If I could have devoured this book, I would have!
A deliciously dark story with broken characters, family dramas and adventure! I loved it!
I found the concept fresh, such an original fantasy!
I cared about the characters even if they may be monsters!
Great world building and a great book!
Read it!!!
Thank you so much for the E-ARC! This is a book I need to have on my shelves to read again and again!

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: The Book Eaters
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Sunyi Dean
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Fantasy/Horror
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 18th August 2022
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 4.5/5


“They were princesses, of a kind, and this was how princesses lived: safe in towers, married to men who competed for them, one way or another. Even in the happiest fairy tales, princesses did not usually have much choice. They were prizes to be won or given away and there was no other context in which she could understand her life.”

Wow. I’m actually at a bit of a loss for words after reading this. Sunyi Dean has crafted an imaginative tale of bizarre horror that has managed to wrap itself around my throat and squeezed.

There are themes of feminism. Sapphic representation. Asexual representation. And a fierce resentment of a patriarchal system that the main character can’t destroy but doesn’t want to belong to, either.

“It was always the same story, she thought tiredly. Just small, angry men, clinging to fading power. They feared living without privilege because they’d abused it against others, and were now terrified of suffering the same cruelty they’d routinely dealt out.”

The Book Eaters are an extraordinary species with their own biology, their own traditions, and their own ideologies. Devon, the main character, is a cacophony of the fierce love of a mother, a princess stuck in a tower, and a knight on a quest for freedom.

““Listen,” Devon shouted, stepping in front of her. “Just let me finish, all right? Our childhood books always ended in marriage and children. Women are taught not to envision life beyond those bounds, and men are taught to enforce those bounds. We grow up in a cultivated darkness and don’t even realize we’re blind.””

Honestly, the character development is sublime. Easily my favourite part of the story. But I also really enjoyed the fact that I couldn’t guess what was going to happen next. The dual timeline of the story branched in unexpected ways in the present and grew roots into a past that is full of trauma.

This book is so utterly exceptional. I’d love to see it adapted on screen!

🧚🏻‍♀️

The concept of this book is brilliant, a really interesting idea, but for me I found it really hard to connect to the characters. I didn’t like the constant jumping back in time and found myself skimming those sections for important information so I could quickly return to the present which definitely held a lot more of my attention. I think the style of this book would lend itself beautifully to a visual medium like film or television but as a book I did struggle with it.

The Book Eaters might just end up becoming one of my favourite reads of this year. From the plot itself, I knew I was going to enjoy it. The concept of the Book Eaters is something I don't think I have ever seen before and it was one of the reasons I immediately fell in love with the book. Sunyi Dean's writing is enchanting and pulls you into the story; hooking you instantly. Dean's writing creates an incredibly atmospheric read as she takes you along the journey of exploring the world of the Book Eaters. Devon's love for her son shines through the story as she is on a race against time to help him control his hunger for human minds. Book Eaters tackles sexism and the oppression of women in this world, who are very intrinsically embedded in this patriarchal society of the Families. I have not read enough books where mothers are the protagonists and I am so glad that The Book Eaters has a mother at the centre.

If you're looking for a unique, dark urban fantasy, then I highly recommend The Book Eaters.

ah for some reason i thought but would be light and mystical probably because it reminded me of story i read as a child but it is a very dark book but somehow i handle dark topics in fantasy better than when its in normal setting but shows the strength of devon and her love for her son that she would done anything to keep save no matter what she is isolated and danger a lot of the time and manages to survive all kinds of things and even the villains arent just flat and have reason why the do the things they do
the story also has twist on the knight and dragons theme i wanted know more of the lore of the book eaters and mind eaters as how does the difference come about this has some very intense scenes and bits that are sad and some that are a bit gross but it was different from a lot of fantasy ive read and enjoyed it

🚨 Friends to enemies! 🚨

The Book Eaters is not the story I expected. That said I'm not sure what I was expecting. It was a lot more emotional and family centered than I realised before requesting it but needless to say it was a great read. (Ngl I saw people-who-eat-books and smashed the request button)

Its another one of those books I feel I appreciate more for its construction than the story. There were constant changes within the book the reader doesn't expect, it has a strong storyline, solid world building, and all questions were answered by the end with the potential for a follow up.

