An interesting concept, but rather too neat and tidy to be engaging. It didn't have to be longer, but some of the time on the journey could have been better spent for a more satisfying conclusion.

The Book Eaters is an extraordinary debut by Sunyi Dean. This horror story is very much in the genre of modern-day fairy tales as we witness what a mother will do to keep her son alive in a world where there are those who eat books and those who eat minds. Set in the modern-day United Kingdom, there are physical and mental battles as well as an exploration of chosen family, queer identity, and misogyny.
Full review on YouTube.

This book was dark and imaginative, creepy and fascinating. I was drawn into this world of Book Eaters, and I was fascinated by it. The theme of motherhood -and what we will do for our children - was powerful. And creepy, because honestly, the whole storyline with the mind eaters was dark and a bit ick. Did I want more of the book eater story? Of the idea that girls should only be fed fairytales? YES. I wanted more of that world and a little less of the vampirish (?) world of the mind eaters.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2023 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2023/01/2023-reading-list-announced-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

What an interesting concept. I thought this book was equal parts thought-provoking and scary. The son (who is the main problem of this story) is just creepy.

man, I've started this book 4 times and haven't gotten more than 40% in. The concept was phenomenal and sapphic, but the writing style and characters didn't captivate me enough. The bizarre blend of the real-world setting and fantastical aspects just didn't work for me. I do feel like I eventually want to give this another shot because the premise is so cool and I'm curious to see how the plot unravels.

I liked the premise of this and was excited to read it, but I found it slow and, perhaps more than that, not true to the synopsis or descriptions I’d seen. Some of the socio-cultural commentary was apt and it was certainly imaginative. I think I would have enjoyed this more if there was more clarity about its content at the outset.

The Book Eaters is a very dark book that was absolutely not what I expected. This book is about fairy tales and how they shape us. It’s about monsters, and how they become monstrous. But it’s also about mothers, and how far they’ll go for their children. And it’s about those in power, and the lengths they’ll go to in order to keep their power. The Book Eaters was a fun, quick, and propulsive read. I’m not sure if a sequel is planned, but there were enough threads left at the end of this one that I would happily read another novel set in this world. That being said, the ending to this one is perfectly complete as it current stands. I would recommend The Book Eaters if you’re in the mood for a dark fantasy novel.

*Disclaimer: I received an advance digital copy of this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I received an ARC of The Book Eaters from Macmillan-Tor/Forge in exchange for an honest review.

The title of this book is not figurative or metaphorical: The Book Eaters is about a line of people in the UK who literally eat books, absorbing their contents and retaining their qualities. Boys are fed stories of heroism and adventure, girls are given fairy tales, and naughty children are forced to devour dry, dusty dictionaries. Protagonist Devon is on the run with her son, who is a more dangerous variation of a book eater—rather than literature, he must consume human minds to survive, and only a rival clan of book eaters can supply him with the drug he needs to suppress his hunger.

This premise is…very good. Eating books and acquiring their characteristics is the kind of idea that immediately opened thoroughfares in my imagination, and in addition to being very fun, it is primed for social commentary: how better to illustrate things like racism, misogyny, transphobia, or toxic masculinity than by making the process in which prejudices are absorbed literal? These topics are touched upon, but ultimately Dean seems much more interested in writing a thriller about motherhood filtered through a fresh take on vampires. She succeeds admirably at that. It’s just not what I wanted from this book, and not the best use of this delicious premise.

Dean has some fierce competition when it comes to books about mothers and motherhood. Recent releases such as Kaikeyi, Elsewhere, and The Push have set the bar very high, and the relationship between Devon and her son never resonated with me quite like the parent/child dynamics in those books. Her son’s hunger for human minds never quite clicked with me as a metaphor, either—I got the impression that Dean wanted to write about a fantastical version of a neuroatypical child, but the sheer destructiveness of that hunger (which I’m not convinced was necessary for the stakes of this story) complicates that metaphor with discomforting implications.

The plot works well enough. I was never bored; chapters bounce between past and present timelines, and this thankfully isn’t a case in which the book feels lopsided because one story is more interesting than the other. (I was maybe slightly more drawn to the past timeline because of its higher generosity with worldbuilding, and I was eager to learn more about that—including the insinuation that the book eaters are aliens, a detail which Dean wisely refuses to elaborate upon.) The slick, propulsive plotting feels like it would translate to film without much trouble, which may be a pro or a con depending on your reading preferences. It’s more of a con for me.

I have to admit that I was a bit confused by the inclusion of the mind eaters, not in terms of plot or worldbuilding logistics, but in terms of theme. The mind eaters are essentially vampires in all but name. If Dean wanted to write about vampires, why not write about vampires? Especially when this story also includes the much-more-interesting book eaters. It was them I really wanted to read about, and I found myself frustrated every time the story steered back (as it often did) to the mind eaters. There’s so much novelty here; I was puzzled as to why Dean left that novelty by the wayside in favor of something that, frankly, was far more generic.

