Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVoyager for the complimentary copy of The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean.

I loved this book. It was a fresh approach on the horror genre (although for me I didn't feel that it was a horror story as such).

Book Eaters have been living socially isolated for centuries and consume stories and legends. Devon Fairweather is a princess and believes in the fairytales that she has consumed until her second child is born. He is born a Mind Eater and not a Book Eater. Devon decides to run away with her child to keep him safe. In running away, she finds herself living amongst humans and by default finds food for her son in people who will not be missed. Of course, this is not the solution and soon enough Devon's family wants her back and she needs to make important decisions regarding her and her son's life.

Although this book is a great stand alone story, I'd love to find out what happens to Devon and her new friends.

A really interesting concept and some great prose but I just didn't really vibe with the plot or the characters.

Fantastic read, I couldn't put this book down! It was incredible and I will be looking out for more from this author.

Just couldn’t quite get into the groove of this book. I’m not feeling connected to the characters and I’m not bothered what happens at the end despite making it52% of the way through.

The concept is great but I don’t think the execution does it justice.

Also found out recently that even the author feels this wasn’t their best work.

I read this in March 2023, and received an arc at yalc the November before. I was excited to read it, as the concept seemed amazing - eating words to stay alive?? It certainly felt like I would understand that feeling as an avid reader who loves to read to escape.
I read this book in one sitting, and couldn't put it down. I only wish that it was both longer, and a series! No? Oh well, one can hope.

Hour in and DNF'ed.

I was very intrigued by the premise. People who live in remote manor houses and eat books instead of food to survive and absorb the stories and knowledge contained within. The book eating process got explained in detail at one point and I couldn't tell if it was an interesting concept or really really weird.

It just fell flat for me, it just didn't grab me at all. Some sentences felt repeated, and it kept explaining and explaining thing unnecessarily. The main character Devon I was intrigued about but at the same time stuff was happening with no context so I lost the premise a little.

I my return to it but it just didn't grab me the way I thought it would. Every time I've read the blurb and debated when to read this sometimes I think it sounded interesting and like it could be cool and other time I was thinking naaa that's not for me.


Reviews I saw:
I saw some reviews saying there are Knights and Dragons in the story .... for me this would lose me. Not what I expected from it. They are eating the books not in them.

Someone who lived in Newcastle said they got information about it wrong...this is a big deal for me. If you're going to use a real place in a book make sure all descriptions and details are correct.

There is a romance in the book, which is underdeveloped and unsatisfying .... this always frustrates me. If you aren't going to develop it why include it.

A BIG one is the characters never develop and you never grow attached. Good characters you connect to and therefore care what happens to them, and if a character doesn't develop then what's the point as you won't care about how their story ends...if they live, die, fall in love or become stone.

Also ANOTHER BIG ONE - The fact they are book/mind eaters and this isn't develops...someone says they could have been any supernatural being and it wouldn't have made any difference .... if this is the case, then what is the whole point in the book. The fact they eat books, is the blooming title and is the whole point in the plot....but apparently it doesn't actually matter.

From what I've read, what's the whole point in this book.

Sunyi Dean's "The Book Eaters" is a dark, imaginative fantasy that grips readers from the first page. Set in a world where a secret society survives by devouring books, each meal granting them the knowledge contained within, the novel explores themes of identity, survival, and family.

Dean's world-building is both unique and immersive, drawing readers into a hidden society with its own rules and customs. The protagonist's journey is compelling, as she grapples with her heritage and the moral dilemmas that come with her abilities. The plot is filled with unexpected twists and turns, maintaining a brisk pace that keeps readers hooked.

The characters are richly developed, each with their own complexities and motivations that add depth to the story. Dean's prose is sharp and evocative, perfectly capturing the dark and mysterious atmosphere of the world she has created.

"The Book Eaters" is a thought-provoking and thrilling read, blending fantasy and horror elements to explore what it means to be human. Sunyi Dean has crafted a novel that is as intellectually stimulating as it is entertaining, making it a standout in contemporary fantasy literature.

After trying to come back to this book a few times, I've finally dnfed it. Just not my cup of tea, didn't like the characters and was not invested in seeing what happened.

I think the premise of this book was really interesting, the thought that there's these people that can only eat books, and that this woman is trying to find a cure for her son because he consumes the minds of people rather than books.

This definitely took me a while to get into, there's some flashbacks to Devon's past then you're back to present time and that did throw me a little bit. I think once I got to the 50% mark I was really invested and sped on to find out what would happen.