We follow single parent bookeater Devon and her mindeater son Cai who are on the run from the Knights after murdering Cais father. They're on the lookout for the Ravenscars, a Family who own a drug which helps mindeaters control their hunger. Then they plan to leave the country, but it turns out its not that straightforward.

I found Devons backstory the most interesting - going from a sheltered, spoiled and controlled childhood before being forced into marriage and childbearing - witnessing how her perspective of her own upbringing and society changes as she grows to understand all the ways women are mistreated and abused under the Families patriarchy. Witnessing this is what relates Devon to the reader, and at times it was so atrocious I felt so disgusted with what I was reading. Domestic abuse and the objectification of women are very much to the forefront in this story.

At the heart of this story is a huge contradiction between how Devon was treated as a princess as a child, being fed only fairytales and innocent fantasies, and yet the majority of the characters in the story (including herself) become monsters.

I loved how there was a refreshing trope of friends to enemies in this book, imo I'd love to read more books like this, its not even a trope that crossed my mind!

This book was a bit gruesome and chilling at times too - reading how a 5 year old can take on the personality of an adult with a lifetime of experience definitely didnt get any less creepy for me!

This is a phenomenal book, and for me personally, a really unusual one…it’s a bit “out there”, it’s literally about a set of family’s who, well, eat books in order to gain knowledge. As you can expect from this, and from a small set of families, tensions can arise and behaviours are not altogether good.

I was absolutely enthralled by this book, I just found the premise of it so exciting, and the writing is excellent and the story so well executed.

One big annoyance however….. the description of Alnwick is completely inaccurate…the high street is thriving and it is a fabulous vibrant town where I spend a lot of my life. The author should visit (and take a trip to Barter Books whilst there too!)

My thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review

A stunning debut novel. An original plot and a compelling read, like the characters in this story, you will devour The Book Eaters!

This book is so beautifully written and the story so unique that it’s hard to believe that this is the author’s debut novel. I loved the idea of eating books and absorbing their information- gives a whole new meaning to the term “book addict”!

Devon is a naïve young girl, forced to follow the dictates of the patriarchy of the old families. She spends her childhood eating fairytales, bombarded with the ideals of the perfect young woman who cares for her children while the men go on adventures. At the heart of this story is a mother’s love for her children and her willingness to do whatever is necessary to protect them. Her relationship with her son Cai is strained and tense; his consumption of adult minds making him a quasi-adult at the age of just five. You can really feel Devon’s heartbreak when she struggles with making sure her son has what he needs and living with her actions.

All of the characters are flawed and although the story is fantastical, they are so very human and relatable in many ways.

The queer relationship which is explored throughout this novel is captivating and one of my favourite elements in this unique story.

It was truly a delight to be immersed into this gothic-feel fantasy world, to see the dark underbelly of humanity translating over to these human-like creatures, and to see that a mother’s love for her children is a universal story.

The Book Eaters will be released on the 18th of August. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the arc.

Sunyi is an author to look out for in the future! 4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As a librarian, the book eaters would be my ultimate nightmare 🫣

4.5 stars!
In the valleys of Yorkshire lives a secret lineage of people for whom books are food and who keep all the contents of a book after eating it. For them, spy novels are a spicy snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when misbehaved, are forced to eat musty, dry pages of dictionaries.

Devon is part of the Family, an old and lonely book-eaters clan. Her siblings grow up feasting on stories of valour and adventure and Devon, like all other women who eat books, grew up on a carefully curated diet of fairy tales and the only goal imposed on her by the family is to have as many children as possible, hoping that they are females to continue the now endangered lineage.

Devon spends her childhood eating fairy tales; but real life doesn't always end with a happy ending, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger, not for books, but for human minds.

