Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

64 reviews

ekfaltesek's review against another edition

too icky

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dark unexpected use of religious/biblical themes content

mrsjoellebell's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Torture, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

kim_j_dare's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Stumbled across this in a bookstore. The title and beautiful cover caught my attention, and when I read the description, I was hooked. Completely original, fantastic world-building, horrifying and un-putdownable. At its heart, this is a story of the power of a mother’s love in the face of some really nasty characters and circumstances. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, and Pregnancy

sleepyshelves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Violence, Dementia, Cannibalism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Body horror, Infertility, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Alcohol

crypticspren's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

This book was tremendously outstanding. Devon is such a complex character that explores the cost of love in the patriarchal world of The Families. Watching her grow and come to terms with her own naivety was incredible and despite the myriad sins she commits, she might be one of my favourite characters ever written.
The plot itself and general lore is fascinating. The concept of eating books for knowledge, the 'Eater lore regarding their creator and mission, and their whole heirarchical structure with the Families, Knights, and Dragons was so well explored and explained.
The writing, too, was thoroughly gripping and this book was entirely unputdownable. I've been in a bit of a reading slump and this pulled me right out of it.

Overall, this was an exceptional read with drama, suspense, and moral conundrums that had me gasping for air.

Five stars!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Vomit, Trafficking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

sonjaelisee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Ableism, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape and Sexual content

meggles801's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.5

The story was very unique and I enjoyed it a lot. There were some overly sensitive parts I could have gone without however. Just a bit too heavy at times for me, and I don't think the story really needed those topics. 
*Check your TW*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Violence

hollyd19's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

I wanted to like this more than I did. It’s more of a horror than I anticipated, and the premise of “book eaters” isn’t nearly as robustly explored as I’d hoped. I was intrigued by the setup, but found the delivery weak. There is far more emphasis on the variant of “mind eaters,” leaving the core world-building concept underdeveloped. I also found the ending abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Cannibalism

arialien's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Abandonment

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

queenneehola's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence and Rape

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Torture, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol