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cassie7e's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I think I've found a new author to bingeread!
I read this book with very little knowledge of what I was getting into beyond "people who eat books" and that made every layer of context a wonderful discovery! I loved the ominous oppressive atmosphere, the literary references, the nonlinear timeline, the nuanced internal conflicts given the external circumstances. This book is fantastic for the story itself, and on top of that provided some much needed representation.
I think what keeps this from being a 5-star for me is that it is not invested in a lot of world-building. I don't think that hurts this story necessarily but I generally prefer books with more intrigue and complex details.
I read this book with very little knowledge of what I was getting into beyond "people who eat books" and that made every layer of context a wonderful discovery! I loved the ominous oppressive atmosphere, the literary references, the nonlinear timeline, the nuanced internal conflicts given the external circumstances. This book is fantastic for the story itself, and on top of that provided some much needed representation.
I think what keeps this from being a 5-star for me is that it is not invested in a lot of world-building. I don't think that hurts this story necessarily but I generally prefer books with more intrigue and complex details.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Blood
Minor: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Stalking, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
books_and_fairy_lights's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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? It's complicated
2.75
It was good, I can't say I didn't like it. I read it pretty fast and got somewhat into it because I really wanted to know what had happened in the past and what was gonna happen now. The story was well built, in that it really kept the reader wondering while still getting some answers. That part was great. The story was also quite original I think, or at least I don't think I've ever seen anything else with book eaters or anything close to that (which is actually quite surprising, thinking about it). So yeah it was a good book. However, it was often "too obvious" for me. Like it was very often trying to make a point/give a lesson/preach some point of view - and I'm not saying it was wrong in its ideas, it just didn't leave much room for nuance in those instances. Ironically I found it very black and white, for a book that was advocating that "things are more complicated than they seem" and "there's no good and bad" it made a heavy emphasis on what it considered "the right idea" and didn't really let the readers decide for themselves. Also, the whole "life isn't a fairytale" thing was really lacking in subtlety in my opinion. In addition to being (sorry if it's harsh) unoriginal, it was also very heavy and expressed too forcefully for me. Like, of course life isn't a fairytale, and I'm the first person to agree with the fact that reality is brutal and full of disappointment and disillusion, but you don't have to say it so plainly. In fact, I think that a less obvious, more subtle way of making it clear (through hints and ideas and metaphors and what not) is way more efficient than just saying it like that. It gives more room for people to interpret it in a way that resonates with their own feelings and experiences.
Anyway, although not groundbreaking, it overall was a nice read and I'm glad to have read it.
Anyway, although not groundbreaking, it overall was a nice read and I'm glad to have read it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Death of parent
Minor: Domestic abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol
bitteralbatross's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Murder
Minor: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Stalking
leonormsousa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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
REP
lesbian MC, sapphic LI, asexual male SC, disabled Indian-British SC
QUOTE
QUOTE
“For here was the thing that no fairy tale would ever admit, but that she understood in that moment: love was not inherently good.
Certainly, it could inspire goodness. She didn’t argue that. Poets would tell you that love was electricity in your veins that could light a room. That it was a river in your soul to lift you up and carry you away, or a fire inside the heart to keep you warm. Yet electricity could also fry, rivers could drown, and fires could burn; love could be destructive. Punishingly, fatally destructive.
And the other thing, the real bloody clincher of it all, was that the good and the bad didn’t get served up equally. If love were a balance of electric lights and electric jolts, two sides of an equally weighted coin, then fair enough. She could deal.
That wasn’t how it worked, though. Some love was just the bad, all the time: an endless parade of electrified bones and drowned lungs and hearts that burned to a cinder inside the cage of your chest.
And so she looked down at her son and loved him with the kind of twisted, complex feeling that came from having never wanted him in the first place; she loved him with bitterness, and she loved him with resignation. She loved him though she knew no good could ever come from such a bond."
