Rep: LGBTQIA+

TW: self-harm, abuse, murder

I really wanted to love this book because I love anything dark and fantasy. I was interested in Lorena’s character and liked that she was aromantic – it’s not a perspective I’ve seen often! However, the worldbuilding was really difficult to make sense of, and I couldn’t get a sense of the magic system at play. I also wasn’t a fan of the writing style; it was both vague and repetitive. Overall, this novel had a good idea but the execution was lacking so I’m giving it 1/5 stars.

This book was super intriguing and entertaining. While I enjoyed it, it felt like there was always too much going on. It felt hard to keep pace at times with the storyline. The plot was fair and left something to be desired.

I really liked this book! It was dark and fantastical, with great world building. I really enjoyed Miller's writing, and the characters were intriguing throughout the whole book.

Okay, so. I just finished this book and???? That was not the ending I expected! I don't know how I feel about it 😭 I like it? But at the same time, it just feels harrowing and melancholic, and yet hopeful at the same time??? I don't think I can process much of my feelings and thoughts right now.

So what did I like about the book? I absolutely love the magic system and the world-building. I'm a sucker for scifi/fantasy books with intricate world-building, so it's not a surprise that I loved the world and the magic here in What We Devour. I also liked the eeriness of it. I liked the writing style, which was both poetic and dark. I liked the characters, especially Lorena's character arc. It's not perfect or righteous, but instead we see someone change and do things, not just for their family and friends but for other people. I also absolutely loved the asexual rep in this book! The word wasn't mentioned here at all, but the way Lorena thought about it, explained it, and how people always judge and misunderstand her felt raw to me.

My only issues with the book? I guess wanted more action? I wanted more of that dangerous/high stakes feel? But that's just my personal preference for this story. This was still very much entertaining and the plot twists did not disappoint me.

Overall, this was a good read. A perfect choice this spooky season!

CW: death, murder, death of a parent, sacrificial killings, blood, gore, violence

A wonderfully dark, delicious tale! Miller crafts a mysterious world with a wonderful cast of characters, with a particularly crafty magic system and an non-holds barred exploration of class and wealth.

DNF @ 30%

I've been in a book slump for the longest and this definitely wasn't helping me get out of it. I tried to get through it because of the beautiful writing and interesting premise but the world building was way to hard for me to understand. This just wasn't for me sadly! Definitely don't let this persuade you not to read it or anything, just because i didn't like it doesn't mean you won't.

What We Devour was an amazingly dark and complex YA fantasy that satisfied my every wish. The best thing. in my opinion, was that the characters were colored so morally grey. I was literally gripping my tablet as Lorena especially did horrible things, but for good reasons! Carlow? Brutal! Allister? A psychopath! But all of that made this book so delicious! I do wish the characters had a bit more personal depth but overall, there was such dark, twisty world building (if not a bit fast) and it was quite blood soaked. Overall just a really great read.

I absolutely loved this book and all the messages in it. Linsey Miller's writing is some of my favourite, and I felt like this book really let it shine. The characters were all so engaging, and I soaked up every single piece of Lorena and Alistair's interactions like a sponge. This is honestly one of the best YA fantasy books I have ever read.

This book will undoubtedly frustrate many people, and I understand why—it can be a bit confusing sometimes, an ongoing problem with Linsey Miller's work—but I loved it. I love Lorena's ruthlessness and the blood-and-guts magic and the EATING OF OLD GODS and the idea of the noble and vile wrights living inside you like living beings with their own emotions. It's dark and interesting and different, and also sometimes really funny. I, too, hate being comprehended.

I really like Linsey Miller's Mask of Shadows and was excited to read this. Was not expecting this dark fantasy. I did like the world building that some have complained about. I enjoyed the philosophical nature of the idea of sacrifice. Overall a really good book.

This is such a difficult book to review! I appreciate the Ace rep so so much. There is some lovely writing and story telling here but it’s also quite confusing at times. It’s rich and dark and unique. Be sure to check out goodreads where the author lists many trigger warnings.

The cover and description sold me on this book. I’ve been in my queer writing kick, so when I found this lovely cover and phenomenal listed with LGBTQ+, I was really excited to dive into it.

