Sin Eater
Megan Campisi
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For the crime of stealing bread, fourteen-year-old May receives a life sentence: she must become a Sin Eater—a shunned woman, brutally marked, whose fate is to hear the final confessions of the dying, eat ritual foods symbolizing their sins as a funeral rite, and thereby shoulder their transgressions to grant their souls access to heaven.
Orphaned and friendless, apprenticed to an older Sin Eater who cannot speak to her, May must make her way in a dangerous and cruel world she barely understands. When a deer heart appears on the coffin of a royal governess who did not confess to the dreadful sin it represents, the older Sin Eater refuses to eat it. She is taken to prison, tortured, and killed. To avenge her death, May must find out who placed the deer heart on the coffin and why.
The Sin Eater walks among us, unseen, unheard
Sins of our flesh become sins of Hers
Following Her to the grave, unseen, unheard
The Sin Eater Walks Among Us.
So I thought this was going to be a fantasy book from what I’d read about sin eaters before but it’s more historical fiction. Sin Eaters are women who have been given the task to hear all the sins of a person before they die, and eat all the coresponding food over their coffins. They’re forced into this, are branded on their tongue and a locked necklace as well as having to become mute (you must only speak to a Sin Eater before your death). So our main character is forced into being a Sin Eater as she steals some food at the start of the book.
The book is set in what feels like Tudor England but the royal family’s names have been altered, and there’s a slightly different story line than the real history. However, I think this is on purpose because the summary on Wordery does say it’s Elizabeth I’s Era. I liked the clear links to the era, and before I even read up about the book I did think it sounded like Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots. As I’ve read and enjoyed other books in this time period, I was enjoying the little hints I could pick up from it.
The book then follows May as she struggles with learning to become a Sin Eater, but she starts to live with the only other one in her town. Soon a mystery occurs where one of the Royal court dies and a food symbolic of a sin that wasn’t admitted to the Sin Eaters is placed upon the coffin. This particular part of the book steals the ony person in May’s life away once again, as she refuses to eat what was not confessed. May’s whole story also hinges on this moment as if she had also refused it could be possible that the court would investigate rather than kill the sin eater… it’s also a part of her grief that she believes she could have saved her only friend. This was all written so well into May’s character and it kept driving her forward to uncover the mystery behind it.
On top of the main mystery of who put the extra food on the coffin (and why?) we uncover so many different secrets that only a Sin Eater could. Because May cannot speak to others (and others will often run if she tried to speak to them) she’s seen as less than others. She can get to any part of the town and palace as the guards won’t talk to stop her, and even when she’s in sight of people they will gossip and trade their own secrets. This is one of the reasons why I liked May as our main character as she’s really nothing like the characters I usually read about. She’s not fighting for a larger cause here, she’s just the only person who could find this out and she wants to go ahead and live her life.
The only bad thing about this is that May doesn’t really have any link to the story and mysteries she’s finding out about. There’s maybe one thing which kind of links her… however it is quite loosely. On the other hand, May does have mysteries about herself to uncover too. She’s always been her fathers daughter, and she stayed with him until he died. However her mother’s side of the family did try kidnapping her for a time when she was small. I enjoyed the storyline of finding out more about May and her family, and I loved the closure May gained from it. From already becomer stronger, I found this to be a point where she shined as being more mature than at the start of the book.
Multiple people who are also shunned/outcasts come to live with the Sin Eater and whilst she is still an outcast within this group, there’s a sense of found family at times. This is a huge strength at a pivotal moment of the story too. Whilst May didn’t really talk to anyone after becoming a Sin Eater she was still able to form some kind of bond to the people she shared her home with, and I liked how throughout the book her thoughts on this change too.
Overall I really enjoyed this murder mystery historical fiction despite expecting a fantasy book. I’ll be keeping my eye out for more books from Megan Campisi I think.
Positives of Sin Eater
- Mysteries were interesting
- character developemtn
Negatives of Sin Eater
- MC doesn’t seem linked to bigger story
I received Sin Eater by Megan Campisi from the publisher, Mantle and Pan Macmillan. This is an unbiased and honest review
