This book brings a whole other meaning to devouring reading material. It's a deliciously dark blend of fantasy, science fiction, horror and thriller that makes you question who's good and who's bad. Sometimes the shifting timelines made it a bit confusing and there were parts where I wanted more detail. Overall though, pretty good.

I really wanted to love this book, but I just couldn't. The book is extremely well written and the world that Sunyi Dean has created is truly fabulous, I hope she writes more set in this alternate version of our world, but I could not connect to the characters. It is truly heart breaking to want to love a book and not get what you wanted from it by the end. The big climax at the end felt extremely rushed and felt as though it had very little stakes, though that might have been due to my lack of connection with the characters. The romance that appeared at the end of the book was also a little jarring, especially from the 'love interest's' side. Would I recommend this book? Despite what I have said, yes. I would recommend it. There is a book here that I feel like some people will love, but more importantly, there is a very talented author here who I think with the right tweaks could become a fantastic fantasy author.

General Thoughts: Perfectly average book with a lot of room for growth and improvement. Interesting world, hope to see more of it.

I really enjoyed this and was excited to read it.
My only problem was I wanted more of it - I felt the atmosphere of the story and the writing didn’t match the plot or characters established.

I’d be excited for further stories in the same world but with different narrators. I also would have enjoyed more chapters from the different povs we got.

A unique story about vampires, and definitely something new for the genre.

i really want to love this but there is something about the story's focus that doesn't really inspire me. i guess i went into it thinking it would be more about fantasy than themes of motherhood.

Once upon a time, there was a Princess who gave birth to monster, who everyone feared. But the Princess loved her monstrous offspring and would do anything to protect it, even become a monster herself.
The Book Eaters is, I feel, best summed up by Olivie Blake's cover quote: a "gritty, gothic anti-fairytale" that's perfect for the Halloween/Autumn/Winter season!
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for review.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I went in not really knowing anything about it and I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of this. I thought it was such an interesting idea and I really enjoyed the journey I went on. I liked that it was two different time lines and I liked that it was very obvious when it flicked between the two. I got really invested in some of the characters and when things were happening that negatively impacted them I just wanted to step in and give them a hug. Overall I really liked this and I'm interested in reading more by the author.

Living on the fringes of society, hidden from humanity, six Book Eater families remain in England. Children are rare, and females even rarer, so their numbers have dwindled and breeding is managed in a very regimented manner, with arranged marriages between the families. When Devon Fairweather’s second child Cai is born a Mind Eater, who consumes the minds of humans instead of books and stories, she flees with him before he can be turned into a weapon or destroyed. However, unless Devon can find a cure for his hunger, Cai must feed on the humans they live among, or starve.

The Book Eaters is quite dark with themes of what is essentially rape and kidnapping, served in the guise of arranged breeding. The plot is pretty action-packed and is told in both the present day as Devon tries to get hold of some Redemption for her son, and also events through Devon’s life that bring her up to this point.

I didn’t particularly like Devon as a character, but she had been through a lot and I could see why she was the way she was (and I did enjoy the double-agent elements of her plan) and I really enjoyed the relationship between her and Cai. My favourite character by far was Jarrow which, if you read the book, I’m sure you’ll understand.

I liked the fantasy element of Book Eaters consuming books and absorbing the knowledge within and I thought this was well done and branched off well into the mutation of Mind Eaters. However, I did feel that this aspect of the novel was drawn on and explained a bit too much and a bit too often – like the author knew they’d come up with a novel idea and wanted to really hammer it in – while the plot and character development were a bit neglected. Basically, it was good, but it could have been better.

