The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The background is a deep black, with text at the top, centre and bottom, and an image of a snake in leaves in the centre. The leaves are a vibrant green, and the snake is yellow and black and coiled between them, with its head at the top and baring its fangs.
Orange text at the top reads “The Hunt Begins” in small capitals.
The title “Beasts of Prey” is across the centre, over the image of the snake in the leaves, in large, white capitals.
The authors name “Ayana Gray” is at the bottom of the cover, in orange capitals. /end]

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Content Warning:

*Provided by author, on Goodreads

• Physical/Verbal Abuse (Minor)
• Blood (Minor)
• Bodies/Corpses (On Page)
• Bones
• Death/Dying (Referenced; On Page)
• Drug Use (Referenced; On Page)
• Forced Captivity/Kidnapping
• Murder (Referenced)
• Sexism/Misogyny/Toxic Masculinity
• Sexual Content (Mild)
• Slavery/Indentured Servitude
• Spiders
• Violence (Mild)

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Summary:

Magic doesn’t exist in the broken city of Lkossa anymore, especially for girls like sixteen-year-old Koffi. Indentured to the notorious Night Zoo, she cares for its fearsome and magical creatures to pay off her family’s debts and secure their eventual freedom. But the night her loved ones’ own safety is threatened by the Zoo’s cruel master, Koffi unleashes a power she doesn’t fully understand–and the consequences are dire.

As the second son of a decorated hero, Ekon is all but destined to become a Son of the Six–an elite warrior–and uphold a family legacy. But on the night of his final rite of passage, a fire upends his plans. In its midst, Ekon not only encounters the Shetani–a vicious monster that has plagued the city and his nightmares for nearly a century–but a curious girl who seems to have the power to ward off the beast. Koffi’s power ultimately saves Ekon’s life, but his choice to let her flee dooms his hopes of becoming a warrior.

Desperate to redeem himself, Ekon vows to hunt the Shetani down and end its reign of terror, but he can’t do it alone. Meanwhile, Koffi believes finding the Shetani and selling it for a profit could be the key to solving her own problems. Koffi and Ekon–each keeping their true motives secret from the other–form a tentative alliance and enter into the unknowns of the Greater Jungle, a world steeped in wild magic and untold dangers. The hunt begins. But it quickly becomes unclear whether they are the hunters or the hunted.

In this much-anticipated series opener, fate binds two Black teenagers together as they strike a dangerous alliance to hunt down the ancient creature menacing their home–and discover much more than they bargained for.

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Notes:

For more information on content warnings please see here.

In a note on the books Goodreads page, Gray wrote, quote, “For what it’s worth, if this book was a movie, I’d rate it PG-13.”

This is the first book in the Beasts of Prey series.

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Archivist Comments:

Okay so, apparently, the OCD rep in the book is only implied in this book, but a lot of people seem to agree that it is very much there so I’ve decided to put it in.

People have praised the worldbuilding and magic of the book, particularly the inclusion of and drawing upon Pan-African myths and legends, and the development of the characters. There was some comments on the chemistry of the characters- some people think it lacks a bit in places- and a few people said that there was a “twist” halfway through that sort of threw them, but honestly other than that it seems relatively high praised.

There is a romance subplot in the book, but a lot of people, Gray included, have made it absolutely clear that it is not the main focus of the book.

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