DNF at 22%

This should have been right up my alley. Some light Beauty and the Beast elements in an interesting fantasy world? I should have loved this.

The issue started right off the bat with the world-building. There's a lot of information thrown at the reader in the first few chapters, which isn't explained well and left me deeply confused. The basic idea of it is intriguing, but the way Miller went about presenting her world made a muddle of it.

The biggest issue I had was with Lorena. The book is told from her perspective, in first person, and it's almost as if the book was written in third person for all that we see Lorena's thought processes or emotions. She barely even reacts to things. At one point, another character tells Lorena to kill her, and there's no in-text reaction from Lorena, either outwardly or inwardly. This is made far more apparent when she meets three side characters who frankly outshine her in every way. I could have read a novel about those three characters. I could not continue reading a novel about Lorena, who came across more as a placeholder for the reader than a character in her own right.

So, it's a no from me, unfortunately.

"'You don't owe her because she's your mother. Family isn't infallible.' People with good families never understood. It was unthinkable and called into question everything they'd ever known. Family loved each other. It had to be the truth."

⭐

Content warnings: there are.... so many... Please read the author's review on Goodreads as it would likely be longer than my review. I do appreciate that they were listed on Goodreads so I could be prepared in advance. In this review, I reference death, murder, self-harm, and human sacrifice.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was advertised to me as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, although the author qualifies in their review that it was a very, very loose bare bones retelling. I would caution that I found almost no similarities to this book and the fairytale other than maybe the first chapter of the story.

What We Devour follows Lorena Adler, a dualwrought (someone who is both noble- and vile-wrought). This means that she somehow has the power of fragments of two different banished gods. This is an extremely rare occurrence, and when the Vile crown prince discovers her, he demands she return with him to his castle. Lorena makes a deal to leave her village in exchange for her fiance's father to be given a fair trial for his supposed crimes and not immediately be used as sacrifice to the Door that keeps the banished gods from their world.

After Lorena reaches the palace, despite being an undertaker, she is put on a research team with three other scientists (?) on studying the Door. To be quite honest, I could not spoil this book even if I wanted to, as I made it through the entire book and still do not understand the plot in the slightest.

There are a lot of scenes of different characters discussing different topics in their lab, but it almost reads like a sequel, in that the dialogue left me confused in a way that felt like I was missing sections of the plot. Despite the world supposedly ending in an incredibly short time frame, there was no sense of urgency. Other than two to three sentences I found to be resonating quotes on the author's part that were irrelevant to the story.

I am a very character-driven reader, and will still heavily enjoy a book with a weak plot if I enjoy the characters and their dialogue/arcs. Unfortunately, the characters in What We Devour seemed to have absolutely no chemistry with one another or dimensions in their relationship. I do not mean this in a romantic/sexual sense, as I was extremely excited to read a book with ace rep, but that the friendships and romances all felt flat/forced. It was as if we were being told these characters cared about each other instead of shown with any emotional appeal.

I still greatly appreciate the chance to try a new author and story, but this book was not for me at all. I am not sure who I would recommend it to, but I hope that others enjoy it more than I did!

Unfortunately, What We Devour is not the type of novels that I enjoy. I have never tried Dark fantasy before and since Linsey Miller is an author I hear often about, I thought I'd give it a try.

This genre is simply not for me, I find it too heavy, too detailed and obviously... too dark. I am grateful for the publisher to have granted me an ARC of this novel so I could try this genre, but it is simply not something for me.

What We Devour is yet another standalone fantasy by the hand of Lynsey Miller. Another dark tale with intricate world building and interesting twists and turns.

We meet Lorena Adler as she takes care of the death in a small town. Still considered an outsider despite having lived there for a few years now. She hides a secret. She is a noble and a vile. Normally those that hold the power of the banished gods either hold noble or the vile. Holding both is extremely rare and it is why she catches the eye of the Vile Crown Prince. It throws her into court politics, experimentations and sacrifices.

The world and its magic is an interesting take. One has to sacrifice something to be able to use their powers. A memory, blood or anything that the noble or the vile you carry wants. The prince for instance creates intricate contracts for his vile so it cannot step out of its boundaries and interpret the demand in its own way. It is an interesting way how to deal with magic and powers. I guess one can see the noble and vile as some kind of demons, the way that Lorena refers to them. But even with all the information I still feel a bit out of the loop when it actually comes to the vile and noble. The differences between the two and the long history before that.

