jpegging's review
2.0
I'm disappointed because the bones of this world and the building done on the crystals and the encroaching city and the sun that hates the world are immensely interesting and it's all wrapped up in gross crystal body horror that never feels real enough, family drama, and gang rape of a dying woman as a plot device--none of which actually really goes anywhere or means anything.
megghonk's review
1.0
I don't believe I've ever given a book 1 star but I just really didn't like this one. I wanted to support a local publishing company/bookstore and they were selling mystery books for $10. I got this one and I thought the premise was very cool. Everyone has a crystal count and as you get injured or sick over your lifetime, your crystals deplete and once you hit zero it's light's out. Remy's mom is sick and her crystal count is going down rapidly. Rumor has it that there's black crystals that can actually add to your count so Remy sets out to find one. But the plot is much more than that.
This book is a self-proclaimed allegory and maybe I'm just too simple to understand it. Definitely not my style of writing either. Way too "out there" for my tastes but some people would probably love it.
I did like the setup of the book. The chapters and page numbers move down instead of up to simulate the crystal depletion. That was my favorite part.
This book is a self-proclaimed allegory and maybe I'm just too simple to understand it. Definitely not my style of writing either. Way too "out there" for my tastes but some people would probably love it.
I did like the setup of the book. The chapters and page numbers move down instead of up to simulate the crystal depletion. That was my favorite part.
sam8834's review
5.0
Light Boxes will probably forever be my favorite work by Shane Jones, but with Crystal Eaters, he's achieved the same urgency and magic as his other books. He continually takes the experimental side of contemporary fiction and grounds it in accessible allegory, making his work more interesting than most of what's out there now. I usually don't care for child protagonists, but in Remy, we get (for once) an atypical adolescent narrator. And where many contemporaries writing in this vein don't elicit empathy for their characters, Jones really evokes a sadness for this family that readers will feel, despite the unreality of the story's setting and premise.
I'd been waiting for this book all year, and it didn't disappoint.
I'd been waiting for this book all year, and it didn't disappoint.
ulogil's review against another edition
I don't know what's going on. Everything feels disconnected and not very easy on the mind to comprehend. It's like reading a story without a fully built world. So you're only half comprehending.
Also the self harm was hard to read.
Also the self harm was hard to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
dlrogna's review against another edition
4.0
Solid, emotional build. I thought chapter 6 in particular was wonderfully crafted.
grahamiam's review against another edition
Review - http://therumpus.net/2014/04/crystal-eaters-by-shane-jones/
daneekasghost's review against another edition
4.0
I like Shane Jones' books. They're weird and visual and surreal and they don't quite tell you everything that's going on. Remy (the main character) and her family are overshadowed by grief and death, while their village is being consumed by either the nearby city or the sun. Everybody wants the crystals that the village mines, but for very disparate reasons.
About two thirds of the way through the book is the line "As a child what you see is creation. As an adult what you see is destruction." Remy's evolution from one side of that quotation to the other is really well done.
About two thirds of the way through the book is the line "As a child what you see is creation. As an adult what you see is destruction." Remy's evolution from one side of that quotation to the other is really well done.
More...