“Perhaps I am a monster, but what good are dreams if you’ve never known a nightmare?”


WHAT WE DEVOUR by Linsey Miller was a dark and bloody delight that had all of the elements that make up some of my favorite books — characters that aren’t ashamed of being monsters, characters that aren’t ashamed to love monsters, and all of the messy and moral implications that come along with both. Plus, magic. And a ton of morally grey characters. And blood and death and weird things! There’s certainly a great deal of weird things, and I love weird things.

In this book, magic is from the gods and is all about creating or destroying, Noble and Vile magic respectively, with barely anyone ever possessing the two…with the exception of Lorena, that is. Considered a dualwrought, people like her are in very short supply and very high demand. Lore is recruited (kidnapped) by the Heir of the Crown in order to destroy a door and prevent his evil mother from sacrificing people in order to please the Vile. As she works with the prince to figure out a way to keep the door closed for good, she learns that perhaps not all is as it seems. Maybe that which we consider evil isn’t all that evil, and perhaps the same could be said for good.

Author Linsey Miller once again delivers another fantastic tale that carries her unique voice and her wonderful writing style. She seamlessly blends the dark and bloody and dismal with small moments of beauty, and leaves readers questioning the often minuscule line between good and not-so-good. For lovers of dark fantasy, this is definitely a book that you’ll want to pick up. For lovers of light and happy fantasy, you won’t find any of that here, but you will find a lovely boy and a lovely girl and a very, very messy relationship. 4.5 stars.


*Many thanks to NetGalley and SourcebooksFire for the arc!

Lorena Adler hides that she holds the power of the banished gods inside her. She plans to remain hidden and work as an undertaker, marrying her best friend Julian. When his father is arrested by the Vile Crown Prince, he recognizes Lorena's true nature. In order to get Julian's father a fair trial, she has to work with the Prince to repair the Door that holds back the Vile. But the price of doing so is horrific that she must embrace her true heritage in order to survive.

The magic system here is fascinating. Generations ago, the people literally devoured the gods responsible for the Noble (healing, creation) and Vile (destruction) forms of magic and banished them behind a Door of impenetrable magic. However, keeping it closed requires sacrifices. Literally. Using that magic requires sacrifices: blood, flesh, pain, or memories. Those who possess Vile magic, the vilewrought, are shunned, while noblewrought are welcomed for their healing or fabrication abilities. The Crown will control that magic "for the good of the country," whatever the council of nobles and Crown decide. This of course leads to sharp class divides, and a society that accepts pain is a natural state of being to ensure survival. In this world, Lorena's desire to save her future father-in-law and adopted hometown is unfathomable nobility.

Life in the capital is tinged with secrecy, as Lorena's magic wasn't constrained and she isn't bound by traditional contracts. She draws the attention of the Crown, a frightening prospect, and of course, the plan of action afterward has its own complications. As the book progresses, Lorena has to confront the fact that a lot of what she knew is false, and that people aren't who they seem to be. Even she is capable of more than she thought and has to consciously think about who and how many people would be acceptable sacrifices to the Door to save the rest of the country. It's certainly a difficult dynamic to consider, and a terrible position to be in. They're racing against the clock to the Door opening on its own, ramping up the tension as we go.

I was provided an ARC via Netgalley and Sourcebooks. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this dark fantasy! It features morally gray characters, and I would say our main character Lorena is almost an anti-hero. She has to make questionable sacrifices for the greater good, often portraying herself as a monster and questioning if she made the right choice. I really enjoyed the magic system and plot. The magic system is bit complicated and detailed, but I didn't find it too confusing once it was explained. It also has a unique and diverse cast of characters.

Be forewarned that this book is fairly violent, but while there is mentions of cutting, murder, death, sacrifice, etc. it isn't overly gory in my opinion. It is dark, but the descriptions of violence aren't over top or detailed. I would say if you were a fan of Wicked Saints, this is not quite as brutal or descriptive as that but it is close, but the violence is in the same realm and it has the same feel of that type of dark fantasy. If you didn't like Wicked Saints or the other books in that trilogy, this may not be your cup of tea, but it might be worth a try if you are into that type of dark fantasy that isn't quite as grim.

