Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

97 reviews

pettigrew143's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

anastasiamakes's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful 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

4.0

A story of motherly love, and the lengths one will go to to protect her child in a world pitted against them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Rape, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Slavery, Vomit, and Alcohol

bubbly_lara's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

What a brilliant book! 
The setting, atmosphere and mood were very dark and gloomy, but in a good way (reminded me a bit of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's "Mexican Gothic"). 

I really liked the story, the characters and the writing style. Highlighted quite a lot of quotes, I'll put three further down below.

The themes of chosen/found family and trying to find who you are as a person outside of the people you grew up with, what is expected of you vs the pursuit of what makes you happy deeply resonated with me. 

Highly recommend if you're looking for a slightly spooky, rather dark and grim story of a young mother trying to break her son and herself free from familial chains and expectations, hoping to one day have a better life for themselves.

"Memory was an anchor. It could ground you in a storm, keep you from drifting.
But anchors could also weigh you down and keep you from sailing free."

"For here was the thing that no fairy tale would ever admit, but that she understood in that moment: love was not inherently good."

"- What price do you put on love? 
- No price. There isn't one. Love doesn't have a cost. It's just a choice you make."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Rape, Torture, Trafficking, and Outing

laylagrace's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Blood, and Pregnancy

caitmacd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

daffodilcherry's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

A book about monsterous love and burning down the whole damn system. It took me until about a quarter of the way through the book to really get hooked, and then I devoured the rest of the book. I loved the development of Devon & Cai's relationship, their gradual understanding. I especially loved the worldbuilding of the 'eaters, and the different relationships between the cast.
Wheelhouse items: monsterous love, mother-child relationship, secret society, immersive worldbuilding, butch lesbians, chaos lesbians, burning the whole system down, fairytale subversion. 
Content warning explanations:

Devon is coerced into relationships with older men for conception of children, one of which is outwardly physically violent towards her.
 Theme of forceful separation between mother & child is very prevalent.
The eaters either eat books or people's minds, many scenes showing mind eating done by the child character, including that of a baby. 
One of the 'eater families trafficks humans to work for them.
One of the villanous characters has religious delusions about mind eating.</Spoiler>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia

thepermageek's review

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

maryellen's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

An early contender as my favorite read of 2023! Imaginative, complex, brilliant storytelling. I hope there's more to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

malley's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, and Blood

Minor: Addiction, Vomit, Trafficking, and Alcohol