The Sin Eater

The Sin Eater

by Megan Campisi

4 out of 5

Review
The Handmaid’s Tale meets Alice in Wonderland in this gripping and imaginative historical novel about a shunned orphan girl in 16th century England who is ensnared in a deadly royal plot and must turn her subjugation into her power.

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.



Synopsis
May is cursed to carry the sins of the dying. When she learns that people have been incorrectly accused of murder, she uncovers proof of poison and arson... but she can't tell anyone.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In an very-subtly-alternate-Tudor England, the Virgin Queen, Bethany is on the throne; and the new religion is being imposed. Their religion revolves around Eve being the equivalent of the devil, demonstrating how dangerous women can be if they stray into sin.
Men and women alike can shed their sins via a sin-eater - a woman who is cursed to eat the embodiment of their sin. This can be everything from vanity or envying their neighbour, to peadophilia and even murder.
As such, the sin-eater is cursed to be silent and unseen, a walking curse, feared more than lepers.

After stealing bread, May is branded as the new sin-eater.
She has the older sin-eater (whom she fondly calls Ruth) to teach her the ropes; but as they aren't allowed to speak, and May can't read, it's not a straight-forward thing.

I loved the concept. Campisi has created a book that has the feeling of real history, with a lot of very authentic English scenes and characters. It feels well-researched, and still entertaining to read.
This is paired with her twist on the Tudor history, taking hold of the real religious conflict of the time, and giving it a unique new spin. It feels awfully realistic, that women should be blamed for the existence of sin.

The plot itself was intriguing, as May is driven to understand why some women were wrongly accused of murder; especially when May suspects they were murdered themselves.
In the middle of the Virgin Queen's court, there are plenty of suspects, and plenty of red herrings, as the noble men and women all have their own ambitions and reasons.

I liked how the story ended, especially with May free to make her own choices. I think the decision at the end of the book, with May being so much more educated, is very different to what the innocent girl would have made.
I liked that it didn't devolve into winning the guy; or even achieving a reward for uncovering the truth. May was content to do things her way.

The not-so-good.
They story is quite slow-building and, because mute-May is our narrator, it can be quite hard to follow.
May is from a simple background, and has absolutely no knowledge of sin-eaters. She knows very little about the court, or the history of her country.
Unfortunately, <i>because she is a sin-eater</i>, no one will actually talk to her, or explain what's happening; and she can't ask questions. May has to guess at everything. This makes the book very slow and stumbling.

Overall, this was a very interesting book, and I look forward to reading more of Campisi's work.

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