Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

68 reviews

isaaah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Slavery, and Grief

Minor: Infertility, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Trafficking, Acephobia/Arophobia, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

unboxedjack's review against another edition

funny medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Blood, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

sav_22'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It’s so hard to sum up my feelings on this book, but man did I love it. If I can compare it to anything, I’d say listening to the song Labour by Paris Paloma would be the closest thing I can think of. That song IS Devon. 
The way Dean writes about motherhood, trauma, and dilemma fascinates me. The concept alone is unlike anything I’ve gotten the chance to read, and I really love how devastatingly bittersweet and complex it is. I’d say that a lot of elements of the world of the book eaters resembles Handmaid’s tale, ifykyk.

This isn’t a book that circles around the sapphic relationship, which some may have critiqued for being a bit of a minor subplot. It is hardly a focus, but I kind of enjoy the way Devon’s sexuality is explored in such a simple and gentle way, contrasting the violence in which her femininity and motherhood is explored. The dynamic between Dev and Cai is tragic and beautiful and horrifying; it really is a story that drives home the absolute carnage that is motherhood. This portrays womanhood by extension as what it can feel like: messy, violent, tragic, and ruthless. Dev loses so much of herself, and her identity was stripped from her so constantly, yet she rises like a merciless phoenix. She is one of the most morally complex characters I’ve read about, and I adored her deeply. <spoiler/> If you want to read a book that is the epitome of female rage, i feel like this is the one for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Alcohol

kshertz's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.0

It was not for me! I couldn’t get into the world and the eating of brains. I didn’t connect to the characters so I found myself not really caring what happened to them. It took me a long time to push through and finish this book!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

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

Aphobia

ageckocalledachilles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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

Minor: Child death and Incest

Eugenics

lisashelves's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

ms_sarah621's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book has really good writing and a great premise. I wasn’t fully expecting the book to go so deep into the Family dynamics and the darkness of the Family. I was hoping for a thriller/horror story about this woman and her child. But, it was about motherhood, feminism, creating family, trauma, and religion/cult beliefs. Some of this took me out of the world and distracted me. However, the writing is just so well done, and Cai’s character is indescribable. I really kept reading to get more from him. And that ending….. anyways, I enjoyed this. I wish it focused more on the book eaters occasionally, rather than trying to be deep. But I think that’s just a it’s not you, it’s me thing. Typical of me. I would definitely recommend to others and truly did enjoy the story and the comparison of fairytales and deviating from them throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

schausjk's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.25

This was mesmerizing. I really appreciated the worldbuilding, and even though I doubt a sequel would be likely, I'm really interested in seeing where these characters would go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Trafficking

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Lesbophobia