven's pocket watch.
- Unholy Matrimony: Subverted. After killing Izanami, Ren and Hiro are to be married, but Ren ends up killing Hiro when she finds out that he consigned Neven to the abyss.
