Reviews with content warning for Gore - The Book Eaters

This book had me drawn in fast! A highly unique story about finding family and breaking out of a cult, which is what the Families really are. A woman finding her own worth when she's been told all her life her only worth is to have children. Yes, she does have children, but she's not just a mother.
This book was also very sad, just the horrible things that were done to her, the lies told.
And holy crap, Sunyi Dean knows how to write loathsome, vile characters!

Content Warnings

saracat's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I listened to the audiobook, so before I get into the book review itself, I want to say it was a delightful surprise to learn that both the author and narrator are neurodivergent and hearing them chat together at the end was really nice. This is the first book I’ve listened to that had a chat between narrator and author and now wish more of the books I listened to had this.

Now to the review. I became so invested in the main characters. And the world Dean created felt so fresh and unique to me. While I never quite got my head around understanding the knights and dragons completely, it doesn’t really bother me.

I love characters and books that are riddled with morally grey - which this book is full of. Though, the farther I got into the book, the more I hesitated to keep picking it up because after everything the characters had been through I wanted them to at least have ‘better’ and I just couldn’t get a sense if Dean had written a book that would have an ultimately happy ending, tragic ending, something in between, etc. And I didn’t want to reach the end. But I finally did, and I think the ending fits everything that proceeds it in the book.

Content Warnings

katyhosbein's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Loved the unique world, idea of book and mind eaters, and the ethical/moral dilemmas involved in being a parent.

Content Warnings

hazel_oat's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Content Warnings

gnomeguy1138's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

citlalialvrod's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Una fantasía urbana fascinante y una historia que te deja absorto, pero, sobre todo, una vista a la complejidad de la maternidad.

Devon, una book eater ha pasado toda su vida devorando, literalmente, cuentos de hadas. Envuelta en la pequeña burbuja de su especie, limitada a los confines de su casa, de la cual no conocerá nada más hasta que esté en edad de casarse y tener hijos.

A través de dos líneas temporales, iremos conociendo la actual vida de fugitiva de Devon y sus motivaciones para encontrar a una familia; mientras que en el pasado, nos adentramos a la vida y tradiciones familiares de las que Devon forma parte, las ataduras y dificultades que esto representa.
Somos testigos de numerosos puntos de inflexión que van construyendo el carácter y la historia de Devon.

"Poets would tell you that love was electricity in your veins that could light a room. That it was a river in your soul to lift you up and carry you away, or a fire inside the heart to keep you warm. Yet electricity could also fry, rivers could drown, and fires could burn; love could be destructive. Punishingly, fatally destructive."

Si bien no se ahonda en el folklore de los book eaters , no se siente incompleto. Entendemos parte de su historia, sus tradiciones y sus motivaciones; pues, como dice su autora, la novela va de Devon y la complejidad de su narrativa ya es suficiente como para abrumarnos con más detalles del mundo.

Sin duda, lo que encuentro más interesante es la reflexión de la maternidad y las cuestiones morales afines. Devon se ve obligada a ser una madre antes que su propia persona; sus hijos son tanto una alegría como una carga, la impulsan a todo, ya sea bueno o malo.
Hace lo mejor que puede con lo poco o mucho que tiene, pero esto no siempre resulta beneficioso para ella, su familia, o las personas en general.
Definitivamente, es una protagonista ante la cual no puedes quedar indiferente.

"She was her daughter’s whole world, a realization both humbling and empowering. Devon had never been anybody’s world before—had never been anything at all, in fact, except the sum of paper flesh she’d consumed without thought"

A ratos la narrativa se siente algo lenta y pesada, pero eso no lo hace menos interesante. Pareciera más largo de lo que realmente es.

Recomiendo ver los triggers warnings, hay varios temas y descripciones delicadas.

Content Warnings

More...