At first, I really enjoyed the character of Lorena Adler. I wasn’t quite sure what was happening since the world was a new one to me, but I was excited to learn about it. I really enjoyed the unique not-quite-magic-but-sort-of magic system, making deals and contracts and it was really easy to let yourself get pulled into the story and really feel for Lorena, who really early on gets pulled away from her comfortable life and tossed into a strange place, working on a strange sort of project she doesn’t understand the full weight of.

The more I learned about Lorena, the less I liked her as a person. While I understood her as a character, I found myself wishing the book wasn’t in the first person so I could get a little distance from the tangled web of lies and half-truths that make up who she is. There were a few times I had to take a break from the book because of the sneaky, underhanded methods she used to get things she needed. I always came back, though, since at the root, I understood why she felt she had to do the things she did. It was the only way to save the world, both metaphorically and literally. Untimately, I’m not sure ever liked Lorena, but she was a very well-written character (and honestly, me disliking her means that she was well-written).

Except for a few chapters I thought went on a little long or re-hashed certain things already explained, I really enjoyed the pacing of the story. It was giving a nice mix of letting us into the world–at least as much of the world as Lorena wanted us to know of–and plot, which started to take shape. We learned about the door and the real, true threat of what might happens when it opens as Lorena did, which was a really nice touch, even if it led to a few too many conversations between Lorena and Alastair regarding the pedantry needed to write a contract.

That said, I do love the representation in the book. I like that Lorena is asexual, wanting a romantic connection without the expectations that so often come tied to it, and also that Basil, as well as a few other minor characters, are quite happily nonbinary. It might be that I’m no longer as used to teen/YA books as I once was, but it felt almost like this point was maybe a little overstated, although I do understand why this might have been, since LGBTQ+ representation can so easily be swept under the rug if not outwardly stated.

Pacing picked up in the second half, which was welcomed not just because reading about the nuances of contracts was beginning to get dull, but because it really drove home the urgency. As readers, we jumped from one big event to one big event with almost no time between to breathe, which made it hard to put down once I hit the 50% mark, but also bad for the same reason? It was a good thing I had the whole morning blocked off to read, let me tell you. It was almost like reading two different books, or two novellas that were put together. Not a bad thing, it all followed the same plotline, but the feeling of urgency ramped up 100%.

All in all, there was a really satisfying last few chapters to this book. Knowing what happens, it feels odd to type that, but what I mean is it was definitely worth reading. I was on the edge of my seat, and those last few chapters had me furiously turning pages (figurately speaking, as I had an E-book of this) trying to find out what happened and how things would turn out for them. For as much as I didn’t like Lorena, I found myself rooting for her, knowing that she was, at the end of everything, doing the right thing for the good of everyone. Because like Spock says: “The needs of the many outweight the needs of the few, or the one.”

I received a copy of this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I got an ARC of this book.

I keep requesting every book iam talks about, even if the genre is not one that I normally like. This is a problem. It ends up with me procrastinating until the audiobook comes out and me listening to it to force myself to give it a chance. Then I fall in love with the book and get really annoyed at myself for waiting so long.

This book is both dark and fantastic. The magic in the world is both incredibly restrained and wildly unpredictable. The magic is not like wizard magic, it has this darker history. It is pretty much an unhappy alliance with demons, but not quite. It is complicated and wonderful. All the magic requires sacrifice. This can be blood, a life, or things that change who you are as a person like your memories. Every time the magic was used I was SO INTO IT. I hate magic normally. This is a great example of what I like though. Something with set rules, but not something that can save the day easily.

The main character is ace! SHE IS ACE. It is not said flat out, but the MC talks about how she is not into sex, but into cuddles a lot. Which you know how I feel about aces all being portrayed as not being into sex and that being why they are ace. The author actually says that the MC is biromantic asexual on goodreads and a few other places. So while I am not 100% happy that the character isn’t labeled in the book and the hinting at the sexuality is literally not wanting sex when that is not the definition of ace, I am still really happy. The MC was never abused or bullied over being ace. Her being ace was a minor detail that came up when it was relevant (comparing her to someone else who was allo). When she said no sex to someone, there was no fighting, no pressure. It was a great thing. So I just wish that there was more nuance so it isn’t all about sex and that she had said it on page, but I also really loved this character and how it was not a huge plot point that she was ace. She just was.