Certainly, it could inspire goodness. She didn’t argue that. Poets would tell you that love was electricity in your veins that could light a room. That it was a river in your soul to lift you up and carry you away, or a fire inside the heart to keep you warm. Yet electricity could also fry, rivers could drown, and fires could burn; love could be destructive. Punishingly, fatally destructive.
And the other thing, the real bloody clincher of it all, was that the good and the bad didn’t get served up equally. If love were a balance of electric lights and electric jolts, two sides of an equally weighted coin, then fair enough. She could deal.
That wasn’t how it worked, though. Some love was just the bad, all the time: an endless parade of electrified bones and drowned lungs and hearts that burned to a cinder inside the cage of your chest.
And so she looked down at her son and loved him with the kind of twisted, complex feeling that came from having never wanted him in the first place; she loved him with bitterness, and she loved him with resignation. She loved him though she knew no good could ever come from such a bond."
THINGS I ENJOYED
- Sunyi Dean's writing is stunning (something I've confirmed in her two recent short stories), and I think I might read everything she puts out there
- So many great and strong passages! (I'm not one to annotate but this book made me want to)
- We love a book that doesn't shy away from talking about misogyny and oppressive societies
- How the author explored the topic of love, especially maternal love and how it can twist your moral boundaries (see the quote I included)
- The queer rep <3
- The concept of book and mind eaters was so interesting and original, and the chapter introductions with the lore really made the experience better
- It really stuck with me (it has been 4 months since I read and I not only think about it but almost feel like rereading it)
- The dual-timeline storytelling works so well
THINGS I DIDN'T ENJOY
- The ending was a bit too rushed and even almost “too easy”.
- Some details were given a lot of emphasis in the book but then ended up not playing any part at all, which felt a bit misleading and incoherent.
THINGS THAT I'VE SEEN CRITICISM ABOUT AND WHY I ACTUALLY LIKED THEM
- The world-building is limited - I think that the vagueness and unresolvedness of this book fitted it quite well. It's very rooted in Devon, so for me, it made sense that we didn't knew much about the book/mind eaters origin or lore (or other topics of the book in general) because she didn't knew it as well, either because she wasn't given that information as a woman or because it was not knowledge the book eater society had at the time.
- The abrupt ending - I actually like open endings and thought this one fitted the book well
READ IF YOU ENJOY
- creepy books with grey/dark characters
- stories about unhinged women trying to break free
- topics like misogynist societies and motherhood
- urban fantasy/sci-fi elements as a means to uncover and discuss real-life situations
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Violence, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Slavery, Trafficking, and Acephobia/Arophobia
wearyreader's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
I’ll start with the positives: The writing style is great and there is a really well managed back and forth of timelines from what I’ve read so far. But, with that I still had to stop.
I DNF’d at 65 pages which is about 21% for the problematic similarities to Romani peoples. As far as I have read, these are what I’ve found.
This group of people are noted to not be human, that they must take extra care to appear human when being amongst people.
They used to be able to travel, but now they can’t because of paperwork issues. (They are undocumented, and they don’t report the birth of their kids, marriages, ext) [Page 3, talks about how our main character has no ID, passport, birth certificate, ext]. The families are noted to not do anything, just hang out where they live. Although some families differ, our main character’s family’s home is noted to be run down and not taken care of. The estate is overgrown and not worked. But it’s important to know they all have really nice, new cars.
The Book Eaters are many different families across Britain. (They used to travel more but can’t now because of the said lack of documentation) Their kids run around dirty, uneducated, and without any outside contact. Women are ‘rare’ and are treated like princesses. Women are only fed fairy tale books and books about compliance while boys are fed adventure stores and stories of valor and more educated texts. When they turn 18 they are dressed like princesses and immediately married off to another family.
They are married to a man (of any age) to produce a child. Once the child is born and give a few years, they are married off to another man to produce another child. After that child (unless they can produce a 3rd) they are allowed to retire at their home family and continue to just exist without further purpose.
Oh, and there’s still a dowry involved in this to entice the woman’s original family to comply with the forced birthing process.