The Book Eaters is perfectly fine. It’s an easy, enjoyable, well-written story with a killer premise. I just can’t shake the feeling that it was also something of a missed opportunity. I’m definitely interested in reading whatever Dean comes up with next, but a part of me hopes she returns to the world she constructed for The Book Eaters and digs a bit deeper—not necessarily into the mythology, but into the potential for social commentary baked into this premise.

i really liked this world there were points where i felt as though i was not given enough informastionb about the world and the structures. i think that i could have been written about and given some more information.

Thanks to Macmillan -Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. This was the perfect pick for my book club. It promoted great discussion and we’d definitely read more by this author in the future.

Full disclosure: I did not finish this book, not because I wasn't enjoying it but because the content ended up being a bit too much for me. I think a lot of readers will absolutely love this book. I thought the storyline was quite unique and original- it's honestly what made me want to pick up the book. I also really enjoyed the writing style. If you're okay with more descriptive writing and a bit of gore, I'd highly recommend this book.

The premise of these was compelling - I definitely have never seen anything like it before. And it was an ode to motherhood, to an extent, wrapped in an urban fantasy. But it wasn't for me, unfortunately - and I think that had more to do with my expectations of the book than the book itself. So that is on me!

I so wanted to love this book because its a blend of my two favourite genres - dystopian and fantasy. The story hooked me good at first, but failed to keep me hooked. The pacing was ok, but I felt the story still missed a few things. Not sure if its just me or if this is going to be a series that will fill all the missed things?! I know some people loved this. So feel free to ignore my review.

Thank you Tor for the e-arc

What a truly well-written and interesting book--recommended for fans of dark fantasy/horror that tends toward the literary. I look forward to seeing more from this author!

The Book Eaters was such an original story and I loved every moment of it. The writing was so good and I loved how the author weaved the past chapters and present chapters seamlessly to get the full story. I never knew where the story was going to take me either. My absolute favorite character has to be the main characters son, Cai. Cai is four years old but acts and speaks like an adult because he is a brain eater. Brain eaters are pretty much hunted down or controlled by using horrible psychologically methods. Devon does not want that for her son and she will go to any length to protect him. The love between these two characters was so beautifully written. It was so much more than a mother a child. They both equally cared and protected each other.

I loved this story and I highly recommend it!

[my co-writer] Arturo has already written about his experience with The Book Eaters [link: http://www.nerds-feather.com/2022/09/review-book-eaters-by-sunyi-dean.html], and particularly the way the story takes on patriarchy, gendered oppression, and abuse. I agree with everything he's written, and I also didn't want to let this one pass without commenting on it as well.

The Book Eaters is the split story of Devon, a rare daughter born to a family of near human bibliovores called (you got it) Book Eaters. Devon has a secluded and somewhat-coddled upbringing within her old fashioned and isolated family, and is prepared for the compulsory arranged marriages that all book eater women have to go through to try and ensure the survival of their species. But we don't initially meet Devon as a young princess, dutifully eating her way through fairy tales - because book eaters absorb aspects the texts they eat, though not in the same way as reading - with rare forbidden raids on her uncle's library. When we meet Devon, she's a single mother in our world, trying to feed her son. Except, her son doesn't eat books, he eats minds, and the one Book Eater family who used to create drugs to help the often-ravenous Mind Eaters have all either died or disappeared.

Devon's desperate, miserable choices in that opening chapter set us up to expect as much urban fantasy thriller as gothic horror in The Book Eaters, and as the narratives converge, it's fascinating to see how the different genres of Devon's past and present get closer to each other. Devon's younger self is a far more inactive protagonist, trying to survive and cling to points of happiness in a highly controlled world, while her older self grasps at agency whilst being pushed into ever more high-stakes situations. The genre shifts, and the changes in Devon's character, are also neatly paralleled by the experiences of her mind eater son, Cai, who takes on facets of the people he eats and has become an extremely precocious and changeable five-year-old as a result. There's a little bit of speculation, in the form of an epigraph of an in-universe book, about why Book Eaters and Mind Eaters are the same species and their spiritual purpose, but the characters themselves don't think about any of this. For Devon and Cai, the fact that they are hungry and that those hungers change them is just a fact of life, to be managed as best as possible - ideally, with the freedom to make their own choices.

The thriller element does win out over the other genres in the end, and the last part of The Book Eaters is action right to the end. I was impressed by how long Dean kept me guessing beyond the point where I thought all the information about how past-Devon became present-Devon had been revealed, and there's a few interesting twists which make the eventual climax all the more thrilling. Really good stuff.