this was such a gripping premise right from the beginning, and I was hooked from the start. the world building was amazing: it follows a group of people from a family known as the book eaters, who, just like the name suggests, eat books for sustenance. it’s such an interesting concept that really appealed to my adhd book nerd brain: you eat books to learn new things. dictionaries and textbooks are sort of like your vitamins and main nutrients you need to have growing up, even when they aren’t particularly enjoyable. ngl still sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me, I’d eat a 2000 page tome if it meant memorising my textbooks without having to read them:‘) trashy magazines are the equivalent of junk food, etc. but the main character’s son, for some reason, cannot eat books…he eats the brains of humans and absorbs their personalities and experiences. which is so creepy because the kid is like five but talks and acts like an old man, but it’s so heartbreaking too, because you know he doesn’t want to and the main character doesn’t want him to, but the only way he can survive is either eating a live human every so often or getting this magic potion thing that she makes it her life’s objective to acquire. this novel explores motherhood beautifully, and I wouldn’t recommend it for young readers because the subject material isn’t very…relatable for teenagers? it’s mainly about a mother willing to do anything for the safety of her son, and it explores it so beautifully and rips your heart out, but it did start to drag for me towards the middle and I couldn’t finish. the lore is so carefully constructed and you care so much for these characters, but I personally thought it got a little too action heavy for me around the 45% mark. oh, and it’s sapphic:) so yeah, definitely not for everyone, but this was a solid debut and I’ll definitely be following the author with whatever she does next:) thank you to netgalley for providing me an e-arc of this in exchange for an honest review

I think this was one of my most expected book of this year but I found it a mixed bag.
A very original concept, it starts very strong and the world building was fascinating. Somehow I felt that the plot was less intriguing even if it's good.
I will try and read it again as I think it could be one of those me-not-the-book case
3.5 upped to 4
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Absolutely amazing read! Such a captivating read! Amazing cover art that was super eye catching would definitely recommend to all!

A really enjoyable, chewy (hah) book that allows one to experience the thrills of a good vampire gothic without being, well, about vampires. (It’s not a criticism, I really appreciated the feeling, because god knows I haven’t felt excited about actual vampires in a long time). The build-up was superb, the tense, traumatized air chilling, and lore fascinating — my only complaints, if any, is that the ending, or rather the final standoff didn’t live up to the buildup in either tenseness or escalation. It was a bit like, “i’ll tell you how this is how this conflict going to end, and lo, it did end exactly ended this way”. It was a bit bewildering, especially after scoring so high on most aspects throughout the first three quarters of the book.

Overall, though, inhaled the book and will be looking forward to more from Sunyi Dean for sure!

Thanks to #Netgalley for the arc of #TheBookEaters.

Very interesting story with truly unique world building and fascinating characters.

Devon is a monster. She’s a book eater who has a mind eater for a son. It’s all in the description. Being a book monster isn’t monstrous in itself but Devon will go to any lengths to save her son and is willing to sacrifice anyone and everyone that gets in her way. Even though he’s the mind eater (he eats people minds and personalities) she’s the one that goes out hunting for them and luring them into their trap. She is unapologetically single minded and dogged in doing whatever it takes to get to her end goal.

To quote from the book - “Everyone is scared of me, even the other mind eaters here. You’re not scared of me because you’re an even bigger, meaner monster than me,” Cai said, face muffled against the join of her shoulder. “You’d eat the whole world to help me out and I think I’d do that for you, too. You’re my monster and I’m yours, and even though I’m sad you lied to me and I’m sorry that we have to hurt more people, we must go together because we are a monster family.” “

This book is really about the patriarchy and what happens when women are constantly belittled and stifled. It’s also about familial love - the love between a mother and her children, as well as the bonds of family (the ones you are born into and the ones you choose).

The character development is sublime - particularly for Devon and Cai. We see Devon in particular grow from fairy tale princess dreaming of marrying her prince to realising she’s property to be passed around to perform a duty and then return to be locked up in her tower. From a young age we saw her chaffing against her bonds and then the slow realisation that she is the only one that can save herself and her children. I also enjoyed seeing the motivations for the other characters unfold as the story progressed.

