A review by biblioleah
We Ate the Dark by Mallory Pearson

4.0

WOW was this a fantastic debut. I want to begin with the things I loved about this book, because although I have criticisms- I have not had this much fun reading in a long while. This book just felt like it was written for me and me alone, and for that it is just so special to me. Witches, queer obsessive friendships, dark and twisted monsters, lush prose? Sign me up. The writing of this book was everything I have ever needed, and I absolutely adored so many lines and scenes and sections. The personification of EVERYTHING was so beautiful, and I found myself rereading passages just because they were so well written. I cannot wait to pick up more from this author in the future, and I cannot wait to get a physical copy of this book when it comes out so I can do a reread and annotate every single page. The characters were real, they were messy, they were INFURIATING and still they were loveable. I could have done without some of the secret keeping tropes (ie. constantly being interrupted before you can say crucial information to another character) and some of the secrets festered for way too long, creating conflict I couldn't help but roll my eyes at (granted I'm a very 'nip it in the bud' kind of personality). The dynamics between the characters (living and dead) were phenomenal and brought up so much emotion in me because I understood these friendships so deeply. As an aromantic asexual person, I also loved the way friendship was prized and valued just as much (if not more) than romantic and sexual relationships. That's something I don't see very much, especially not in mainstream queer fiction. It was so nice seeing myself in characters who don't even have all that much in common with me except that love for those close to them. The characters were distinct and although it took me a minute to get grounded in all the points of view, I blame that mostly on the ebook format. If I had been able to physically flip back and forth to remember who was who in the beginning it would have been much easier. Now, as for one of the places I feel this book unfortunately fell flat for me; the ending third. The pacing was slow and melodic up to a very particular point where, without hinting towards spoilers, all hell breaks loose. I found that the storyline got extremely messy and difficult to follow in the final chapters, and the magic system started jumping the shark in a way. As much as not all magic needs to be explained, having NO explanation for the things that started to happening felt frustrating, because there was rather little build up and groundwork laid in the beginning to make the twists make sense and feel satisfying. There were all these fantastical things that began to happen that just felt like "okay these are cool and very creepy vibes happening but I don't actually know what this is, why this is, etc" and it resulted in, for me, a loss of tension. I felt like because magic was just popping up everywhere and a very SPECIFIC magic trope happened, I no longer felt grounded in the rules of the world. I didn't know if I should be worried about a character facing a near death experience because in several scenes prior, there was an absolutely new magic thing introduced that saved them super easily and out of the blue. I just felt the ending was incredibly rushed, and it was only clear because of how wonderful the pacing in the first two thirds was. I will also say, I am both excited and a little disappointed that this had an open ending and will (hopefully) be continued in a series. I felt like this would have been crafted so well if it was a standalone with say, 150 or so more pages to properly take the time to craft an ending that had a breadcrumb trail properly laid out. I wanted to understand the magic, the witchery, the curses! I wanted to know more characters and their history! When the "villain" character was sorta revealed, I felt a bit cheated, like I should have had more of an opportunity to respect and fear certain individuals. But then again, perhaps continuing this story in a series will make for the most marvelous second book of all time- one that answers all my questions, fills in some plot holes, and gives me more of the characters and writing I'm already so obsessed with. In the end, I am so grateful to have been given an early copy of this from the author and NetGalley, and I will be waiting anxiously for more stories from Mallory Pearson.