Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Soul Eater

This surprisingly took me off guard with just how GOOD it was - it had all the tropes I wanted, both Danny and Wyn being protective and soft with each other but rightfully angry at each other as they worked out their relationship. Both of them feel like outcasts, misunderstood and alone, but find themselves in each other.
Danny - gos I just LOVE him. Whilst the military isn’t for him, he knows what he wants and isn’t a pushover. He’s kind and stubborn and just so sweet that it breaks my heart. Also, when Wyn tries to send him away? He’s like, Fuchs that, I do what I want.
Wyn - I’m so glad that Danny can hug him because I want to. It’s the good old “I hate everyone but you” and god I eat that shit up. He’s so SWEET to Danny, and ugh I can’t take it. His possessiveness as well? Fucking brilliant.
Plus, the writing is just so GOOD. I love how it also built on the world slowly, never overwhelming but was delightful to read more about. It was nitty and gritty too, which is always good to see in a book like this.
This is probably classed as my first monster/human book but, to my own surprise, I adored it. I can’t stop thinking about this book.

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elwyn_k's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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whatthefridge's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

4.5

This story hit upon many of my guilty pleasures. The cherry on top is Danny is functionally demisexual (it’s not an explicit label, but he did assume he was fully asexual before Wyn) and Wyn is fantasy-level intersex (he’s not human so I think he can get a pass for having both a penis and a vagina, both perfectly good for fucking).

The majority of the plot is a meandering road trip with no goal in mind. They’re just taking things a day at a time. But it worked for me. And there was always some sort of stakes or tension, and I felt like there was a decent balance between external threats and interpersonal relationship stuff.

The reason why it’s not a full 5 stars is because I have many lingering unanswered questions…

- How did Wyn discover Daniel’s name? We never find out
- What are the odds that something on Daniel’s military stuff has a secret tracking device? It was nagging at me the entire time
- How come every single place they come across has working hot water? Or just any running water at all. It’s a little too convenient after a while
- Why didn’t Daniel react to the fact that he wakes up in a random bed of someone long forgotten? Just no reaction at all after making such a big deal out of it. And then there’s the casual use of the towels, which are not motel towels. These had to have been used towels from ages ago, but it’s entirely glossed over
- How did the military discover that Daniel was having sex with Wyn? There’s not even an offhand mention of seeing them together in any intimate way, like holding hands, it’s just thrown in like it’s a publicly known fact (there’s demons later on that act the same way, like everyone knows Daniel and Wyn are together somehow without ever mentioning how they know this)
- How did no one at the military base notice that Wyn’s head was growing back? They had Wyn’s body ready to dissect but somehow never noticed such a glaring detail??
- If it took Edin years to grow back an arm, how did it only take days for Wyn to grow back half his head? Is it because they’re different species? I wish the concept was brought up even if it was just a one line hand wave
- How did Wyn even get them out of the military base that second time? Did Wyn have to slaughter his way through while carrying Daniel’s body?

None of these questions ruined the experience for me. It’s just stuff that kind of nags at me.

What *did* bug me more than it should have was

the reveal that Wyn sensed Daniel was meant for him since the beginning. I dunno, I just preferred the idea that Wyn was merely curious about the human who didn’t try to kill him and then feelings grew from there. I’m not against mate-bond stuff, but it does take away some agency from characters.

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vania_alex's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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palm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is like the perfect mix of Things Clare Likes: dystopian hellscape, road-trip, absolutely swoony love story, scorching hot spice, quirky idiots doing Real Stuff™️, HIGH STAKES outside the relationship, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, hurt/comfort, realistic and emotionally charged conflict…ugh so good.

Dystopian monster romance? Yes this genre exists. I know, I was surprised too. The thing I enjoyed the most about Wyn and Danny’s story was that even though it was outrageous and totally fantastical, the situation they were in together allowed their relationship to develop slowly and realistically. I mean, there’s “forced proximity” and then there’s “a mass-murdering monster* saved me from the military and now we are on the run together through a deserted United States crawling with raiders, monsters and other dangers.” Like I said: STAKES ARE HIGH.

*there’s more than meets the eye here, but I’ll let you read it to find out.

👍🏻RECOMMENDED. Check the CW - this is a romance but there are a lot of horror elements in it that were familiar to me as a plague novel/dystopian horror enthusiast that might be hard to take if you’re not expecting them.

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