The pacing is a bit slow in parts especially in the beginning but starts to pick up in the middle and then race to the end. I really enjoyed this and would give it a highly recommended 4 stars.

A gripping and unique story unlike any that I have read before.

From the very first chapter of this book, I was completely and utterly gripped. I was so intrigued by the world that Dean has created and being so incredibly unique meant that I was constantly kept guessing from start to finish. To match the incredible world, the writing is completely and utterly stunning with many very quoteable moments.

I went into this book believing that this is a standalone but the ending leaves it very much open to sequel and all I can say is SIGN ME UP!

The Book Eaters takes the central concept of being able to absorb stories as food and runs far and wide with it. Set in a very patriarchal world but with elements of modernity the book uses names like Dragon, Knight, Mother Bride alongside characters wearing modern leather jackets and riding motorbikes. Book Eaters has a parallel structure where we both follow Devon after she’s living outside the life she’s known with her son and her growing up at the heart of the Book eater society. This is really effective for the story Dean wants to tell, and my usual complaint of parallel storylines that you already know the end, very much isn’t the case here. It also helps balance Devon’s understandable and needed passivity in the past, as well as highlighting that all of the mother brides start out fighting but are ground down by their surroundings and the lies they’re told throughout their lives. The present timeline increases her agency as well as introducing an element of urgency and pace of action which otherwise might have dragged down the book.

One of my favourite elements of the book is how it addresses motherhood. The reader gets a maelstrom of emotions around caring for a child, and the difference in Devon between her two children emphasises the range of experiences mothers can have in parenting. The scene when Cai is born and Devon fights not to connect with him and bond is especially evocative. This leads to the second element I like which is this is a book where you have a) an alive mother that’s allowed to have adventures, and a queer mother who’s sexuality is not the focuspoint of the story. Whilst the relationship with Hester is not my favourite in that it verges on an instant relationship, it’s nice to have it within the book and the FAQ produced by Dean shows it was part of a larger story and edited down.

Which brings me to my final point. On my first read I gulped it down, finding lots to love and just being carried away by the story it gets to tell on the page. The second time round I was more aware of bits that were unexplained or didn’t go anywhere and the FAQ explains this. For me, this isn’t to the book’s detriment even though one of the unique things about the story is its lore, but it might be for someone else, which is why I’ve mentioned it.

Otherwise, in conclusion this is a deeply emotional, well crafted tale that I loved and would recommend everyone pick up, particularly those that are frustrated by the gaps left behind by mothers in fantasy.

Individuals who consume books and store their knowledge - what an incredibly unique concept for a fantasy. The Book Eaters follows Devon as she tries desperately to find the drug that will help her son, a mind eater, stop killing people for food. Between this we travel back and see Devon's upbringing as one of the six remaining groups of Book Eaters, a reclusive group who struggle to procreate, and the challenges associated with being a girl within such a clan.

I really loved the concept of this, and found the overall plot incredibly well paced and intriguing. It's brimming with atmosphere and tension, as Devon is constantly fighting against time to save her son from a terrible fate. I also liked the conversations on women, motherhood and the continued affects of the patriarchal society on women. The Book Eater women are treated no better than property to be shipped out and used as pawns to gain power for their fathers, uncles and brothers.

However I never really bonded with Devon or her son Cai. Devon is a very closed off individual who doesn't give way to her emotions all that often. She has to do some pretty terrible things to keep her son alive, and this has clearly affected her emotionally, but I just felt that the reader never really gets to see what goes on in Devon's head. This then also makes any kind of romantic relationship feel a bit off and underwhelming. I also thought the whole concept of book eating was really underused and had a lot of missed potentially to expand the world building. It really is such an interesting concept that had a lot of scope for the author to run with.

I'll look out for future novels from Sunyi Dean, as their ideas are really intiguing. I just want a bit more character development.