The mind-eaters are forced into a life of captivity and Devon doesn't want this for her son Cai; so, she runs away with the baby and hides among humans, but to survive and make her son survive she will be forced to do horrible things even risking her life to protect him.

Already from the plot I was absolutely curious to read this debut novel and after reading the first chapter I knew that this book would be something unique and indescribable!

It is difficult for a book to capture me from the first chapter, but The Book Eaters not only captured me, it also gave me the chills, a sense of restlessness from the very first pages and as the title suggests I literally devoured it in a day!

The Book Eaters is a book with a Gothic and Horror vibes seasoned with fantasy elements and with the addition of a very well-characterized cast. It is the story of an unconditional maternal love, of sacrifice for children, of hope, of the discovery of one's own identity and of the strength of women, of mothers.

The narrative structure of the book is divided between Devon's past, which alternates with present chapters where we see Devon and Cai fleeing the book-eating clan. Sunyi Dean has created a brilliant structure that through these two timelines allows the reader to gather enough information along the way to understand Devon's childhood, and thereby also helps understand Devon's motivations and her goals in the current timeline.

Devon is a really well built protagonist, she is so real and very relatable. I appreciated the depth of her character, her personal conflicts and struggles. I loved the child Devon, so curious, pestiferous and rebellious. I also loved adult Devon, fierce, ruthless and protective of her child. I liked the fact that Devon was a morally gray character, almost a monster who did everything she needed to protect her real family, which is her son and her friends.

Devon described in a nutshell:
"A lesbian book eater, forced into arranged marriages, gives birth to a mind-eater and loves her son so fiercely that she becomes a monster herself to save him from her fate"

The secondary characters were also all well written and unforgettable. From Devon's son, Cai, to Hester, Jarrow (whom I loved madly), Devon's brother Ramsay… in a nutshell, a truly vast and perfectly developed cast where any character is a monster and they are all terrifying.

Dean's prose is exactly the type of writing I find easy to immerse myself in, it is suggestive, often emotional but flowing, very cosy, with gothic and autumn vibes, dreamlike and very atmospheric ... I literally loved it!

There are a lot of intense and dark scenes in this book - it's definitely not a light read and so I call it an NA/Adult read.
The main TW are: emotional and physical abuse, brutal murders, abusive relationships and deep misogyny. However, the book also explores the themes of motherhood, the so-called chosen family or found family and the discovery of one's identity (there are lesbian, asexual and bisexual characters).

Really recommended if you love gothic and horror stories, of autumn vibes, English/ Scottish settings, the found family trope and if you want a reading focused on the mother-son relationship and on maternal love (even if in this case for maternal love means doing horrible things at the cost of saving one's child).

Thanks to Netgalley, Sunyi Dean and HarperVoyager UK for providing me this e-ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This was fantastic, it was unlike anything I’d ever read before. I enjoyed the concept of book eating and mind-eating and was fascinated with the descriptions, especially the tastes of different books (fairy tales tasting different to comics etc).

There were definitely some interesting characters in this novel. I enjoyed reading about Devon, particularly her life history. You can see the clear changes from kid to teen and then adulthood. I was a big fan of Cai too! He seems so cute. Jarrow seems like a sweetheart, I’m so glad he became friends with Devon and they gave each other the support they both desperately needed.

The patriarchy is described in detail and the control they all have over the females in the Families is awful. Having your child snatched away from you reminded me of The Handmaid’s Tale-esque with the women having zero rights or power. Also, the fact that they’re just fed fairy tales so they don’t question anything.

The plot was exciting and kept me hooked apart from a small dip around the 60/70% mark where it slowed down a bit. It did become fast paced again; however, it did end with some unanswered questions! I would recommend if you’re looking for something with a unique concept and well-fleshed out characters.

3.5 stars.

"She craved, still, a sense that she had options, that her life wasn't an inevitable series of events"

I received an E-ARC from NetGalley and Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review.

I finished The Book Eaters (by Sunyi Dean) a couple of weeks ago now and I'm only just able to write a review. I finished the book and had to just sit and stare at it for a good long while. It was such a fantastic book that managed to be both creepy and unsettling and warm and brave. It left me properly shook.