It's quite a short book so I felt like I didn't get to know very much about the characters themselves, but appreciate that this fits in with the story.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoy a quest story, but it's very light on any horror aspect to me.

When I first heard about this book, I added it to my TBR immediately... and then, as the publication date got closer, I started to wane, because I wasn't that in the mood for vampires, and I'm kind of a wuss about horror, so why did I want to read this anyway?

Well, since then I've found myself on a gothic kick, so it was time to revisit those thoughts, and I'm glad I did because this was excellent. Dean really nails the modern gothic vibe; The Book Eaters brings all the trappings of the traditional gothic novel, with its creepy manor houses and mysterious patriarchs, but updates it for the 21st century by reflecting on how women continue to have their liberties curtailed in the modern age. There's also the occasional moment of levity; I particularly loved the image of naughty book eater children eating dictionaries as punishment.

The Book Eaters also has a lot to say about its main themes of marriage and motherhood, and would definitely make for a great book club read as there's a lot to unpack. There's no doubt life of a book eater woman has little to offer, and yet it also provides Devon with her children, who she loves above all else. What I particularly enjoyed is that Dean doesn't offer a clear answer to the difficult questions the protagonist faces, and Devon doesn't so much find the right moral path as simply continue to grapple with the consequences of the choices she makes for herself, and for her son.

I'm very hopeful Dean has more books up her sleeve because I'm interested in what she'll have to offer next.

Honestly the title and the blurb had me SO intrigued from the off that I just had to read this book. The premise of this book is really original and I loved its gothic, eerie atmosphere. It definitely gave Neil Gaiman vibes. The book starts slowly, but when it gets going it gets deeper and gradually fills in the gaps and winds up the pace perfectly. I definitely recommend.

I’m a notorious hater of short books, but I couldn’t help but love The Book Eaters even given its short size. It’s a quick bite of a novel, rapidly changing between past and future storyline’s, and Sunyi Dean does such a remarkable job and keeping you equally invested in both. Devon is a character who is incredibly compelling, and Dean really puts the time into making you care from her, as you see Devon go from a young girl to a confident mother who would do anything (even murder innocents) to protect her son. Her fight and resistance against the Family was at both brilliant and terrifying at once, and I could keenly feel her sorrow at losing Salem and anger against the systems that caused such an act to occur in the first place. The worldbuilding, additionally, is done very well. Whilst I did find it frustrating how little we see of this world (I especially wanted to know more about this mysterious Collector), I could appreciate why we didn’t see the whole history of the Families. This is an intimate, character-driven novel, and is fully realised in that sense, with the worldbuilding elements we’re given directly correlating with what Devon cares about in the world. The themes of this book are incredibly explored as well, and there’s a lot of nuance and complexity that is put into that exploration. The book genuinely makes you question the morality of the characters, and whilst I do overall see Devon as on the “good side”, some of her actions definitely erred the line between good and evil. Overall, I adored this book, and I’m excited to see what Dean comes up with next

The Book Eaters covers some very dark topics across the whole of this story from grief and loss to forced marriage and separation from one's child. I think these topics not only added to the darkness of this story but, helped to outline where the hope actually was within it. Our main character Devon goes through a lot within these pages and I loved the dark world she was brought up in. Not only do we have her trying to be good in order to follow the rules, we watch her come out of those shadows to see how the lifestyle she has believed will keep her safe all of these years is just a lie. Following a cult like recipe, the Families in this story all twist their way of life to benefit them. There a lot of very bad people in this book balanced with those who were more morally grey. No one is perfect and I love that. This was a great book, perfect for spooky season too!

This is a unique book with a unique story, Unfortunately it wasn't for me. I expected something different. that being said it was wellwritten and i can see this being a huge fav book of some of my friends! I think this author will do well in her genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review all opinions are my own.

How far would you go to save you child? Devon is about to find out. Raised in the secretive world of The Bookeaters, Devon is a princess, raised to help The Bookeaters grow thei population. However, when she starts to question the family patriarchs, she finds herself on the wrongside of the knights and dragons.
The Bookeaters is a fantasty mix of dark fantasy and spelative fiction, offering a dark take on being a mother, and how it changes you!

A nicely different read. Enjoyed this and the writing was nice to read. Would recommend as nice to have something different than usual to read.