There is also a door that is keeping a type of demons out of their world. But that door is breaking down and our vile prince and lorena want to find a way to keep it closed so the sacrificed to the door of the people can stop. At one point one runs out of criminals. There are twists and turns throughout the book. Curses, ghosts, murdering queens, talking doors etc. There is a lot here and yet the story moves painstakingly slow at points.

The story explores the themes of sacrifice and morality. Is it okay to sacrifice a few for the good of the many? And who gets to decide that? The constant tension between the various characters also plays with that. One can sacrifice someone else's memory to heal a wound or change someone's memory as the end goal. What is okay to take? What is okay to use your powers for?

Lorena gets a strong relationship with our prince and there seem to be some romantic feelings there. However there is also room for Lorena to be herself in this. She seems to not be interested in sex. She is interested in physical interactions by cuddling or holding someone. But she doesn't seem to have a sexual interest, making her asexual. The word isn't used in the book but the author has confirmed it. It was interesting and pleasing to see how the prince seemed to give her this room. There was never any push for more than she was willing to give.

All in all I do think that What We Devour is a very interesting dark fantasy standalone to give a try!

This was a very good read! There was quite a lot I enjoyed about the story, the world building (which was very complex), the characters and the magic system. There was good queer representation as Lore (our MC) is ace but I'm going to be honest, I had to search it up to know exactly what that meant. There were quite a few characters and you really have to pay attention to know who is who or maybe read the book fast (took me a very long time to read it and not because it was bad, but because I was extremely busy). There are a few TW like gore and death of a parent, violence, self harm and others so beware. I would recommend this book.

I didn’t really enjoy this, and I’m sad and disappointed about it. The premise sounded really interesting, and although I wasn’t invested from the start I gave it a fair shot and was keeping up my hopes for a good chunk of the book. However, the execution was very lackluster. I wrote some notes when I was halfway through that said “first half is very slow and repetitive”, but as it turns out it wasn’t just the first half. The entire book felt like I kept reading the same three scenes time and time again, a rather torturous experience. It was only in the last four chapters that it finally picked up, but by that point I just wanted it to be over. Also, the resolution of the conflict was way too easy for the complexity of the problem.

The one aspect that I did enjoy was how diverse the cast was. Identities such as “bisexual” and “non-binary” were a non-issue. I especially enjoyed the use of they/them pronouns as the default when meeting new people. Lore, the protagonist is asexual so there was also quite a lot of discussion of asexuality, intimacy, and romance. I, however, didn’t really care for any of the characters. Although some of them could have been interesting, they lacked substance.

All in all, it’s obvious that I didn’t enjoy this at all. Nor the plot or the characters were interesting enough for me to feel drawn to the story. However, I want to make it clear that I didn’t have any issues with the book per se, I simply didn’t like it.

Who doesn't love a good "eat the rich" fantasy?

What We Devour is a wonderful criticism of capitalism and of the ruling class. And it's definitely not all black and white, the 'bad guys' aren't always the ones we think.
The world in this book is ruled by magical beings called Noble and Vile. These entities with powers used to live amongst mortals but were devoured and locked away, thus giving a glimpse of power to those who devoured them. People who devoured the Vile gained the power of destroying things, and people who devoured the Noble the power of creating. Usually people only have one of the two, but a few rare people have both, like Lorena, our heroine.
The characters are amazing, so complex and interesting. They're all morally grey, and they're not afraid to get their hands dirty for the greater good. And the relationships between all of them were so well written. I particularly loved the relationship between Lorena and Alistair, I loved how they understood each other so well.

If you like dark fantasy with cunning and strategic girls who topple the ruling class, I definitely recommend this book.

Linsey Miller’s latest novel, WHAT WE DEVOUR, is a complex and original tale that is as compelling as it is rich. The world-building is strong, the social hierarchy well established, and the corruption is malignant.

The plot and setting create an entirely immersive experience and I enjoyed the richness of sensory details.

The magic system is quite different than anything else I’ve read in the fantasy genre and I truly loved how dark and gothic the whole premise felt.

And of course, what’s a fantasy novel without a brooding, morally grey royal figure to hopelessly fall in love with despite all sense of judgement and reason??

What We Devour is a standalone fantasy novel by Linsey Miller, that is full of life lessons about diversity, society and what we can do to and for each other. WWD is a dark novel that full of hope and love. But not the love and romance what you expect.

Lorena, or Lore, as you friends call her, has spent her life being small and hiding in the shadows. In this world, you are mortal, vilewrought or noblewrought. Only one known person has both Vile and Noble, The Queen. Lore has been harboring a secret, a secret from her family, friends and village. When the Heir comes with a warrant for her fiance's father, her only family left. She reveals her secret and has to make a contract with him. But contracts in this world are more than legal, especially with The Heir....