The Book Eaters is a fast-paced thrilling adventure, a sinister body horror gothic movel, and a profoundly philosophical work that really gets the cogs in your brain whirring. It got the little hamster that runs my brain really spinning in his wheel. It's also queer as hell, with a relationship forming between a tough but secretly sensitive character in all black and a sensitive but secretly tough character in white/pastel, which is a trope that I will always eat up.

Dean has created a very cool concept. The Bookeaters are sort of vampire-like creatures who consume books as food (except for the ones who consume human minds). I vividly remember revising for one of my GCSE science exams and wishing I could eat my revision notes to make the knowledge go in, so I think I'd have liked to be a Bookeater, until I read more of the story.

The Bookeater world is unkind to Bookeater women, and main character Devon's growing anger at how she's been treated is palpable. Hell, MY anger at those nasty, pathetic Bookeater men made me have to look at a picture of a kitten to calm down. Dean creates incredibly realised characters who feel like people you could (but probably wouldn't want) to meet. The main characters are a mother and son with a relationship that is strong but still incredibly fragile and fraught. One of the main themes of this book is "what are we are prepared to do for those we love?" and this is really pushed to the limit when Devon has to resort to violence to keep her son Cai alive. There are monsters that we hate and monsters that we root for, and Devon is definitely one to root for.

The Book Eaters is told through a series of flashbacks, book quotes, and the present day. Through a child's eyes, Bookeaters are special, magical creatures, living in their grand gothic mansions and eating great literature. But the reader senses an undercurrent of something creepy and sinister, and Devon's first encounter with a human makes you begin to doubt whether the Bookeater Patriarchs, whom Devon trusts implicitly, can actually be trusted. Dean utilises a lot of fairytale imagery, that juxtapose with the savagery of the characters' reality, and the Princess metaphor follows Devon throughout.

The structure creates a story that drip feeds you information as and when you need it which fully captivated me and made me need to read on. It's like Dean was putting each piece of a puzzle down one at a time, and you watch the image form as the story unfolds. The payoff when all the pieces of the puzzle are in place is delicious.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

I loved this book and it had an interesting take on the Monsters theme. I loved all of the characters and how they interact with each other. I was on the edge of my seat throughout this and didnt know if the main characters were going to survive at the end of the story. I read this book in 36 hours and this was in two sittings.

Well wow… I was super excited for this book and it was better than I imagined! One of my favourite aesthetic is gothic academia and I will recommend this book till I get told not too! Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book early!

I was in two minds about this book all the way through, I didn't love it and didn't hate it....it had enough about it to keep me reading, but it's a strange concept and a bizarre premise. It's slightly horror in places and pretty grim, but it was also clever. I wasn't a fan of the characters and I'm still a bit baffled by it to be honest!

This was such a fascinating read, it really made me question what makes a monster and how we judge people in impossible situations. At times it was hard to like any of the characters but at the same time it was impossible not to root for them. A brilliant, thought-provoking, captivating story.

★★★¾
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC.

Never have I wished to eat a book more than when I read this one, although in some sense I did devour The Book Eaters. There was so miuch to love about this book from the way the chapters had titles and quotes from other books to the characters and concept of the book.
Another strong thing about the book was how the story was told, by showing us the past and present unraveling at the same time, taking you along with the story in a way that wasn't overly complicated or confusing or that left you wanting to immediately get back to one of the times, it unraveled perfectly. The Book Eaters was heartbreaking and nerve-wracking at the same time, full of pain and intrigue, urging you to read on, the nervousness especially apparent towards the end of the book before the final showdown, I felt it in my stomach and I was worried about how the story would end, about who would live and who would die, about whether they'd make it or not. An aspect of the book I really enjoyed was Devon and her journey with motherhood and how being a mother changed her for the better and worse, I also really enjoyed reading about her flawed relationship with Cai and the intricacies of their relationship.