When they are married off, the ‘knights’ ride motorcycles around a
limo to escort her to the new family in the style of a caravan.
But, the Book Eaters publicly are just people who live off the land and stick to themselves and are local legends. Should an outsider stumble upon them, they are drained of who they are/captured, and sent somewhere way far away without their family or loved ones knowing.
The Book Eaters are monsters. You are either born a book eater or born a dragon (someone who instead of eating human knowledge, must eat human experience aka brains). So you are either born ‘normal’ or a monster, inherently evil/with evil urges. These dragons get stripped of their freedoms and are then covered in tattoos which signify that they’re dangerous.
It is noted that indeed, their heritage is Romanian. Straight up.
Am I reading too much into this Maybe I am. But there is too much
intersectionality with the harmful stereotypes or Romani peoples that
it feels so blaringly obvious to me. Instead of the usually paranormal
media depiction of being Lycanthropes and Fortune Tellers, they’re indeed vampiric alien monsters.
As I mentioned, I have stopped reading here. I cannot review anymore than this. There are also more reviews here on Goodreads and other places that report that the book ends up being about not book eating but the family being a cult/cult-like activity. So, I will not be
continuing even more so.
Sadly, I believe this book will be in some subscription boxes so I feel for those who might not be prepared for it and for those who have no idea about the intersectionality of this.
I DNF’d at 65 pages which is about 21% for the problematic similarities to Romani peoples. As far as I have read, these are what I’ve found.
This group of people are noted to not be human, that they must take extra care to appear human when being amongst people.
They used to be able to travel, but now they can’t because of paperwork issues. (They are undocumented, and they don’t report the birth of their kids, marriages, ext) [Page 3, talks about how our main character has no ID, passport, birth certificate, ext]. The families are noted to not do anything, just hang out where they live. Although some families differ, our main character’s family’s home is noted to be run down and not taken care of. The estate is overgrown and not worked. But it’s important to know they all have really nice, new cars.
The Book Eaters are many different families across Britain. (They used to travel more but can’t now because of the said lack of documentation) Their kids run around dirty, uneducated, and without any outside contact. Women are ‘rare’ and are treated like princesses. Women are only fed fairy tale books and books about compliance while boys are fed adventure stores and stories of valor and more educated texts. When they turn 18 they are dressed like princesses and immediately married off to another family.
They are married to a man (of any age) to produce a child. Once the child is born and give a few years, they are married off to another man to produce another child. After that child (unless they can produce a 3rd) they are allowed to retire at their home family and continue to just exist without further purpose.
Oh, and there’s still a dowry involved in this to entice the woman’s original family to comply with the forced birthing process.
When they are married off, the ‘knights’ ride motorcycles around a
limo to escort her to the new family in the style of a caravan.
But, the Book Eaters publicly are just people who live off the land and stick to themselves and are local legends. Should an outsider stumble upon them, they are drained of who they are/captured, and sent somewhere way far away without their family or loved ones knowing.
The Book Eaters are monsters. You are either born a book eater or born a dragon (someone who instead of eating human knowledge, must eat human experience aka brains). So you are either born ‘normal’ or a monster, inherently evil/with evil urges. These dragons get stripped of their freedoms and are then covered in tattoos which signify that they’re dangerous.
It is noted that indeed, their heritage is Romanian. Straight up.
Am I reading too much into this Maybe I am. But there is too much
intersectionality with the harmful stereotypes or Romani peoples that
it feels so blaringly obvious to me. Instead of the usually paranormal
media depiction of being Lycanthropes and Fortune Tellers, they’re indeed vampiric alien monsters.
As I mentioned, I have stopped reading here. I cannot review anymore than this. There are also more reviews here on Goodreads and other places that report that the book ends up being about not book eating but the family being a cult/cult-like activity. So, I will not be
continuing even more so.
Sadly, I believe this book will be in some subscription boxes so I feel for those who might not be prepared for it and for those who have no idea about the intersectionality of this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Alcoholism and Drug use