I really enjoyed this story - the depiction of Devon's motherhood were raw and realistic. The story was set in the real world so apart from the concept of the book eaters I wouldn't have classed this as a fantasy - more of a dark gothic horro . I think the concept of the book and mind eaters was brilliant but could have been explored a bit more, it seemed a convenient way for them to have the correct information they needed at the right time and I'm not quite sure if they were aliens or supernatural? Apart from that, the plot was great and hard to believe it was packed into 300 pages! I don't normally like stories that flit back and forth between the past and present but I didn't mind it this time, and actually preferred the past chapters for character development and world building.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I absolutely loved this book. It felt very original both in the premise and the writing style, although reminiscent of an adult version of a Frances Hardinge novel. I loved the concept of the book eaters and the world-building was very good. Devon was a strong main protagonist and the supporting cast of characters were also engaging. My only quibble was that there were a few Americanisms that crept into the text which jolted me out of the British setting, but still one of my favourite books of the year.

The Book Eaters is a delightfully weird read which I absolutely loved!

The premise is so dark and imaginative, with world building that is just brilliant. From the synopsis, I was a bit worried that it would be slightly too out there making it hard to pick up but it pulled me right in from the beginning with strong imagery and writing. Among the fantasy elements, the book also explores some big themes such as loss, abuse and motherhood which roots it in reality,

The story moves between the present day and the past of the main character, Devon. How it all unfolds is absolutely masterful, I was always fully invested in both time periods and they brilliantly come together at the end. Devon is a very morally grey character, as most of the characters are, adding to the layers of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Brilliant fantasy debut from Sunyi Dean, I loved this (resisting the urge to use the phrase ‘devoured it’). It’s a neat twist on a vampire story, but is so much more. It’s a tale of survival, of a mother’s love for her son. It’s dark and gory and violent and at the same time a beautifully written fairytale.

Can’t recommend this highly enough

I don’t usually read books classified as horror, but something about this book drew me in from the first time I heard about it. The concept just seemed so unique, and I found myself excitedly counting down the days until release (and then waiting for the arrival of my Illumicrate copy).

It doesn’t happen often that a book exactly matches my expectations, but this one did. It was exactly what I wanted and needed from this book, gripping me from early on and keeping me hooked throughout. I’ve had a hard time focusing on books that aren’t audiobooks lately, but I finished this one in only three evenings, and I think that’s entirely because of how interesting and well-written this book was.

For such a short standalone book, Sunyi Dean did a fantastic job of fully enmeshing us into the world of book eaters. There was so much depth to this society, so much history, that it’s honestly remarkable that it was able to fit in a 300-page book without feeling shallow or rushed. I felt like we learned more than enough about this society, from the way the arranged marriages work to the politics between the Families and the Knights. We even get a lot of detail regarding actual book eating, from the taste and impact of certain kinds of books over others, and the general anatomy of a book eater compared to normal humans. Sure, a lot of the big mysteries are left unsolved, but it’s intentionally done and lends an air of mystery to the existence of the ‘eaters, one that affects both the humans that are aware of them and the ‘eaters themselves.

My favorite parts of this book, however, had to be the characters themselves and the writing style. Both of these were quite interconnected, as I wouldn’t have been as connected to the characters if the writing style didn’t force me to feel for them and understand them, and I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate the beauty of some of the written lines if I didn’t already appreciate the characters saying and thinking them. It was all just so beautiful and poignant, and I love how this book explores love and the depths we go to protect and serve those we love. I’ve not read many books with mothers as characters, and while I don’t necessarily seek that kind of future for myself, Sunyi’s portrayal of Devon’s motherhood and her love for Cai was heart-wrenching and raw, and I found myself deeply understanding everything Devon and Cai did, and were willing to do, for each other. Even just writing this out and remembering some of the scenes is giving me goosebumps!

Overall, this book is a new favorite, and a perfect read for this fall (spooky season!) or this winter. I can’t wait to read more from this author, and reread The Book Eaters for years to come!

(Blog review up September 24th)