Sin Eater

I received an electronic advanced reader’s copy of Sin Eater by Megan Campisi from the publisher (Atria Books) in exchange for an honest review. Sin Eater is scheduled for release on April 7, 2020.

May is an orphan who finds herself facing punishment for stealing. Expecting death, she is surprised to be sentenced as a sin eater, her flesh marked, and banished to live with an older sin eater to learn her new role in society. At an eating, there is an unexpected item waiting for them. As it was unconfessed, the older sin eater refuses to eat and finds herself between a rock and a hard place. May sets out to fulfill her role as a sin eater and find out why the additional food item was there.

As a sin eater, May is not allowed to speak and most of the people she encounters will not look at her, much less speak to her. This makes it very difficult for her to find out what is happening in her world. May also has the habit of referring to the people around her by a characteristic that she notices, rather than using their names.

Going into this novel, I did not know much about sin eaters (a real historical thing!). The research Campisi did shows throughout this novel, giving us insight into the role of the sin eater and other societal outcasts. I found the history of this novel absolutely fascinating, which definitely kept me moving through the story.

What was less successful for me was the character development. While I felt somewhat connected to May, there was a lot about her that I did not understand. Once she is cast as a sin eater, any connections she may have had to others is expected to be cut. The problem for me was that it didn’t seem that May had any ties to sever. While we do get some snippets of her past later in the story, I felt throughout that she did not exist before she became a sin eater. She came into the story with no dreams, goals, or wishes.

I also got a bit lost when it came to the characters around May. In particular, there were several woman (girls? I’m not sure of their ages) that blurred together. While May referred to them by physical characteristics, it wasn’t enough for me to keep them straight when she encountered them later in the story. This caused a problem for me toward the end of the story, when the mystery was finally solved. A lot happened in a few pages, and it revolved around characters that I wasn’t clear on. I ended up reading this section several times to try to figure out what had actually happened.

Overall, Sin Eater was a thoroughly interesting read. I would have like it to be a bit longer, however. I think this might have helped with the confusion I had toward the end of the novel.