Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

29 reviews

purplatypus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Pregnancy, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Trafficking, Acephobia/Arophobia, Cursing, and Infertility

cadence99's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-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

1.25

Where to begin? This was not my favorite, to say the least. I almost DNFed this many times, but what kept me going was the potential of the main plot. I think the setup could have made a great story, unfortunately, this is not it.

To begin with, there is an undercurrent of ableism throughout in the portrayal of the main characters child being born a “mind eater”, and being portrayed primarily as a “burden” throughout the book.

Beyond this, the writing style frustrated me in many ways. It felt as if the author did not trust her audience to interpret even the slightest drop of material, as troupes were painstakingly spelled out, removing any chance for readers to explore this world themselves. The book is very guilty of telling readers what is happening instead of showing us. 

In addition, many characters relationships and growth felt VERY unbelievable to me. Characters met and within days (with minimal interaction) were supposed to have developed deep feelings for one another. Other characters are portrayed as incredibly young children one moment, and the next are being expected to make life altering choices. 

Overall, I would not recommend this book

1.25⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Pregnancy, Rape, and Gore

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Medical trauma, Infertility, and Fire/Fire injury

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Trafficking

trickphoenix's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Rape, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Addiction

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Child death, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Trafficking

upperjackpain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Drug use, Violence, Sexual violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexism, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Murder, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

Minor: Torture

keen's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Misogyny

Minor: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Gun violence

xangemthelibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

"You're not scared of me because you're an even bigger, meaner monster than me. You'd eat the whole world to help me out and I think I'd do that for you, too. You're my monster and I'm yours [...] we must go together because we are a monster family." - Cai to Devon, pg. 252

That spoiler up above is my favorite quote from the book, but it does reveal a plot point, so don't read it if you want to keep the surprise!

I love Devon. She's not painted as a hero by any means. She's just a mom, doing literally whatever it takes and sacrificing her whole being to care for her son in a world that is dead set against her succeeding. A world that very obviously favors men and sets women up to be no more than child-bearing cattle. (I haven't read The Handmaid's Tale, but I wonder if these two books would pair well together.) ALSO the Book Eater lore! Very interesting! And the constant parallels between their world and the old-fashioned fairytales. It's both very distressing and so good.

I also love the message: Love is simply a choice you make. The idea of "cost" or "worth" doesn't apply. You choose to love like you choose to live every day. And the "huge" choices Devon makes all throughout the story just seem so natural for her as a character because she talks so frequently about the "little" choices she made to support Cai.

One final thing that puts this book at the top for me: Neurodiverse author who loves "rolling d20s!" I'm honestly a fan of anyone who enjoys the click-clack math rocks. Definitely following on Twitter because the ending here has one loose end that can either stay unresolved or maybe spin into another book?? Hopefully?? 👀

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

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

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

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, and Trafficking

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad 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

4.0

Thanks to Tor Books for the free advance copy of this book.

 - THE BOOK EATERS is part adventure tale, part gothic mystery, part horror story and I loved it.
- I loved that it not only gave us the gothic manor tropes but also the claustrophobia of being a woman born into an impossibly patriarchal system. Watching Devon try to navigate her love for her children with her need to break free and be her own person was heart wrenching.
- It's not super obvious from the summary, but this book is also queer! There's some nice sapphic longing from Devon, as well as an asexual secondary character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia and Trafficking