What a concept: people among us who must eat books for nourishment, and thereby retain all of the knowledge inside; juxtaposed with others who must eat human minds and internalize their victims' personhood. Devon, the main character, is a book eater with two children -- a daughter whom she has been forced to leave behind with the father, and a young son Cai who is a mind eater. As Cai grows and requires increasing numbers of human minds, his internalized intelligence makes his 5 year old self into an adult intellect. Devon will be required to "harvest" more and more humans for Cai unless she can obtain a secret miracle drug that is kept hidden by a rival family. The cultural norms of the book and mind eaters offer interesting comparisons to current times, and the struggles in behalf of and in spite of family raise universal issues. I found the world-building to be rather slow-starting, but once the pace picked up it was an enjoyable read, and I look forward to the likely sequel.

I must admit that I devour books! This tale feeds into my love of knowledge and my thirst for lifelong learning. The concept of eating a train schedule or a subway map so the information is permanently stored in my brain is brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed the premise of "The Book Eaters."

The structure left me in a lurch sometimes. It seemed to go beyond the common back and forth in time and jerked around to different time periods without consistency. The underlying theme of power creates evil people was worn a bit thin. The tentative love blossoming between the two women and the sibling discord showed emotional depth to the characters. Overall, I would recommend this book.... with a grain of salt.

Content Warning: This book contains body horror, confinement, domestic abuse, forced marriage, gore, graphic violence, misogyny, forced pregnancy/childbirth, and violence against children.

Cover Story: Paper Reigns Supreme

This cover by Su Blackwell is so cool and unique. Paper artists are on another level. If I knew nothing of the story, I would pick it up for the cover alone.

The Deal

Devon belongs to a family of book eaters, supernatural beings that eat books and retain all the contents of the book. Book eater women are rare and if you are unfortunate enough to be born a girl, as Devon was, then you will be treated like a princess aka you only eat fairy tale books and then your family marries you away to another family of book eaters to produce children.

When Devon births a son who prefers human minds over books, she knows she must flee the safety of her kind in order to give him a chance at a normal life. If she were to stay with the family, her son would be taken and raised as a dragon (a type of army that protects the different families of book eaters). The only problem is that her son relies on a drug that allows him to eat books instead and keep the murder of humans to a low. The book eater family that produces the drug has gone MIA, leaving Devon scrambling to keep her son fed while also searching for the drug to save him. You can’t live on brains alone; it’s messy.

BFF Charm: Caution!

BFF charm wrapped in yellow "Caution" tape
Devon is the definition of mama bear. She would betray anyone and do anything to help her children (I know the feeling). She has a few close friends but her loyalties lie with her children alone and I would be so nervous about stepping out of line, lest her book eater teeth find me.

Swoonworthy Scale: 4

It seems like fate when Devon meets a woman named Hester in a bar, but that only grazes the surface of their relationship, which is full of betrayal, Chanel bags and violence. There isn’t a lot of time for flirting when their lives are on the line, but I am happy they found each other in a world where a woman’s worth is based on how many babies they can pop out. The lack of romance is refreshing and makes sense with the story. Who has time for love when you got a kid to save and book eaters hunting you?

Talky Talk: You Are What You Eat

It was such a strong concept and I really enjoyed learning about the book eaters. I was loath to find that even supernatural beings have to deal with misogyny and patriarchy. IS NOWHERE SAFE?!

There is a lot of violence in the book. I wasn’t expecting the gore but I didn’t mind it at all! Might not be for most but I really think it was warranted in the situations the characters were put into. Sometimes you just need a little fictional violence in your life.

Factor: World Building

There was such a potential to dive deep into how book eaters interact and function in the human world. Devon eating a train schedule was brilliant and I wanted more of her adapting and thriving. I basically wanted less religion and fighting, more world building and book eating.

Anti-Bonus Factor: Strained Family Ties

There is only one sibling relationship in this novel that is “healthy”, and I use that term loosely because one of the people in it has been so badly traumatized that half the time she doesn’t even know where she is. Every other relationship is strained or toxic, which is not surprising but it does leave you wanting for a sliver of sunshine in the darkness of the book eater world.

Relationship Status: Still Thinking About It

Still thinking about it in a good way! My mind often wanders back to this concept and has me wishing that I could chomp on a book or two. THE THINGS YOU COULD LEARN. It’s fantastical read with many layers and I will be making another reservation with this book in the near future.

Literary Matchmaking

Evil Librarian (Evil Librarian #1)
For some more supernatural horror involving books, you need to read Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudson.


Gallant
For more strained family ties with some supernatural elements, check out Gallant by V.E. Schwab.


Wilder Girls
Need some horror with a dash of LGTBQ longing? Read Wilder Girls by Rory Power.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received this book from Raincoast Books and have not received payment for this review but I now have a weird urge to eat books? The Book Eaters is available now.