Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

56 reviews

sarah984's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

If you remember that era in the early 2000s where everyone was making zombie media but it wasn't really cool anymore, so they were all sort of ashamed about it and like, "well MY creatures aren't zombies because they [one random gimmick; it's a fungus or whatever]," even though they totally are zombies - this is that but with vampires.

Even at the end I was totally unclear on how book eating was supposed to work. The characters' homes are full of intact books and they have fangs so I assumed they drained the book's "essence" or something, but later a character is putting ketchup on one, or soaking it in water to make it easier to eat. Book eating is always sort of elided, which is kind of funny because mind eating (a sort of mutation that some book eaters have that requires them to eat brains) is so vividly described on multiple occasions.

The characters all sound the same and half the book is characters describing events that have already happened to each other, so there isn't much suspense until right at the end. There is one problem that hangs over the characters for most of the runtime but then is IMMEDIATELY solved the second it actually comes up, which felt kind of pointless.

The romance is terrible; the characters barely talk and suddenly the kid is calling them girlfriends. This woman is the only one the main character really interacts with, which is sort of weird for a book billing itself as feminist. She looks at most other women with either pity or scorn. There is an extremely weird chapter where characters quote the dictionary definition of asexuality at each other that ends up being almost insulting, and the "I ruined a baby with my son's Autism Beam" bit was ridiculous.

I have no idea what the book was trying to say: parental love can be self destructive? Fairy tales destroy the imagination? The author really likes Tomb Raider and needs to make sure we know it?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Car accident

georgeanna_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

jswense's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book utterly consumed me. I listened to the audiobook in two days, and I didn’t want it to end. Sunyi Dean creates a vivid world of people who consume books to survive. The Book Eaters’ society is steeped in harsh traditions meant to protect the six families remaining in Britain. One of the greatest threats to the rigid hierarchy are children who have a craving for something much more sinister than the written word: the human mind.

When Devon gives birth to a mind eater she does not see a monster
but a child she will do anything to protect. Her attempts to shield her family
from the sinister world they were born into sends her on a journey across
Britain to find the producers of a drug that has the ability to save her son
from a life of mind eating. 

The Book Eaters is a thoughtful look at motherhood, family, and
what we will do for love. It asks the question; how do you survive when your
fairytale life turns out to be a nightmare?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: Homophobia, Infertility, and Acephobia/Arophobia

purplepenning's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I don't usually do horror or horror-adjacent and I literally just finished reading it on a dark and stormy night when I still have a touch of fever, so I need a beat before crafting a real review. It's undoubtedly fascinating, though! And the writing is lush but not overly so. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Acephobia/Arophobia, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery, Trafficking, and Fire/Fire injury

sunbirdbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A chilling tale picking apart the nature of complicity and preservation, be it of self or culture in which eerily familiar monsters devour literature and make minds into a meal. An almost perfect debut with slight pacing inconsistencies; a new all time fave.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse, Infertility, and Torture

idealpages's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility and Trafficking