The level of gore was right for this book. It was not over the top or for shock sake (outside of a character that was clearly not a good person). No one is clearly good, but there are some clearly bad. Most of the characters fall in between. It was great to have such in-depth characters. The twists and turns were ones that made sense and at times a little unpredictable. I never felt like there was a cheap trick to keep me reading. Everything was meticulous. This matters a lot, since I really don’t like fantasy or books that have a lot of royalty in them. This book doesn’t fall into any of the traps that fantasy and royalty books do.

I really likes this book. If you do listen to the audiobook, be warned that the narrator whispers on a regular basis so it makes it hard to hear if you are doing anything else.

Super slow. The writing was okay but definitely doesn't pull you in. The ideas seemed a little recycled, like I'd read parts in other books. A true Young Adult title. Trigger warnings are absolutely needed. The magic, inclusiveness and world building were phenomenal, though. Can also be hard to follow.

I have heard only great things about this book and it definitely lived up to the hype. Their are a lot of potential triggers because of the cost of using magic is so high because so much of yourself is invested in it or invested in taking it from others. This was a very powerful and emotional book and I think everyone should read it.

TW: blood, violence, gore, death, murder, attempted murder, grief, human sacrifice, self-harm, abuse
The magic and overall concept of this novel drew me in, and was why I originally requested an ARC of this book (Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for this opportunity!). The world-building and queer representation in the characters was also a big positive for be in this book, however, they don't really get the time needed for a proper introduction--they're introduced so quickly to you that it leaves you a bit confused, honestly. I also think that the plot was a bit slow-to-arrive as it doesn't really pick up and get going until a little over halfway in. The concept/idea of this was great and I would absolutely pick up a sequel, but I do think that the introduction you're given into this world is a bit confusing. So, hopefully, a sequel would give the narrative and characters more room to breathe and live.

What We Devour was a twisted, eerie, adventure of sacrifice and survival. Miller did an excellent job packing this novel with lots of dark and gory details that really make the reader shiver.

I loved the entire idea behind this storyline--the wrights, the Door, the contracts--it was quite captivating. Lore and Alistair's relationship was bit wonky and questionable at time and the dynamic between Creek, Basil, Carlow, and Lore was really confusing at times, but overall I liked their characters.

A few areas had odd time jumps or moments that shifted so suddenly I thought I had missed something but it was just the writing style of the author, which is fine, just made it difficult to follow at times. Overall, this was a fantastic read and I'd recommend it.

I wasn't sure about the beginning of the book, I adored the middle, but the ending was very frustrating for me. Lorena was an interesting protagonist and the idea of wroughts was really fascinating (especially the idea of sacrificing memories). I loved Alastair and Carlow and the book definitely kept me on my toes. It was a dark story with extremely morally gray characters, but still, really fun to read. I enjoyed much of this book, but there was something about the last bit of the book that really bothered me with how it was all concluded. Definitely worth reading though.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of What We Devour by Linsey Miller.

Admittedly this book took me a long time to read. I started it and then put it down and I did struggle to pick it back up. That being said, I really enjoyed the book and once picked back up I read the majority of it in two days. I will say that this book definitely needs a reread for clarification in the future and it's interesting enough that not only am I looking forward to reading it again but I also am going to look for more books by this author.

Some things I really enjoyed about this book: The main character being asexual. It was great and I loved the way it was introduced without too much explanation and how Miller handled this topic through the book. One of my favourite lines in this story is "'My existence isn't about you,' I hissed, 'and I am done justifying my life to people who don't even think I'm a person, because if you did, you would have respected when I told you who I was and every day when I showed you.'" The representation in general was something I really enjoyed, especially the fact that it was never explicitly stated by Miller which characters were asexual, non-binary, or whatever else they might be it was just accepted as part of them.

There was great in depth world building that I want to reread in order to enjoy it more and understand more and overall I give this book 4.5 stars.

I really wanted to like this book but I made it to about 40% in before I gave up. It has a great premise but I couldn't connect with the characters or the plot.

Thank you for the advanced copy!