This book was truly a good read. There is excellent representation and tension between characters. Linsey does an amazing job creating characters that are both fundamentally flawed and at the same time so much themselves. This book also teaches lessons about the cost of capitalism, the cost of following family blindly and how being different can both be a blessing and a curse. THe most important lesson that I have taken away from this book is the cost of giving everything you have, blood and heart and putting everyone else above yourself.

This book is so empowering. I wish there was more coming from this world. I will definitely be adding LInsey to my list of authors that i follow for new work. This book would be a great read for those who love dark stories like All the Murmuring Bones and for those who are looking for a empowering tale of overcoming obstacles and embracing who you are....

This will be a great book for my older students. I work with college students as well and I believe that they will love this book.

Hello darkly disturbing romance with an asexual MC. I read and loved this book.

I enjoyed that it followed the trend of YA fantasy that focuses on the fantasy instead of romance and the diversity was the icing on the cake.

I ended up recommending this book over at Words & Whimsy to over 7k members.

“Feast”
Well, I certainly did and I’m starving for more!

What a dark and fascinating book. I did not want to put it down; it was so good. Fair warning, there were some instances (many) of self-harm, abuse, mass murder, and a whole bunch of death. If you can get past all that and appreciate a magic system that revolves around all that then please continue, you won’t be disappointed.

There are so many things I loved about What we Devour and one of the main things was the representation so well-done and thank you Linsey Miller. It’s amazing how more and more authors are being more representative; it just gives so much more! I also appreciated how every single, and I mean every single character was “evil” in their own respects. No one’s hands are clean, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It gave me the opportunity to cheer for whoever I wanted without feeling the need to want to be on the “good guys” side. I’m also absolutely in love with Alistair, he was relatable, as was our protagonist, Lorena. Again, neither are true villains, but they aren’t heroes in the traditional sense either.

The story takes place in an apocalyptic world that has a really unique but extremely dark and horrifying magic system. People possess powers called noblewrights (create) and vilewrights (destroy) and it is very rare for a person to have both, like Lorena and the Queen. These powers are not used in the traditional sense like we are used to, magic doesn’t come free. It requires anything that has value to the person that wants to use it, like blood, a feeling, and/or memory- this is where the self-harm comes in. But you don’t necessarily have to give your own blood though; you could sacrifice someone else for your own use. People with these powers are bound by contracts and used by people of higher status. This is why Lorena has been hiding out and living under the radar, that is until Prince Alistair finds her and makes her an offer she can’t refuse. She really has to use everything she’s got to do what right, and do it the way she seems fit, even if a few lives are lost along the way.

I really respected the ending; it was shocking and definitely gave me Game of Throne vibes. I am really hoping for a continuation because WOW the ending! I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a dark fantasy with a unique twist.

Thank You to Linsey Miller and Sourcebooks Fire, for the digital ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Book TW: Blood, gore, sacrifice, and violence.

Wow where to start? I definitely wasn't expecting this? I was not expecting it to be THAT gory but it actually made sense for the overall story.
Some things that I enjoyed about this book, the Vile and Noble concept is unique and I loved reading about it! The contracts and prayers were a interesting touch. The author did an amazing job describing the wrights in detail. The writing was also decent and I could follow along pretty well.

The plot was unlike anything I've ever read before and to be honest, it was kind of confusing. I had a hard time focusing on the plot and the overall idea of the story. It seemed all over the place for me. I didn't like Lorena in the beginning and was a bit baffled by her character, I did like Lorena a bit more at the end though Alistair was bearable, the both of them annoyed me to no end. Also side note, I do have an appreciation for Basil and Carlow.

Overall it was a pretty decent book and if there's a sequel , I definitely would be reading it!

I wanted to like this book, but it just didn’t hit for me. I tried to restart it several times, but ultimately had to come to terms with the idea that I might not enjoy it. Though it has many stellar reviews on Goodreads, I ultimately found this to be a cramped, confusing read. I have no bone to pick with the author’s writing style, only the exposition and pacing. Perhaps the next book the author writes will be an improvement.

