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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I couldn’t tell if the bits with Laure talking about how she was so much better than Coralie were supposed to reveal her delusion or some plot holes…
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Give me all the angry girls and horror ballet books!
Being an ex-dancer myself, I felt this story in my bones. In my toenails that still won’t grow back, in my constant awareness of my posture, body, composure.
This started off so strong.
Laure is tired of being constantly overlooked in the elite and cutthroat world of the Parisian ballet, and will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take center stage. The obvious answer is striking a deal with a demon.
But despite her sudden adoration and success, Laure is not the only monster around.
The first half I was riveted. Hello 2:30am audiobook whoops.
However, when things start ramping up and the horror starts becoming more intense, I didn’t care as much which is not what should happen. Maybe it is because I couldn’t visualise anything except for when Laurie was dancing.
<b>I was a monster succumbing to the hunt, a predator out for a kill. The world had let me starve for too long, and eventually, the hungry stop caring what we eat so long as we’re fed.
</b>
I did like the conversation around wealth and fitting a certain image. I also appreciated the look at ballet culture: friends who you are competing against, studios that care about your movement more than you.
I think this could have been much darker than it was, even bearing in mind this is YA.
The pacing was very weird which is why I struggled in the second half especially as it set so much up for potential and then just got repetitive without moving forward.
The end also let me down.
I have seen this marketed as sapphic horror and whilst there is representation, the main relationship is not sapphic and that leads to false expectations.
There is a sequel which surprises me as I have no idea where it could go.
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
No
The most horrifying parts of I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me are how the Paris Ballet treats people. The fact the supernatural elements are a way for the protagonist to circumvent that speaks volumes of the institution. I certainly hope it was dramatized for fiction purposes.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
Shea has delivered an excellently written book. The language is gorgeous even when describing ugly things. The characters are multidimensional and as a reader you’re challenged to see people beyond the binary of good and bad which is so flat. The book perfectly melds the horror-fantasy world it creates with the real world horrors of racism, misogynoir, elitism, and other forms of systemic violence and exclusion in the world of ballet and beyond.
As a queer Black person it was a delight to read a book where someone can leverage power — supernatural and reality — to check people’s bigoted, ignorant belief systems and call white mediocrity out, and also engage complexly with the typical experience of having to be twice as good to get half as far of it all. What would you do if you could make that a non factor? What limits would still exist? What boundaries would you be willing to cross and set? Might we need to embrace being a monster in order to remain human or is that just a cop out ?And how could you have and choose your peace regardless? This book offers answers to all these things from the perspective of the main character but also some others, it more importantly, leaves readers with real things to contemplate in actual life in powerful ways. I am looking forward to reading the sequel. Well done!
As a queer Black person it was a delight to read a book where someone can leverage power — supernatural and reality — to check people’s bigoted, ignorant belief systems and call white mediocrity out, and also engage complexly with the typical experience of having to be twice as good to get half as far of it all. What would you do if you could make that a non factor? What limits would still exist? What boundaries would you be willing to cross and set? Might we need to embrace being a monster in order to remain human or is that just a cop out ?And how could you have and choose your peace regardless? This book offers answers to all these things from the perspective of the main character but also some others, it more importantly, leaves readers with real things to contemplate in actual life in powerful ways. I am looking forward to reading the sequel. Well done!
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
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
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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:
Complicated