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ageckocalledachilles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
zombiezami's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Stalking, Car accident, and Pregnancy
Minor: Child death and Incest
Eugenicsidontlovejessica's review against another edition
Graphic: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
asolis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
captainsillypants's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Abandonment
Minor: Slavery and Trafficking
gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Narrated by Katie Erich
Unabridged
This was just okay for me. It had a really cool snd unique concept but I just lacked any emotional connection for the story and ended up more or less having it on as background noise, unfortunately.
I wish I had had a stronger feeling for this title.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
lemerrier's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Infertility and Trafficking
vigil's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
somewhere in this book there is a promising story. unfortunately, it comes in small increments, few and far between.
the first issue with this book is structural. there are two timelines, a past timeline, and a present timeline. in her commitment to the dual timeline, dean gives justice to neither of them, creating an uneven overly drawn out narrative but also an undeveloped and not well thought out one. this book, when it is not repeating itself, giving long drawn out explanations, revealing plot points too early or too late, will actively contradict itself, even when concerning information that was given not even three pages prior.
in my opinion, this reads like the first draft of a book. the seeds of promise are there, but is ultimately bogged down by nonsense and unnecessary factors. any editor worth their salt would not have sent this book out to print; i am upset that dean doesn’t seem to have that editor in her corner.
another issue is the premise.
this book also chose to essentially make a poor imitation of the handmaid’s tale, by implementing a gender essentialist society (which is utterly ridiculous in general, but especially here where the basis of the society is that knowledge is power) and recreating patriarchal structures, despite book eaters being secluded from human society and explicitly not sharing their customs, aside from stupid moments of christianity that are unaddressed and make no sense.
the author’s handling of this misogyny is shallow and reductive, and often ends up falling prey to the very structures it is attempting to criticize. it writes a cartoon character of a villain in her elder brother ramsay, who’s pov is written identically to that of a 13 year old boy who’s been radicalized by andrew tate.
devon herself is mostly devoid of a personality, aside from being kind of selfish (though she has been given no reason and often no option to be selfless) and her most important trait, being a mommy. you’d think that as a former childbride who was sold off twice to become an incubator and had to abandon her first child at three, and had her second unwanted child be a monster who eats brains, her relationship to motherhood and her children would be fraught and complicated, especially in the case of cai, where she is forced to murder innocents to keep him fed. but alas, no. everything is overcome through the power of motherlove which overcomes all, and is magic, instantaneous, and controls all your thoughts. give me a goddamn break.
devon has approximately two positive female dynamics, one is the sister of her male friend who she talks too all of twice, and bond over #motherlove with, and the other is a woman she spent two days with and somehow fell in love. the other women are generally portrayed as jealous old hags, and not usually mentioned.
and the ending. the ending is contingent around the fact that the book eater families are undocumented and thus the women cannot leave. so they must go to ireland where there is an unguarded border.
the issue is that the idea for the ending is introduced just a few chapters after the reveal that one of the book eater families uses undocumented immigrants for cheap labor. if you can traffic people in, surely, as an ancient super race, you can find a way to get across the ocean. (if you’re wondering if the human trafficking is relevant or commented upon much, the answer is no. like 50% of all the other information in this book.
the only reason I’m not giving it a flat one star is because this book is exactly like a cw show. it’s not outstanding but mostly banal in its inoffensiveness
it’s like if julie plec did a vegan vampire take on the handmaid’s tale. if that doesn’t make you shiver in horror then i can’t help you.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
mo345's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Trafficking and Acephobia/Arophobia
addiemae09's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Book Eaters follows Devon, a fiercely determined mother trying to protect and feed her unusually intelligent five year old with a hunger for human minds. It focuses on what it means to be a monster, healing from generational trauma, and the cost and meaning of love.
I don't want to talk too much about the plot because discovering the story piece by piece was one of the best parts about this novel. It alternates between chapters from present-day and the past, starting (I believe) 17 years ago, and working it's way up to the present. The mystery behind Devon's past, the book eaters' lives, and the motivation behind her strangest actions was definitely a motivating factor to continue reading. I didn't want to put it down because I HAD to know what was going on.
I enjoyed the WLW romance, especially because I'm a sucker for the bright colors x all black relationship. It did feel a little... superficial. I didn't really get time to see the characters pining for each other or interacting much. I felt like more could have been done with that.
However, something I really enjoyed was the way that it addressed the way that Devon changed as a person with different events in her life, and how one person doesn't have to go strictly from shy to bold or mean to nice, etc. It's a constant process of change and growth. The characters definitely had many different shades and sides to them that I found thoroughly entertaining, but I also didn't really fall in love with any. Part of that could be the short length of the novel because I didn't get much time to get attached to them, but I felt that it didn't make me as invested in the outcome of the book. The difference between a four star and a five star read, for me, is if it gets me to have a really emotional reaction to pieces of paper with ink on them. And this book didn't really do that for me.
Overall, The Book Eaters was delightful dark and contemplative, and I liked the intrigue behind it. It's a fast and entertaining read, and I would definitely recommend it.
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual violence