Semi rant-review coming up,

I always feel really bad rating ARCs low, but sometimes I just can't help it. Every. Single. Thing. About this story made about 0 sense to me. Basically there's this really cool concept of the Noble and Vile, right? Demigods who used to walk the earth until humans ate them and claimed their powers/the Gods banished them. But the Vile cheated and made some sort of door that requires blood sacrifices to be kept shut. Enter: Lorena. A 17 year old with a Tragic Backstory. She and the Crown prince, Alistair, have to work together to try and find a way to stop the door from opening and letting the Vile wreak havoc on the world.

Honestly, the summary is pretty cool, but I did not understand any part of this story. It had an A+ concept, but felt so much more like a first draft than a finished book. The rules and lore of the world were really shaky at best, and downright contradictory at worst. Let's start with the Noblewrought and Vilewrought. I loved the idea of there being a power that required sacrifices to be used. We are told that there are Noblewroughts, who have the power remnants/ soul kind of thing of Nobles, and they can create things from self-sacrifice. Then there are Vilewroughts, who have a power remnant/soul kind of thing of the Vile and can destroy through other-sacrifice. Except a bunch of the time they end up also healing and taking self-sacrifices too? There was SO MUCH overlap between the two, I didn't get the point of the distinction. (There are also Dualwroughts, which just means they can access both of the remnants). This was such a unique concept, but was very much underdeveloped. Which was a big problem seeing as to how it is the background of the world, plot, and characters.

Then there is the arbitrariness. Two of the only interesting characters are cursed. And although they are immortal, they can also somehow die of old age? But anyway, one of them can only have their curse broken by growing a "perfectly blue rose". Why? I HAVE NO IDEA. There were so many instances of strange little rules with no backstory or explanation, and I didn't understand any of it. I had to search through the book dozens of times to either remind myself of what the senseless rules were, or check to see if there was some sort of background I was missing (most of the time I wasn't. There was just no explanation). Not to mention the confusing councillors versus peers versus courtiers versus court overlap. And no, I won't elaborate. Mostly because I can't!

And lastly there were the characters. None of them were really likable, and especially Lorena. I did truly feel bad for her tragic history, and I think she was supposed to be a very complex, tortured type. But that didn't make up for every single manipulative, awful thing she did throughout the book. Even if some of it was revenge, it read a lot more like she just didn't have a conscience. Plus, talk about the queen of monologuing. Every other page felt like the same "the rich are corrupt, they abuse the poor, etc etc" speech. And I totally agreed with the sentiment but it added absolutely nothing new to the story with so much copy-paste repetition. Points for ace and nonbinary rep, although I am not one to speak to how accurate it is. Everyone else in the story I either tolerated, or downright hated (yes hello Will and Julian).

Overall, another very very good concept that wasn't what I was hoping for. I honestly cant even explain the majority of what I found so confusing because it would be a book in itself. Coming from someone who enjoys complex "info-dumping" books, trust me when I say there was just too much going on.

Intended audience: YA
Pacing: slow
Content warnings: self harm, death of a parent, murder

This is such a hard book to review.
WERE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
Yes! I was very entertained.
The world was fascinating and I loved. Lorena. The pacing was pretty good and it was hard not to keep reading. There is a clock counting down in the world.
I enjoyed the social commentary on classes and the worth of people. And the queer representation was great.
But...there were many things in the world that I didn't understand, or things that were left up to mystery or not explained very well.

I STILL LOVED THE BOOK.

So while I can't give this read 5 stars, 3 would not be generous enough.

TW: self-harm, magic, murder, pain, violence, classism & betrayal.

I don't know if I wasn't in the mood/ didn't vibe with this much, but I expected to love this a lot more. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

What we devour has a vibe similar to the beginning of shadow and bone; the heroine holds great power, and a dark, powerful man comes and offers/forces her to help him reach a goal. However, this world is still reeling from being ruled by two god-like beings that they overthrew at a price that is becoming increasingly difficult to pay. This story really plays at the idea of what monsters we need to make ourselves into for the greater good and how some monsters will still see themselves as good people.

Pros: We had some lgbtq+ representation; nonbinary/genderfluid, the main character I suspect is ace, and a bisexual/pansexual main love interest. The idea of the story has a lot of potentials, and I liked how the magic system worked in this world -magic balance is always a good trope in my eyes.

Cons: The story's pacing felt slow, and honestly, I saw a lot of telling and not showing. The urgency of the plot failed to hold me, and the allure of the characters failed too. I didn't feel for any of the characters, so I didn't really feel upset when any of them died, or it seemed like they were going to, any exploration of feelings and love I really care too much about either.

