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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
It’s dark but not scary. A really great read for sure. The ballet stuff was a bit confusing at first but I ended up learning a lot.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me has such an arresting title and an interesting book cover that I put this in our TBR shelf when I learnt about the book. It's certainly pretty high-concept, involving a teenage Black girl who dreams of joining the elite Paris ballet corps and ends up selling her soul for power to a monstrous entity. It's not enough that her entire life has been revolving around ballet; the physical strain and psychological pressure of the cutthroat environment has driven her to be willing to sacrifice everything.
Laure Mesny is pretty much an orphan, a girl who only has ballet left in her life after both her parents walked away from her for different reasons - her mother because her own dreams of ballet couldn't be fulfilled; her father because seeing Laure dance reminded him too much about her mother. Unlike her white, privileged peers who come from places from high connections, Laure has nothing except for her talent and she's eager to show that a Black girl who comes with no backing can make it in the primarily White ballet community. However, unlike her friends, Laure doesn't have any safety net if she fails to perform.
Laure's senior, Josephine, is currently the rising star of the ballet world. And when Josephine takes her out for a night and she brings her down to the catacombs, Laure seizes power like she's never dreamt - all for the price of a little blood:
From her sacrifice, Laure gains the ability to manipulate others' attention, forcing them to pay attention to her. However, when Josephine dies mysteriously, Laure and the others who've also made bargains with the same entity start to wonder if there's a killer on the loose and if Josephine just happened to be the first target.
This book is for anyone who likes morally gray heroines, as Laure is definitely that. I found the parts involving ballet to be more compelling and well-written than the aspects involving Laure's bargain and the mystery behind Josephine's death.
There's also a romance subplot but I didn't find it to be a key attraction either, as it felt much too insta-love for my tastes.
We were desperate to the girl who dies, always. Eager to show how dolefully we danced, how prettily we perished, in every ballet, at every audition. In every room was a chance to have our graceful suffering acknowledged.
Today was no exception.
Laure Mesny is pretty much an orphan, a girl who only has ballet left in her life after both her parents walked away from her for different reasons - her mother because her own dreams of ballet couldn't be fulfilled; her father because seeing Laure dance reminded him too much about her mother. Unlike her white, privileged peers who come from places from high connections, Laure has nothing except for her talent and she's eager to show that a Black girl who comes with no backing can make it in the primarily White ballet community. However, unlike her friends, Laure doesn't have any safety net if she fails to perform.
Laure's senior, Josephine, is currently the rising star of the ballet world. And when Josephine takes her out for a night and she brings her down to the catacombs, Laure seizes power like she's never dreamt - all for the price of a little blood:
From what must have been the nervousness on my face, she rushed on, "Nothing you aren't willing to give. A little blood to start the process, a wager to prove you're serious, and bagrain for whatever you want." And then she rolled up her sleeve, exposing the tattoo on her wrist, a stencil of a river etched in red ink. Trust me.
I swallowed, my mouth dry. While we talked, the water's surface rippled, and the music grew in volume until it was like they were both shouting at me to decide. And for all my fears, of dying down here, of how long it'd take Coralie to find my body, of never being somebody, I did trust her.
From her sacrifice, Laure gains the ability to manipulate others' attention, forcing them to pay attention to her. However, when Josephine dies mysteriously, Laure and the others who've also made bargains with the same entity start to wonder if there's a killer on the loose and if Josephine just happened to be the first target.
This book is for anyone who likes morally gray heroines, as Laure is definitely that. I found the parts involving ballet to be more compelling and well-written than the aspects involving Laure's bargain and the mystery behind Josephine's death.
Spoiler
The former was more tautly plotted, as Laure's peers backstab and bitch; and fight and claw their way to center stage. Moreover, Laure's background and her thirst to prove her detractors wrong was understandable too, given how the odds are utterly stacked against her. However, the latter plotline felt a lot hazier - while Laure supposedly carries out research about how the entity came to be and how their bargains work, this mostly just involves watching old videos that Josephine filmed on her phone where she experimented on the extent of their powers. I mean that's all very well and good but I thought that the world-building could've been stronger.There's also a romance subplot but I didn't find it to be a key attraction either, as it felt much too insta-love for my tastes.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Overall really enjoyed, wish it was shorter and a little more gorey lol Like Laure as a main character a lot though!
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Love that the main character was very strong and embraced her flaws to make her more powerful. I did find this difficult to get into initially I think I was annoyed/bored at the start, But I did eventually get into it and liked where it went. It just took a while to get there and had to wade through a lot of teenage angst in the process.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes