Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

99 reviews

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

chase0w0's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Minor: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

musicalpopcorn's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.5

Devon will do anything to save her son, even if it means facing both of their monstrous personas. 

This book was quite gripping and action packed. The characters were gritty and unapologetically imperfect. I appreciated it as a stark metaphor for patriarchy and what breaking a patriarchal society would entail. 

Quite enjoyable! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia

msgslibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

This book was a marvelous piece of writing, able to carry a story in a non-linear style chapter by chapter to slowly peel back the layers of the main character's life. I was worried I wouldn't like it at first because the opening chapter makes it seem like the main character's primary personality trait is being an alcoholic, but that thankfully isn't focused on with the same intensity for the rest of the book. If that's of concern, get past the first chapter and the story will get better from there. The worldbuilding that Dean is able to weave throughout the story is masterful, even though there are holes. In fact, the holes that are left make it all the more interesting. Our own history as a species is full of mystery and unanswered questions the further back in time we try to study, and the Book Eaters of this book are no different. This, paired with the rigidity of the social structures the Book Eaters live under, makes for a wholly enjoyable read with enough lore to not get bogged down. And if you love a feral woman/lesbian main character, Devon, this book's lead, is for you! There is also an underlying metaphor of disability rights and how to navigate the world as an autistic/neurodivergent person, at least through my reading, that Dean works in so subtly and fluidly that is moves but doesn't overstate itself. Wile extremely gory and dark at points, by the end this book was a breath of fresh air for a sci-fi/fantasy lover like me who loves seeing unique ideas in the genre executed well!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

happy ending

esme_may's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, and Trafficking

arejaytay's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

looseleafellie's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

This contemporary fantasy novel introduces a secret society of creatures called Book Eaters, who eat books instead of food to gain knowledge. As a Book Eater woman, Devon grows up only allowed to eat fairy tales, doomed to a life of forced marriages and being torn from her children for the furtherance of Book Eater society. But when she gives birth to a Mind Eater — a boy who craves minds instead of books — she must break free of the system to save both her son and herself.

This is a relatively short read that packs a wildly imaginative premise into its pages. The Book Eater concept is so WEIRD, but I happily ate it up.

The point isn’t the biology or abilities of the Book Eaters, but rather how their society is set up. Just like real oppressive systems, there are any number of “logical” reasons for Book Eater society to function the way it does, but no amount of logic can justify the way the system strips its marginalized members (in this case, women and mind-eaters) of their agency.

Devon is a sharp and savvy character hardened by her circumstances. I guess she’s a classically “unlikeable” protagonist, but even before I learned about her past that made her that way, I couldn’t help sympathizing with her motivations for doing questionable things.

The story is told in both the present day and flashbacks, which propelled the plot along while revealing more about Devon’s backstory and the Book Eater world. Toward the end, when the flashbacks got close to the present day, I felt like they slowed things down, but I generally liked the dual timelines.

Overall, I would recommend this book to those who want a dark, imaginative, compelling fantasy read. Also if you like books. But if you’re reading this, that’s probably a given.

Spice level: None.

CWs: Violence (inc. toward children), gore, murder, domestic abuse, misogyny, forced marriage, forced parent/child separation, childbirth, and mentions of human trafficking, SA, and acephobia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Acephobia/Arophobia

tinyjude's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Very intriguing concept and development. I liked how it perfectly encapsulated the patriarchal, oppressive and cruel world created by the Families and the damage they create to all those poor little girls by just feeding them fairy tales and not preparing them for what's to come. I liked Devon's fierce personality and the characters' grey morality portrayed through the things she is forced to do for Cai and what Cai has to suffer too. I liked that it was sapphic and we also got a tiny bit of asexual representation and some decent men amongst monsters. It is true that the ending and love plot felt rushed but I liked the approach and the points the author wanted to criticize and how they were addressed in the book unequivocally. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infertility, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

auroramw's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

1.5

I love the book's premise, but it fell short in my opinion. The story is as subtle as a sledgehammer. There's a lot of pacing issues, especially towards the end of the book. Despite all this, I find that the bigges problem for me is how under developed the characters feel. The dialogue feels like a poorly written script where no one has a distinct voice. The characters lack personality which made them deeply unlikable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, and Pregnancy

bootrat's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Horror isn't usually a genre I read, but I really enjoy this! The world building was great, the characters were excellent and very relatable, and the whole story was intriguing. I'd very happily read more books set in this world (or eat them if I could)!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Sexual assault and Pregnancy

The sexual assault is that Devon doesn't want to have sex, but is made to in order to procreate. It isn't described at all, only referenced that it wouldn't be pleasant.