Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

10 reviews

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.5

This book is a new concept of vampires (as per the author in an interview) and the thought of  a new take on vampire book eaters was so interesting to me and throughout the book I loved the story. The complex relationship of mother and son and how far a mothers love can go to save her child regardless of the consequences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Sexual violence, Classism, Confinement, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Blood, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Addiction, Misogyny, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Sexism

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

I’ll admit that I just don’t like dark gothic stories. If you do, maybe give this interesting spin on a vampire story a try. The book eaters and mind eaters concept kept me intrigued enough, and the out of order storytelling was interesting. Check content warnings before diving in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Death, Murder, Ableism, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

Aphobia

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Confinement, Death, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Rape, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Emotional abuse

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

I’m so fortunate that A) this book exists, B) I added it to my TBR, and C) I got to read it. I don’t even remember how this ended up on my TBR, but I’m glad I did. This story is slow, layered, and beautifully written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, Grief, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Violence, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Chronic illness, Sexism, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Cursing, Infertility, Cannibalism, Car accident, Bullying, Pregnancy, Stalking, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Body horror

Minor: Incest and Child death

Eugenics

kurumipanda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, and Sexism

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Rape, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, and Suicidal thoughts

johnbat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

good concept, lackluster follow through

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Ableism, and Gore

Minor: Trafficking

jebowman123's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A super interesting take on vampires that is written from the point of view on inconsequential characters. It asks the readers to consider what can happen when certain people control information and act on it. Themes of addiction, temptation, motherhood, ableism, queer identities, and neurodivergence.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Torture, and Trafficking

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

adamm's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

It‘s clear the author had things to say. Sadly, one of those things was some very weird ableism. She also forgot to write an enjoyable book while we’re at it. 
Furthermore, I don’t think we need more media romanticising motherhood like this. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Ableism

sarah984's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

If you remember that era in the early 2000s where everyone was making zombie media but it wasn't really cool anymore, so they were all sort of ashamed about it and like, "well MY creatures aren't zombies because they [one random gimmick; it's a fungus or whatever]," even though they totally are zombies - this is that but with vampires.

Even at the end I was totally unclear on how book eating was supposed to work. The characters' homes are full of intact books and they have fangs so I assumed they drained the book's "essence" or something, but later a character is putting ketchup on one, or soaking it in water to make it easier to eat. Book eating is always sort of elided, which is kind of funny because mind eating (a sort of mutation that some book eaters have that requires them to eat brains) is so vividly described on multiple occasions.

The characters all sound the same and half the book is characters describing events that have already happened to each other, so there isn't much suspense until right at the end. There is one problem that hangs over the characters for most of the runtime but then is IMMEDIATELY solved the second it actually comes up, which felt kind of pointless.

The romance is terrible; the characters barely talk and suddenly the kid is calling them girlfriends. This woman is the only one the main character really interacts with, which is sort of weird for a book billing itself as feminist. She looks at most other women with either pity or scorn. There is an extremely weird chapter where characters quote the dictionary definition of asexuality at each other that ends up being almost insulting, and the "I ruined a baby with my son's Autism Beam" bit was ridiculous.

I have no idea what the book was trying to say: parental love can be self destructive? Fairy tales destroy the imagination? The author really likes Tomb Raider and needs to make sure we know it?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Xenophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident and Child death