I didn't expect The Book Eaters to have any romance but I found myself disappointed by the romance that it did have, the relationship had no more than maybe a page or two of romantic interactions and little development which made it feel a little too instant for me to actually enjoy it which links with one of my other issues with the book which was the ending / final showdown feeling rushed (which could've been helped by the book being a tad longer), there was a lot of lead up to the ending so when it finally happened and everything unfurled over a few pages before being over left me feeling a little disappointed if not also underwhelmed, there also was no epilogue (though that may be because I didn't read a finished copy). My only other issue was with a certain aspect of one of the endings, although it suited the themes of the story and had an open ending I just wish we saw at least Devon talking / thinking about it a little more as it also felt a little rushed when talked about at the end. I'm hoping that perhaps we could see its resolution in a novella or sequel though talking of novellas and sequels I would absolutely love one set in the same world whether its about Salem, Victoria or Faedre and if there was (even if it was about another character) I absolutely would pick it up.

I originally thought this book was going to be longer than it was but its current length was perfect (although when you're reading it you feel it'll be a little longer than it actually is and not even in a bad way but it just feels that way), I also thought that because of the plot and that the book is adult it would've been hard to read but that wasn't the case at all, in fact it was the exact opposite, I sped through The Book Eaters which had a fast pace and writing which I extremely enjoyed and I'm glad I picked this book up.

If you're thinking about picking up The Book Eaters I would recommend checking out the content / trigger warnings first as it deals with a lot of heavy and dark subjects which may be difficult for some to read.

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean is a strange but grounded tale that exposes the darkest side of humanity through a species not quite human. I was often off kilter while reading it, but some themes are well delivered through some powerful lines, and I’ve never been quite so hungry at the idea of eating a book before.

This is a book that wields a dual narrative, one of flashbacks starting at Devon’s childhood, and the other in the present, seeing her on the run and reluctantly feeding her mind-eating son the brains of unsuspecting humans as she searches for a less lethal cure to his hunger. While I appreciated the context and it’s importance to the story, I did find that the flashback sequences felt more prominent than the ones in the present.

The setting and the actions taken are pretty dark – women book eaters are rare, so the ones that are fertile are treated as precious princesses, fed a steady diet of fairy tales and forced into multiple arranged marriages to preserve the genetic diversity of the people. They are then coercively raped until they produce a child, which they are removed from when the child is weaned at the age of three. Then there are the mind eaters, a rare variation of book eater that are sustained by the compulsive consumption of the minds of others – human or book-eater. Only with a drug called Redemption are the mind eaters able to eat books instead of people, and any mind eater is also plucked away from their parents to be kept by the Knights (part marriage broker, part law enforcement) and wielded as weapons against the less tractable members of the families. One theme this book looks at is how monsters are made, and many of the characters do or are party to pretty heinous things – this is not a book for those looking for righteous causes.

One element that is incredibly well done is how Dean describes the act of eating books. It’s rare that a novel can make me consider the idea of eating an inedible object, but some of those books sound delicious. It’s also very interesting how the book eaters can gain knowledge of the contents of a book by eating it (although they can read also) – and similarly the mind eaters gain the memories and personality traits of those they eat. Tragically Devon has to worry about the people she feeds to her son. Too good of a person, and he might be unable to live with the guilt of what he has done – but go the other way and he might decide he wants to eat people.

I think my main complaint about this book is that we don’t get enough page time devoted to Devon’s interactions with the most meaningful people in her life – especially the core relationship between her and her son. Thematically everything worked pretty well, and there are some absolutely killer lines about what love can drive you to do, but I didn’t quite get the full emotional impact that I was hoping for.

The Book Eaters is a book that covers a lot of thematic ground, but perhaps gets a little too tangled in a less effective plot structure. A dark feminist tale that centers a mother in an untenable situation, I’d recommend it if you enjoy messy stories about women breaking out of oppression, or if you ever wondered what it might be like to eat a book

Rating: 7.5/10

This was a little outside of my comfort zone and not the type of book I usually read, but I was drawn into the description, and I am delighted that I decided to read it. The author has created a really unique, interesting and believable world. The Book Eaters are a group of ‘families’ who exist in England and Scotland and who eat books, literally, drink ink tea and are dying out. I loved the idea of eating books and retaining the information, at one point Devon, the central characters, sees her uncle reading a book in Japanese and idly reflects that she cannot speak the language as she hasn’t eaten any books written in Japanese.

