Reviews

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

baltimorelibrarian's review against another edition

5.0

This book had such an ingenious plot! And talk about the world building! Such depth and nuance. I would definitely recommend this book.

seb_pitch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

patriciabwalker's review against another edition

2.0

Chapter 1 and I was out. This was not the story I thought it was going to be and I could not handle the violence right from the start.

betty_pdf's review against another edition

This book has zero moments of joy. Felt sad the whole time.

clairereagan's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

delfinmac's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.5

vengefuldime's review against another edition

5.0

I loved getting introduced to this world. There are quotes above the starts of chapters in a way that adds to the love of books in what I felt was a realistic manner, reminding me of the feeling of being shaped by reading experiences. The alternating timelines never felt out of place but continued to surprise me- thinking ‘oh that’s how it is… oh that’s actually how it is…’ Genuinely fascinating moral questions, opened early on (I wanted to talk in depth about it 40 pages in), and characters I felt for. The monster family, supporting characters, even Ramsey was not quite charismatic but interesting and sad. The way that the book took on motherhood, patriarchy, domestic violence, queer identity, and other complex topics felt fitting- not trying to do too much at once. The story of an individual woman that has those experiences made the story grounded. I deeply wanted Devon and Cai to find safety (and I really hope Salem too one day).

kylajaynebooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

I ate this up. 

I don’t think there’s any better feeling than coming across a free little library and finding a new favourite 

ratleyreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.5

bookph1le's review against another edition

1.0

One star not because I thought the book was bad, but because I didn't personally like it. Spoilers behind the tags, so read at your own risk.

Where the book failed for me was with this: I think it wants the reader to grapple with really uncomfortable issues, and while I appreciated that it didn't try to pretty anything up, I ultimately could not find a way to be on the characters' side.

Because of this, I never really connected with any of the characters. I was sympathetic with the plight Devon was going through as a mother, but I didn't like her. That normally wouldn't be a problem, but in this case it was a major issue. I also did not like Cai.

Spoiler

The reason I didn't like either of them boils down to this: to me Cai was a monster, and Devon was the person enabling that monster. Cai wasn't to blame for how he was born, but there was no way I could sympathize with a character who needed to eat human brains and did so repeatedly throughout the book. Maybe this could have worked if the brains he'd eaten belonged solely to bad people--though even then I couldn't see myself having any more sympathy for him--but it definitely lost me when he was preying on innocents. And while I can appreciate the fact that Cai is Devon's child, because she enables his feeds by procuring his victims for him, I could not get on her side, despite that I had ample reason to be in her corner, given how horrible her upbringing was.

I had a lot of sympathy for Amarinder and Hester, but neither of them are all that developed, which prevented me from connecting with this book. Had it been told from either of their perspectives, I think my reaction to it would have been very different--particularly with regard to Hester.

Spoiler

Really, she's one of the most compelling characters in the book. She can no more help how she was born than Cai can, but she elects to maim herself so that she can't act according to her nature, and not developing her more was a sorely missed opportunity, in my opinion.

I think my other big quibble with this book is the premise. We're told some being--possibly of extraterrestrial origin--named the Collector created the book eaters and even the mind eaters. And that's it. There's no insight into what might have driven the Collector to create them, nor any real indication of what purpose they were meant to serve. The book kind of throws out a suggestion of what the Collector might have been after, but if the book didn't intend to really do anything with this aspect, I don't know why it was there. Why not just make the book eaters and the mind eaters beings that simply exist because they do?

All in all, this was disappointing.