asolis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Medical content, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Pregnancy, and Rape
criticalmiss's review against another edition
- 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
Sapphic rep
TW: violence, gun violence, death, family separation, implied forced sexual activity
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Murder, and Body horror
snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
mo345's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Vomit, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Murder
Minor: Car accident
particledamage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
All of this is wholly underutilized and left me feeling bereft and irritated by the end of this book.
The tone itself is too easy and breezy for the concepts this novel should be exploring--the cost of human trafficking, the complexity of raising children begot from rape, the isolation of communes and religious orders, the intense force of the patriarchy and growing up with rigid roles. Framing much of this in contrast with fairy tales had me constantly checking to make sure this was adult fiction. I understand the point of the fairy tale references is to show how women are infantalized but then it briefly tries to reclaim that and falls apart.
A lot of this book falls apart--the world building feels weak and the premise of eating books seems more just like an easy explanation for why some things are super hard and some things are super easy than it does an actual meaningful part of the book. I feel like this book should be questioning what it is to know and what knowledge and literature even is more than it does. What if Devon ate something incorrect? We barely explore what it means for Cai to eat and become people. It changes him, he vaguely becomes them, but what does that mean about humanity? Is it knowledge that changed him? This book can't be bothered to toy with it.
Just like it can't be bothered to toy with what it means to be a trafficked. It just seems to be marked with tedium. We know Devon wants to save her daughter from the same fate but there's no urgency. I get it, BOTH kids are victims of the system, but the fact that the daughter is put on the backburner for the son feels under-explored in terms of implications. Because it implies a lot. Just like Devon choosing to let the system stay in place while she personally flees is framed as "worth it" implies... a lot.
This book upholds the family unit in a weird way for a book trying to criticizing the patriarchy. It actually made me uncomfortable with how much "Moms should give up everything for their children" is pushed. No, her calling another woman her princess and a poorly added lesbian romance doesn't change that. (I'm gay, I'm allowed to say this romance was tacked on poorly.)
The potential of this book was great. The execution wasted literally all of this. It was written proficiently enough and there was enough being teased to salvage this book, saving it from a much lower rating, but wow what a disappointment.
Moderate: Violence, Rape, Murder, Gun violence, and Emotional abuse
thebookraiders's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Moderate: Alcoholism, Pregnancy, and Cannibalism
Minor: Blood, Death, Gore, Cursing, Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Confinement, and Gun violence
hendrixpants's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence
touchegiantsquid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Gun violence, Acephobia/Arophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Trafficking
quihi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
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