What We Devour is a wonderful book with a beautiful landscape, and a fascinating magic system. I enjoyed reading about our main character and her cunning ways, and her magic was so fascinating. Unfortunately, the plot did not draw me in, even though I was so intrigued about learning more about the magic. It felt too convoluted, but I do think that fans of high fantasy will enjoy this much more than I did.

Wow, that was dark! This was a YA version of Game of Thrones with incredibly intricate politics, bloody violence, a lot of characters, and several absolutely shocking deaths. There were some disturbing elements that I think deserve copious trigger warnings, including self-harm, abuse, mass death, and a lack of body autonomy. If you can handle darkness and despair then this is a compelling, suspenseful, and exciting read. I could not put it down and I was constantly surprised by just how far into darkness the characters would venture.

The answer to that question is all the way down into the darkness. Most of the characters were monstrous, each in their own manner. There really wasn’t anyone who wasn’t a sort of monster, so it left me cheering not really for good over evil but for the least terrible. They were all shades of grey. Okay, maybe there were a few characters who were purely evil and one or two that were too good for their brutal world. The most surprising was our heroine Lore. It was hard to get a read on her because although she seemed to do things for the right and noble reasons the things that she was doing were sinister and murderous. Do the ends justify the means? Do you sacrifice a few to save the many? What about a few hundred? Or a few thousand? Where does the line get drawn before the heroes become monsters worse than those they fight? It is all complex grey morality in this story.

The magic system was unique and rather appalling. There were several aspects that were just plain uncomfortable to read about. Magic requires a price, and it can be paid with blood, a feeling, a memory, or anything that has value to the person losing it. Some of the magic is done with the magic users own self while others are done with a sacrifice from another person, not always with their consent. It was truly horrific that a memory can be taken from someone’s mind, or blood or body parts taken without warning or consent. So basically, you’re hanging out drinking tea then poof! All your fingernails are gone! If that doesn’t give you nightmares nothing will! The prince has a servant whose role is to serve as a sacrifice for his magic. She is perpetually covered in cuts and wounds. The whole thing is a bit stomach churning. I was not expecting cutting to be something that many of the characters engage in, as the price to use magic. Bloody wounds abound and it was quite vile.

The end was shocking and totally horrific. I wasn’t expecting a fully happy ending by any means and what occurred fit with the rest of the story, and I guess it was its own sort of happy ending but holy crow, this was Game of Thrones style death and surprise murder. No one is safe! It does seem that the door was left open (pun completely intended) for a sequel. I would willingly enter this treacherous world again just to see what dastardly deeds Lore gets up to in her quest to make the world a better place. Will she succeed or descend into tyranny? It could go either way so hopefully there will be a book two and we can find out!

Thank you to Sourcebooks/Sourcebooks Fire for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Linsey Miller, and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. I gave "What We Devour" 3.75/5 stars.

What I Loved:

- Lorena Adler. I adored Lore's character, mainly because I'm a big fan of morally grey characters. Lore isn't afraid to make hard decisions, is incredibly intelligent, and knows how to manipulate. She knows when the play the prey and when to be a predator. Her words are just as powerful as her wrights, and I greatly enjoyed watching her plans come together in the end. I cannot express enough how amazing she is.

- The Magic System and World-Building. I thought that the magic system was incredibly unique as I haven't read anything like this before. I also enjoyed Lore's understanding of her wrights and how they are like family to her, beings that will not abandon her. It was refreshing to read about her understanding of her magic and how she wields it. The world itself was unique even if its problems weren't. I really enjoyed how in-depth we go into the injustice of the rich protecting the rich, while those who are less fortunate are left to suffer. It is a powerful theme and was written well. We are given glimpses of how both parties live and how those who do not have magic still manage to control it.

- The Characters. I thought the characters were a lot of fun. They each had a unique personality that brought a lightness to a dark story. It is easy to tell that each character was carefully planned out. Each character had specific quirks and a backstory that made them loveable -- I even adored the characters with questionable morals.

- The LGBTQIA2S+ Rep. I am always excited to read books that involve this community's rep, but especially do when it is integrated so well. There is no surprise, no questions asked, no resentment, when characters mention being attracted to someone or when a non-binary person is introduced.

What I Didn't Love:

- The Pacing. While I absolutely adored the magic system, I found it to be quite confusing at first. For a little less than the first half of the book, I was quite confused and found Lore's situation hard to follow. Because Lore's situation was moving so fast, and so many problems and new characters were being introduced, I couldn't keep up with what the wrights were or what their magic could do. I normally quite enjoy fast-paced books, but I wasn't caught up with what was really going on until the halfway point.

Overall recommend?
Absolutely!