A review by mitzee
The Devourers by Indra Das

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I feel like this is an “important” book but not one that I found enjoyable. There were parts of it that were more interesting, like the story between Seera and Jevoudon, but overall I was not that into it.  There was passion, mystery, magic or lore, all things that I work want in a story, there’s just wasn’t any one character that I liked or was “rooting” for. 

Summary so I can remember what I read:
Theres a story within a story in this book. The “outer” story begins between professor, who is the main narrator at times, and Israel, who is called “The Stranger” until the end of the book. They kind of have a triste, the Stranger claims to be a half werewolf. He needs the professor, Alok, to transcribe his story. The whole thing between Alok and Israel is pretty hot, graphic and steamy at the end but everything leading to that felt really tense and awkward. Maybe it’s a cultural thing?

Israel tells a story/tale/lore of three gods who were traveling though ancient India. They are shape shifters and take the form of white European men but dressed unlike Europeans. Don’t really know what they were doing in India other than traveling around on foot, being wolves sometimes (their “first form” and eating ppl then shape shifting back into humans. 

One of them, Fenrir, decides he wants to make a baby so he rapes a woman named Seera (telling her it’s a blessing and generally being a white cis dude about the rape). He goes back to his bros and is challenged by one because he has sex with a human, instead of each other. Offended god challenges him to a fight and so they fight then the third one, Jevoudon, shows up and finishes it by killing Offended God (because he likes Fenrir). Anyway at this point Fenrir runs away or something? Maybe Jevoudon leaves Fenrir. And Seera ends up finding Jevoudon. 

They travel together, he slowly shares who he is with her, he knows what Fenrir did to her. She on the other hand travels with him because she is looking for Fenrir to… I dunno, give her a piece of her mind? I honestly don’t know. They end up really bonding and when they finally do find Fenrir, they are both pissed at him. 

Anyway, fast forward and Seera ends up having the baby, which is Israel, half human, half something else. In between Israel’s story telling there’s a lot of awkward courting between him and Alok and then at the end a lot of graphic sex.

In the end, Israel takes Alok back to the island where he was born where they proceed to have a lot of sex but also Israel finds and eats his parents? And then somehow Israel eats Alok vice versa and they are all one person by the end of the book. I don’t fucking know. 

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