Everything the Darkness Eats is a violent and disturbing read-- trigger warnings abound.
It is also written well and more hopeful than expected.

"Bracing himself, he began to inch down the cellar steps-- ready and willing, like a virgin sacrifice to be eaten by darkness"

This was a beautiful book, I really enjoyed it!
Everything The Darkness Eats is an exquisitely written story of magic, darkness, and the human condition.
Once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down, it gripped me so hard.
It had so many quotable moments in it.
I’m glad I’ve read it and would definitely recommend it to others!

Thank you to @netgalley and @dreamscape_media for providing me an AudioARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

🌜 Publication Date: June 6, 2023 🌛

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for providing me an audio ARC of this book. This was my first read by this author, and I really did enjoy the story and the premise of the book. The thing that did this book in was the multitude of grammatical errors and uses of metaphors/similes. The word like was used repeatedly to the point I became annoyed.

Good read but needs a lot of loving still.

*review DOES contain spoilers*

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Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this book. I finished it, though honestly, if I hadn't been reviewing it for Netgalley, I probably wouldn't have. Fair warning: If you're a Christian, there are some pretty hateful bits directed at God, and those were hard for me to get through. Again, if I hadn't been reviewing a free copy of this book, I would have stopped right there. Still, I finished it, and those hateful things weren't the reason I couldn't get into this book.

I love dark books; I can even get behind dark books with objectionable material - if that objectionable material has a point. Unfortunately, this book seemed to be dark simply for the sake of being dark.

First of all, I have NO IDEA what the prologue had to do with the rest of the book. I mean, in an obvious way, I do, but having the "god" unearthed in an archaeological dig seemed completely superfluous to the rest of the book. The man could have just as easily inherited the "god" or found him at a rummage sale. It all would have played out the same in the end. There was exactly ZERO point to it being "unearthed."

Additionally, there were other bits that didn't seem to make sense - or at least seemed purposeless in the greater scheme of things. I don't know who originally said that famous quote about "if there's a gun in the first act of a play, something has to happen with it in the second half" - but this book did NOT get the memo.

For example, there's a scene early on when the Big Bad goes into a thrift shop to look for a very specific pair of cuff links - cuff links that he was already wearing, as it turned out. He got seriously angry that the shop didn't have them. And then, that's it. There was never anything else said about the cufflinks or why he was so angry or why he needed a second pair since he already had a set or anything. It was.... pointless.

And that's only one example. I commend any author for writing a whole book, putting down their thoughts on the page and taking the next steps to get that book published. Seriously. That's not sarcasm. Putting your book out there in the world for people (like me) to judge it harshly is no small feat. It's why I almost NEVER give a single star review - as anyone who has published a book has earned that one star just on principle. They've done more than I've ever done myself.

But beyond simply publishing this book, I just could not see any redeeming qualities in it. There were scenes of graphic violence against LGBT individuals - and again, if they had served a larger point, I'm okay with that. But as written, they served NO POINT. These awful things happened, and the guy lives through them. And I thought, "Okay. That's going to be a great setup for some SERIOUS EFFING REVENGE." But no. Instead, the book ends super abruptly (long before I realized it would, by the way - I was listening on audio book and had no clue that I was getting towards the end) and the poor abused gay man just POOF - magically gets healed and has all his trauma and memories washed away. So, basically, I sat through some pretty righteous torture of this man just to have it erased. That was a serious, serious let-down.

Anyway, the whole book kind of felt that way to me -- it was all a let-down. My apologies to the author - and my thanks for the free audio book - but this book definitely wasn't for me.