The one really big problem with listening to books as opposed to holding the pages in your hand comes when you need to refer to some sort of glossary or list in order to understand new words or concepts that are unique to the book. Luckily in the Age of Computers, one can usually find a PDF or other downloadable version of the glossary or list that can be saved on the device where it can be called up as needed … and this was a tale that needed a lot of calling up for reference because I was not about to memorize what foods must be eaten for what sins!

This book is set in a sort of alternative Elizabethan Albion where, before you die you confess all you sins to a Sin Eater and shortly therafter that person eats foods that correspond to your sins while you lie dead next to her. There was a Night Gallery episode that was about medieval sin eating, but it wasn’t as demanding as this. In this ‘verse, sin eating is a punishment, like execution, and those so sentenced are marked and forced to live in silence except for when performing their societal role which involves reciting something to the dying to get them to spill their secrets and then listing off the foods that will need to be prepared. Otherwise, the Sin Eater is shunned as they are damned be being full of the sins of others.

However, those closest to the sharing the sin eaters fate (various criminals and those unburdened by money or strong religious belief) may chose to overlook the assumedly sinful state of the Sin Eater in order to access a basic need that is provided to the Sin Eater – four walls & a roof – on the sly. Which works if the Sin Eater is also starting to sense the absolute stupidity of a system that only really serves the needs of the uppermost classes and fosters absolute villainy in those ermine clad Few. There’s a mystery in this story that begins when a Sin Eater is presented with a dish that the deceased didn’t confess to and solving it requires understanding what the meaning of the menu is, especially as our storyteller is not super well-educated in either society or her forced profession and is often stumbling through this strange cruel world with us.

Good Queen Bess, my ass.