Sunyi Dean is an exciting new voice in the realm of dark fiction. This book lingered in my mind days, weeks, after finishing it.

This is perfect for fans of Laura Purcell’s work, particularly if you would love to read her level of dark fiction rooted in a fantasy premise.

The alternating timelines of our main character, Devon, growing up from childhood to her present circumstances as an adult and mother… Truly flawless. It served excellent suspense for the building tension and allows the reader to ruminate on all the plot’s threads. I genuinely cannot put it into words how exceptional it was. I give Dean a standing ovation. My stomach was in knots. The Book Eaters is toes an exceptional balance of tenderness, nuance and menacing…

The ending is a mostly concluded ending, but there is a thread that could be pulled on for a sequel, which I desperately hope Dean plans to write. I would camp outside Harper Voyager’s HQ to get my hands on it.

I’ll read whatever Dean writes next: she’s cemented herself as one of my favourite writers of late, certainly and most deservedly affirmed herself as one of the best debuts of 2022-23.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

I typically prefer to review books very soon after I've finished them, when the story and how it made me feel are still fresh in my mind, but in this instance I'm actually quite glad I'm only just writing a review for The Book Eaters now, coming up to a year after I read it, because it's a book that's lingered.

I can't say this book was particularly high on my TBR last year even though I saw it everywhere for months and I might never have picked it up if I didn't receive it in an Illumicrate box, but I'm so glad I did. This is a debut that's truly difficult to categorise, with threads of science fiction, fantasy and horror that combine to make a speculative embroidery of motherhood, trauma and just how hard it can be to pursue a life with agency and dignity when living in a world where your compliance would make everything so much easier.

The Book Eaters follows Devon, a woman from a family of book eaters currently on the run from said family to protect her young son who, instead of books, eats minds. The story flits between Devon's present journey to prevent her son from falling into the wrong hands and her life from her childhood and beyond, as she's raised on fairy tales and married off to another book eater family to produce more book eaters. Book eater girls are very rare, so each one of them can be expected to married off to one of the other book eater families twice in their life time to keep their dwindling population going and avoid inbreeding as much as possible. It's almost dystopian - almost in conversation with The Handmaid's Tale - but by focusing on book eater society, which has purposefully distanced itself from the human population, it's so much more claustrophobic than a true dystopian novel. Devon can't really ask for help without revealing book eater society, and there's barely anyone within that society that she can really trust to help her. I felt so anxious reading this book, constantly hoping Devon and Cai would be able to get away from whoever had been sent to pursue them this time.

There's also a queer romance in here that I would have liked to have seen a bit more of, their relationship has grown on me in the past year and I didn't dislike it when I read the book but it also felt like the most underdeveloped part of the story. That said, the romance isn't the point of The Book Eaters at all. This is very much a story about family: having the courage to separate from a family that hurts you; protecting the family you love by any means necessary; and creating your own family with the people who make you feel safe.

I'm aware I haven't said all that much in this review, but honestly this is one of those stories it's best to just experience. I haven't really read anything like it before and I'm looking forward to re-reading it in future.

Oh my god this book was absolutely amazing and honestly I want more books in this world!

So I was always intrigued by the sound of this one but for some reason just never got around to it so I'm super happy that I finally read it because it was one of the easiest five stars I've given. The world-building, the characters and the atmosphere of this book was just brilliant and I found myself not wanting to put this one down.

I love that this story was told in two timelines as it allowed us to really get to know Devon and how she ended up in the situation she and her son find themselves in. Devon's character development in this one is amazing and I really liked seeing her fight for what she believed in.

Honestly, go pick this one up! It's the perfect book for this month with its unique premise and dark vibes!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read that got me in the creepy autumnal mood. This novel has a unique plot which is served well by its truly dark atmosphere and Dean’s writing style. It was engaging from the start having a perfect mix of context development, mystery, and creepiness. It has a very dark plot and there were certain times that the writing itself was so detailed that it made me feel uncomfortable reading, but that just truly added to the storyline.

I wish the romance element of the story could have been developed a little more as it felt rushed during the end of the novel and I also wished we would have spent a little bit more time with supporting characters to truly grasp the complexities of the plot and their motivations. Saying this though, everything included within this novel was thoroughly enjoyable and I see this as the perfect dark read for an autumnal day. I would highly recommend it.

TW: child abuse, graphic violence, domestic abuse, sexism, homophobia, cultlike groups, murder, forced marriage, rape, forced pregnancy, child abduction