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jessthanthree's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Rape
Moderate: Animal death, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Homophobia, Child death, Sexism, and Colonisation
Minor: Transphobia, Stalking, Abortion, and Abandonment
empoleon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
4.5
I realized by the end (and maybe this was spelled out too heavy-handedly by the author), that this book is an allegory about change. We are not static people, we are not necessarily defined by the gender listed on a birth certificate, the name given to us, or the expectations of other people. We can change, and we should change, as we grow into the person that we are meant to be. Sometimes this change will be painful, uncertain, and unaccepted by others, but that's ok. Because as long as you know who you are, that change was meant to happen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Blood, Sexual assault, and Violence
kell_xavi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5
I was enamoured with this writing at the very beginning, Das’ canny worldbuilding on the intricate foundations of mythos and South Asian history. The stories herein are a poetic and gritty recovery of people, fundamentally, though their forms and settings carve the shape of the narrative. The courage and tenacity of one woman (a major player in the text) is an especially strong point, and the choices of the shapeshifters who take the bodies of men deepen what initially appears as swaggering brutality.
There is much about the body here, a visceral beastliness and texture to embodiment in many forms—though it is characterized by releasing of waste, blood, semen more often than is my preference. There is also a violence towards bodies, in their ripping apart and consumption, or the devouring of the title. Sexual encounters are carnal and animal as well, filled with pungency, passion.
This is not a book for everybody, but I appreciated the ways in which Das made his shapeshifters seem more animal than supernatural, with an intensity to their worldliness. There is heat and bulk to them, rage and suffering. There is also a culture told by ritual, language, and customs that I could follow in their repercussions while not fully understanding their meanings. Where romance and human-creature relationship are prevalent in many supernatural novels, The Devourers is a welcome subversion. This book at once denies those plot lines, and works them back in, with more messiness and devastation that creates small, earned moments of tenderness.
My last point, and another delightful subversion, is that this book is very queer. When we first meet him, the narrator (Alok) is quietly and somewhat shamefully bisexual; however, though I emohasize it here, in the text this queerness and gender is shown as a part of having a body—of embodying, using and changing flesh. The shapeshifters can choose the appearance of their first (humanoid) selves and their second (beastly) selves, altering gender or appearing with multiple genitalia. They are also sexual in a way not precluded by gender. Though women are treated with a misogyny that fits the historical context, the author (and the narrative) focus/es on agency and inner life of Cyrah with empathy and admiration.
There is much about the body here, a visceral beastliness and texture to embodiment in many forms—though it is characterized by releasing of waste, blood, semen more often than is my preference. There is also a violence towards bodies, in their ripping apart and consumption, or the devouring of the title. Sexual encounters are carnal and animal as well, filled with pungency, passion.
This is not a book for everybody, but I appreciated the ways in which Das made his shapeshifters seem more animal than supernatural, with an intensity to their worldliness. There is heat and bulk to them, rage and suffering. There is also a culture told by ritual, language, and customs that I could follow in their repercussions while not fully understanding their meanings. Where romance and human-creature relationship are prevalent in many supernatural novels, The Devourers is a welcome subversion. This book at once denies those plot lines, and works them back in, with more messiness and devastation that creates small, earned moments of tenderness.
My last point, and another delightful subversion, is that this book is very queer. When we first meet him, the narrator (Alok) is quietly and somewhat shamefully bisexual; however, though I emohasize it here, in the text this queerness and gender is shown as a part of having a body—of embodying, using and changing flesh. The shapeshifters can choose the appearance of their first (humanoid) selves and their second (beastly) selves, altering gender or appearing with multiple genitalia. They are also sexual in a way not precluded by gender. Though women are treated with a misogyny that fits the historical context, the author (and the narrative) focus/es on agency and inner life of Cyrah with empathy and admiration.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Cannibalism, Body horror, Gore, and Colonisation
Minor: Vomit, Excrement, Biphobia, Animal death, and Classism
w0lfyfr3n's review against another edition
slow-paced
1.0
I was excited to start reading a book that I thought was about queer werewolves but this defied my expectations in the wrong direction. [Spoilers ahead]
For characters that can allegedly shift into any form, the three main non-humans inexplicably take the shape of frustratingly cryptic and uniquely horrid men. I was more interested in what was developing between Alok and the half werewolf but a good 80% of the book is not about their dynamic, and when it is, the nice tender moments are eclipsed by the unsatisfying and mysterious way in which their meetings end
Apart from this, the repeated flippant mentions of all forms of abuse, and the unnecessarily vivid descriptions of all bodily fluids threw me off completely. An overall uncomfortable read.
Apart from this, the repeated flippant mentions of all forms of abuse, and the unnecessarily vivid descriptions of all bodily fluids threw me off completely. An overall uncomfortable read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Violence, and Excrement
kelleyannelyse's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Excrement, Violence, and Gore
Minor: Homophobia
poisoned_icecream's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Rape, Death of parent, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Death, Gore, Excrement, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Violence
ronda_bowen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This was a very strange book, and kind of uneven. There were parts that I liked, parts that I didn't like, and parts that were just gross. Yet I kept turning the page... I feel like a bunch could have been cut from the novel and it would have been just as good. There were about 4 or 5 places where it could have ended. The real beginning of the story was about 80 pages in... it was just strange. I liked it okay though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Child death, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Rape, Blood, and Sexual content
sunn_bleach's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Cannibalism, and Body horror
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Transphobia and Medical trauma
haylee_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
I…did not really like this and that’s all I am gonna say. I honestly kind of regret pushing through and finishing this one. I should have DNF’d.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Excrement, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body horror, Sexual violence, and Violence
gardensnail's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
This book made me mad. It is a beautiful piece of prose that tells a horrid story. There are glimpses of what this book could have been in that prose: a romance, a thriller, a story told entirely in letter. But none of these it accomplishes well. By Part 6, I was exhausted; already having known who the mysterious man was. The other narrator, Alok, waswas as similarly uninteresting. Neither Alok nor the mysterious man felt like real characters of their own. They were superceded by the other bits of the story.
This, to me, was the most egregious. There were moments in the book where I felt I understood what the author was trying to say. Both Alok and the Half-man are outsiders for some innate quality, born out of and into a violent world that is against them, to parents they have complex and distant relationships with. Their coupling felt detached and distant. I wanted so badly in those moments to wish there was romance in it. But there wasn't, and there won't be. It filled me with incredible sadness. The very last pages are the worst, sealing it as a tragedy. I would be hesitant to describe this book in terms of its flirtation with transgenderism; but Alok's inability to not only come to terms with his sexuality, but also gender identity and/or expression is crippling when we only learn about them in the last few pages. I wish it were not so. But again, it is the finality of this book. There are no good conclusions, and no happy endings. It goes in and out.
I can't say its a bad book. Or that I would never recommend it. Again, the prose is unlike anything I've read before. However, it is a book that I will likely never want to read again.
This, to me, was the most egregious. There were moments in the book where I felt I understood what the author was trying to say. Both Alok and the Half-man are outsiders for some innate quality, born out of and into a violent world that is against them, to parents they have complex and distant relationships with. Their coupling felt detached and distant. I wanted so badly in those moments to wish there was romance in it. But there wasn't, and there won't be. It filled me with incredible sadness. The very last pages are the worst, sealing it as a tragedy. I would be hesitant to describe this book in terms of its flirtation with
I can't say its a bad book. Or that I would never recommend it. Again, the prose is unlike anything I've read before. However, it is a book that I will likely never want to read again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Cannibalism, Violence, Murder, and Rape