The six book eater families are hidden and are dying out. Women are prized, babies are few and, as the story progresses, we realise the cost to Devon in living in this world. As a young girl, she is fed on fairy stories, but princesses often end up locked in towers and the reality of marriage in this world without control for women, ends with Devon on the run This is because her young son, Cai, is not a book eater but a mind eater, needing to consume the minds and souls of people to survive. People in Devon’s world with this mutation are under threat unless they can get hold of a drug to help them control their impulses. We learn this early in the book and then the story swops between the present and the past, as we learn what led Devon to her present position and what is next for her and Cai. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

The Book Eaters-Review
Author: Sunyi Dean
Genre: Fantasy/Horror/Historical
Page Count: 304 pages
Age Ranting: Adult 16+
Representation: Sapphic MC & SC, Asexual SC, Disabled Indian-British SC
Publication Date:18th of August 2022 (UK)

A unique a crisp standalone perfect for a rainy day.

Thank you to @netgalley / @hapervoygeruk for providing me with this e ARC before publication

Review;
THIS BOOK AHH!!!! I’m head over heels completely obsessed I could not get enough of this book I read it in 2 days because I just could not put it down. I’m so incredible grateful the publishers sent me an e ARC so I could discover this world.

The story was so compelling, just the idea of a group of people who eat books to survive was so cool. I loved how they could absorb knowledge through eating books, so cool honestly. It was so interesting reading about their society and the view they had on Mind Eater.

This book is the perfect to tell you about a mother Devon who tries their best the protect their son Cai a Mind Eater against the hard ship of The Book Eaters fix rule society. It’s a beautiful story about sacrifice, conflict and love. There were many times I screamed reading this book but they was equal as many time a smiled especially when the SC came out as asexual my little ace spec heart was so happy. I loved how within this book there was a time jump between past and present it really made readers user stand Devon’s past which is key to the story. Reading this book as a Sociology lover made it so much more interesting as it incorporates such patriarchy ways to life but ultimately shows that fix rule cannot be the way forward.

Overall I cannot recommend this book more its 100% worth a pre-order and I can promise you it’s worth your precious money.

Rating;
4.75 stars

TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING
Graphic;
-Death
-Blood
-Rape
-Abuse
-Sexism
-Murder
-Medical truma
-Pregnancy
-Domestic abuse
-Trafficking

The Book Eaters is a book that has totally consumed me.

This is a book that demands your very mind and soul. From those first few pages, Dean had me entirely in her grasp. I could not stop reading this incredibly inventive, original and all-consuming story. That plot shift at the end of the first chapter was like an anvil hitting you. Right from then, you know that you are in for a murderous, gory treat, with an all too human heart. Dean’s writing style was gorgeous, feeling very literary and descriptive but also super intriguing and with a real spark of ingenuity to it. For me, this book was a dark, Gothic and bloody fairytale. That supernatural element was so creative and unlike anything I have ever read before. The different abilities and social structure of this world was something I loved reading about. As a book lover, it really sparks your imagination and Dean really digs into the minute flourishes of this world.

That central exploration of motherhood and family ties was done in such an innovative and intriguing way. The way Dean balances superbly crafted worldbuilding and fascinating details with a hard-hitting emotional core is just phenomenal. Her characters are crafted with such delicacy and nuance, deeply affected by the traumas of their past but driven to keep going. Devon was a character I instantly connected to and my heart ached for the abhorrent things she endured. This is a book that is unafraid to really go there at times and that makes for tough reading, but it speaks to real life events and abuses.

The Book Eaters lives up to its name, with a delectable, inspired and truly unorthodox story designed to be devoured.