Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

60 reviews

captainsillypants's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Rape

Moderate: Slavery, Grief, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, and Sexism

Minor: Trafficking and Slavery

gen_wolfhailstorm's review

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 The Details:
 Narrated by Katie Erich
Unabridged

This was just okay for me. It had a really cool snd unique concept but I just lacked any emotional connection for the story and ended up more or less having it on as background noise, unfortunately. 
I wish I had had a stronger feeling for this title.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Misogyny, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Physical abuse, Gore, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Body horror, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Blood, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Addiction, Abandonment, Violence, Torture, Outing, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Sexual violence

snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

 Also on Snow White Hates Apples.

As one of my most highly anticipated reads, I was a little disappointed by how average this book turned out.

The Book Eaters has an intriguing premise that I’m sure would attract every bibliophile out there — after all, what’s not to love about a book where books play a prominent role? To make it all the more interesting, this book features a species of human-like beings that subsist on either books or brains only. They’re hidden from the watchful, fearful eyes of many humans and they have long lifespans. However, their females can only give birth to two children all their life which means that if not enough females are born, there will come a time when they’ll become extinct. As such, knights and dragons play a crucial role in arranging marriages between the Families, which contributes to maintaining and enforcing the status quo.

This results in an insular and strongly patriarchal community where a female’s only worth is the offspring she has…and she’s not even allowed to care for the child past them turning 3 years old. All this gives a lot of room for social commentary on patriarchy, misogyny, misandry, toxic femininity, toxic masculinity and other gender issues. It also allows for explorations on trust and identity.

Sadly, both the execution and characters were lacking. Although there were some complexities and depth to the social commentary, the way the story was written wasn’t strong enough to uphold those notions. It also didn’t help that despite the clear system and context on book eaters and mind eaters, their presence was more secondary. So in overall, these two aspects made for an underwhelming story.

Moreover, I found it difficult to care for the characters. Sure, I could sympathise with them and their situations, but there remains a distance that somehow made them feel flat even though they were all distinct, compelling and memorable.

Everything considered, The Book Eaters has a lot of promise and potential, which makes it a shame that I didn’t find it as mind-blowing as I had hoped for. Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a read where the focus is more on an underdog’s journey to gain freedom and independence away from all that confined them and their loved ones, this is a book to try. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Death, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gore, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Alcohol, Blood, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, and Rape

kkalicky94's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Grief, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, and Slavery

mo345's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Grief, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Infertility, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia and Trafficking

baddieburton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Vomit, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Murder

Minor: Car accident

rachelschloneger's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Sexual harassment

semeyers's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

Oh man I am so sad by how disappointed in this book I was! This book was on my reading list forever and I was finally able to grab it. I was so excited for it.

A secret race if aliens(?) who live among humans, subsisting on eating books and absorbing the knowledge. They can learn a new language by eating a book in that language. Master skills by eating a trade manual. Catch up on history by eating a textbook.  Yet they stay to the fringes of society, forbidden from interacting with or living among humans, the Families ruled by powerful patriarchs. Women are rare in their species so the precious few that are born are kept oppressed, only allowed to eat fairytales to keep them from learning how to function in human society, and forced to birth children that they aren't allowed to raise past the age of three.  The structure of their society has remained unchanged for hundreds of years until one woman finds a way to escape.....

Sounds great, right? Too bad most of that took a backseat to the true crime thriller that the book became. So much of the book eaters lore was cast aside almost immediately, brushed over, or seemingly forgotten about

for example, in the beginning, Devon mentions that book eaters live much longer than humans and age slower - to the point where she has trouble discerning human ages. But, the book eaters throughout the novel seem to age completely normally and this is never mentioned again in that last 3/4 of the book

. The characters were one-sided and always reacted predictably. Devon somehow goes from bumbling around barely able to survive in human society to essentially a professional spy in 18 months. Devon's relationship with her son is so much more of a friendship than a parent-child relationship that the mentions from other characters of how motherly and amazing their bond is were confusing. The characters had so much plot armor that I found myself rolling my eyes more than once. The twist was fun, but the book just kind of dragged on from there until it ended abruptly. 

Unfortunately, one from my reading list that I just did not enjoy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy

quihi's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

I really enjoyed it once I got into it. Unfortunately, it took me two thirds of the book to get really into it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Cannibalism, Confinement, Grief, Body horror, Murder, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Abandonment, Misogyny, Child death, Gore, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Pregnancy, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, and Acephobia/Arophobia

ashwaar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.5

Living secretly within British society are the book eaters, ancient families that survive on literature to sustain and give them knowledge. Devon is part of one of these families, and as a rare girl, her future is carefully negotiated to ensure she produces heirs for their dwindling population. But when she gives birth to a mind-eater, a being who craves and survives on human minds rather than books, Devon must escape from the families to save her son.

A lot is happening in this book, and the story only becomes more intense, gritty and grotesque as it continues. It comes with all sorts of trigger warnings, so be sure to check those out if you’re unsure! But overall, I thought this was a pretty interesting premise, if a little contrived. It sounds a little like an idea I’d think up in my English class at secondary school, but it’s also pretty cool to see someone write it in an actual book.

The story is complex and compelling, jumping between present-day on-the-run Devon and her past, growing up within the families. There is a lot of legacy and lore in the book, and I think the author does well blending it all with the current narrative. You learn more alongside younger Devon, and as a reader, I felt very comfortable with this pacing.

At the same time as I found this book interesting and engaging, I also found it pretty tough to read at points. Because every character does terrible gruesome things, I found it hard to have sympathy or find a connection with any of them. I also found the setting a bit weird, and juxtaposing these mysterious families with the average UK life didn’t feel right. Maybe it would have felt more fitting in its own world, but I know that’s even more lore and background to commit to. It’s not a big complaint for me, and I got used to it as the story went on.

Overall, this was a pretty solid book, just not completely my cup of tea. It’s very plot-heavy, and I’m more of a character-and-vibes reader. I also thought it was very gory, and although I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, it doesn’t make it very enjoyable to read at points. It’s one of those books where I think you’ll be able to tell from a review if you’ll like it or not, and hopefully, I’ve been able to help you out a little bit.

Read more on Wordpress at Bookmarked by Ash: https://book990337086.wordpress.com/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Pregnancy, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Infertility, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Death, Drug use, Murder, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcoholism, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Alcohol, and Child death

Minor: Vomit