Review: The Sin Eater

The Sin Eater
By Megan Campisi

Published By: Pan
Publication Date: July 8, 2021
Date Read: January 16, 2022
Genre: Adult – Historical
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368

From Goodreads:
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.

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.

“With how you came into the world and what you’ve seen lately you should know, the more you live, the more the sinner and the saint can’t be pulled apart. All of us just getting by.”

The Sin Eater is something completely different to what I usually read. I am typically a fantasy reader through and through, but in 2022 I am trying really hard to read some books outside of my comfort zone and try some different genres. I picked The Sin Eater up late last year and thought it sounded really interesting. I have read some fantasy novels before that involve a Sin Eater but have never read a historical novel about one, so I was super intrigued about what it was going to involve. I am so glad I picked this one up, it’s such an interesting and intriguing novel, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

The Sin Eater follows the story of May, a young girl who is arrested for stealing some bread. She is given the worst punishment, she is forced to become a Sin Eater, someone who will never feel the gaze or touch of another person. She cannot speak unless she is asking the dying what their sins are, and she must take these sins on herself so they can go into the afterlife with the weight of their sins lifted. But as May becomes more and more experienced as a Sin Eater she finds some food on coffins, that should not be there. She is suddenly sucked into a mystery… one that could be deadly to solve.

I really enjoyed that there was a mystery, kind of thriller aspect to this book. Rather that is being fully historical accounts of Sin Eaters, it had this incredibly plot of murder and the only person being able to solve it is The Sin Eater. It made the book so much more intriguing and interesting to me. I really enjoyed this element of The Sin Eater.

This book was enjoyable. It was kind of slow paced, but it intrigues you and makes you want to keep reading. I really couldn’t put it down once I get half way through it. It is in no way a favourite book of mine, and I don’t think historical novels will ever be a favourite but I did end up enjoying this one so much more than I thought I would. May was a fantastic character to experience all of this through. I thought I would struggle with the lack of dialogue in this book, but May’s thoughts really kept me intrigued and I actually really enjoyed her internal babble.

The Sin Eater is a good, solid historical novel that will grip you and make you want to keep reading. If you are a historical fan, this one is not to be missed. If you’re not usually a historical fan, consider giving it a go, I enjoyed it and while I wouldn’t re-read it, I am really glad I gave this one a go.

“There must be some hope of shedding regret, grief, sorrow, sloughing them off like a skin and going into death free and light. Else we’d never be able to live.”

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