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kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Vomit, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Gore
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, and Abortion
eed8's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Graphic: Gore, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Death, Violence, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Abortion
ambermarz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
What I liked: the detailed descriptions of gore/body horror/drug trips. the character's battle with addiction. the descriptions of mushrooms.
What I didn't like: the characters. I didn't feel for Erin at all. There was a lack of characterization for her outside her obsession with Silas. I don't even know what she looks like. The pace of the book in general. How all over the place the different themes were.
I was too lost in the multiple themes going on to see the
Overall I wanted to like it, but it fell flat. About halfway through I was really excited to see where it went, then it just went downhill. Meh. Bummer from an author I like.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Drug abuse, Self harm, Cannibalism, Violence, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Vomit, Sexism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Child death and Death
joann_l's review against another edition
3.0
Was I wrong in the most deliciously skin-crawling way! Ghost Eaters reads like a mature Young Adult novel that merges the horror of fresh-out-of-college, emergence-from-the-chrysalis loss with the ghostly supernatural. Chapman's prose fits the YA genre; this novel borders on YA and contemporary adult horror. It feels like YA to me because, well, I'm not in my early twenties like the characters are. But the events and themes in the novel are better suited for an adult (if young adult) audience. There are mature themes here of death, grief, the loss of friends, parents, and loved ones. There is the threat of loss of the self: perception is a two-way mirror in this novel, and you're never quite sure which side of the glass you're on.
The story follows a young woman and is told from her perspective. Erin is a privileged, educated woman. She has family, family money, family connections, but despite this, she flounders in life. That's the first horror, one that is banal and familiar to many. Erin is part of a group of friends; their leader has floundered in worse ways than Erin. Silas seems to be drowning in a drug-induced depression. When their social circle falls apart as the result of an untimely death, each one of them seeks to find meaning and reconnection in different ways.
Some of them take the task literally.
And that's the second horror of this novel. The dark mental and physical adventure that ensues as Erin, Amaya, and Toby play dangerously with the line between living and dying, the present and the afterlife. I won't ruin this for the reader. Just know that "ghost" in this novel has multiple meanings, and the loss that one associates with death is more than never seeing someone again.
A worthy Halloween horror read that haunts in multiple ways!
Graphic: Cannibalism, Confinement, Grief, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Torture, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Blood, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Violence