Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

97 reviews

anna_hepworth'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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely loved this - the writing, the characters, the carefully released world-building. The plot beats were great, although 'highly patriarchal non-humans' is a trope I've seen just a bit too much of. What it made me think of, repeatedly, was the first of Sheri Tepper's Mavin Manyshaped books. 

There are so many clever details, most of which aren't spelled out for the reader but hinted at in the reactions of the characters, in the sideways references to assumed knowledge. And, for rather a lot of 'what am I missing', the 'excerpts' at the beginning of each chapter, which were snippets of info-dumping while also skipping large amounts of explanation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

dr_ruby13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

I love that the book has a diverse writer, characters, and reader. I enjoyed the neurodivergent and lgbtqia+ characters and plot that was done with care and attention. I will say even with all the ways I felt seen in this book, it was hard for me to get through than any other fictional and magical elements book I have read recently. I think that is because the author didn't sugar coat and paste over horrible lives, childhood trama, with a nice pretty bow at the end. So I found myself making connections to my own life. And at times that was hard to stomach, so I had to put the book down and start again many times. The ending does feel abrupt, but at the same time it seemed the perfect way to go and anything different would have a disservice to the characters and the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

chrysanthxmum's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Sexism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Violence

hollyd19's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

I wanted to like this more than I did. It’s more of a horror than I anticipated, and the premise of “book eaters” isn’t nearly as robustly explored as I’d hoped. I was intrigued by the setup, but found the delivery weak. There is far more emphasis on the variant of “mind eaters,” leaving the core world-building concept underdeveloped. I also found the ending abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Cannibalism

dia_arca_mina's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism, and Classism

arialien's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Abandonment

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

rheagoveas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Violence

bookish_redpanda15's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual violence and Pregnancy

batesbarb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

saracat's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I listened to the audiobook, so before I get into the book review itself, I want to say it was a delightful surprise to learn that both the author and narrator are neurodivergent and hearing them chat together at the end was really nice. This is the first book I’ve listened to that had a chat between narrator and author and now wish more of the books I listened to had this. 

Now to the review. I became so invested in the main characters. And the world Dean created felt so fresh and unique to me. While I never quite got my head around understanding the knights and dragons completely, it doesn’t really bother me. 

I love characters and books that are riddled with morally grey - which this book is full of. Though, the farther I got into the book, the more I hesitated to keep picking it up because after everything the characters had been through I wanted them to at least have ‘better’ and I just couldn’t get a sense if Dean had written a book that would have an ultimately happy ending, tragic ending, something in between, etc. And I didn’t want to reach the end. But I finally did, and I think the ending fits everything that proceeds it in the book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Rape, Kidnapping, and Acephobia/Arophobia