The magic system in this is based on banished gods, the Noble and the Vile, whose power inhabits some of the folk of this fantasy world. Through sacrifice those with the power of the noble can create and those with that of the vile can destroy. Lorena is unique and has both noble and vile power. The magic system is unique as it takes the form of an entity that is attached to the person, who then makes a sacrifice, almost always violent and bloody to perform the act. Lorena has been hiding her abilities since she was a child to stay under the radar of the crown, but when her fiancé's father is to be arrested for treason she makes a deal with the crown prince to save him. The prince is trying to save the world and needs her help, but she learns that shutting the door that holds back the banished Vile won't be enough to save the people.

I believe this is a standalone, but the ending is such that there is room for another book. I feel this closed nicely leaving the reader to ponder what comes next for Lorena and the world she saved. I also wouldn't be surprised if we get another book about the aftermath that is sure to ensue as Lorena has to deal with the consequences of her actions and as those she save have to rebuild in the afterwards.

I thought the world building and character development were done very well in this book. They were both complex but didn't mind waiting for it to unfold as it continues to progress throughout the book. This book is going to take a bit of work to get through, and the complexity of the world is confusing at first but it is worth it. I enjoyed the unique take on magic and loved the cast of characters despite them all trying to be highly unlikeable. This is not going to be a book for every reader, but I sure enjoyed it!

Title: What We Devour
Author: Linsey Miller
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Lorena Adler has a secret—she holds the power of the banished gods, the Noble and the Vile, inside her. She has spent her entire life hiding from the world and her past. She’s content to spend her days as an undertaker in a small town, marry her best friend, Julian, and live an unfulfilling life so long as no one uncovers her true nature.

But when the notoriously bloodthirsty and equally Vile crown prince comes to arrest Julian’s father, he immediately recognizes Lorena for what she is. So she makes a deal—a fair trial for her betrothed’s father in exchange for her service to the crown.

The prince is desperate for her help. He’s spent years trying to repair the weakening Door that holds back the Vile…and he’s losing the battle. As Lorena learns more about the Door and the horrifying price it takes to keep it closed, she’ll have to embrace both parts of herself to survive.

I felt like I’d been dumped in the middle of a foreign county without a map, a dictionary, or the slightest understand of the culture or history. And, not in a “Hey, this place is cool!” way. The magic system was detailed—and unique enough---that I really couldn’t appreciate the story fully without some kind of background understanding. Same with the history and culture. Without understanding that the actual plot made little to no sense to me. Which made Lorena herself even more unlikable and unsympathetic. It’s too bad the solid writing was overshadowed by the confusion and dislike.

Linsey Miller grew up in Arkansas. What We Devour is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 7/12.)

3.5 stars.

What We Devour is a tough book for me to rate and review. The novel is pretty much my exact dark YA fantasy aesthetic, with its sacrificial magic system, morally grey/villainous characters, slightly twisted queer romance, and general macabre aesthetic. However, despite the combination of these elements, the book unfortunately isn’t all I hoped it would be. An initial glaring issue is pacing and world building. I barely got to know Lorena, (let alone Julian) or wrap my head around the complex magic system and lore before the narrative thrusts itself into action. Before I knew it, Lorena was riding in a carriage with Prince Alistair and I couldn’t help but want the story to take a breather and slow down.

While these aspects improved further into the novel, some minor confusion always remained with me, especially regarding the mythos of the Noble and Vile, as well as the nature of Lorena’s and others’ wrights. Despite this, as well as the underdevelopment of secondary characters and the strange progression of Lorena’s relationship with Alistair, I did find this overall to be an engaging and unique read. I’m torn between a 3 and 3.5 rating, but regardless of my various gripes with it, I did quite enjoy the concept, magic system, and characters to a certain extent. Therefore, I’ve decided to settle upon 3.5 stars.

I loved the writing style in general, the concept, the dark magic based in sacrifice, and the dynamic between Lorena and Alistair, often teetering between cruelty and softness. The book could have well been longer, giving the narrative more time to develop characters, their relationships, as well as the intricate magic system. The rushed conclusion specifically left much to be desired and felt anticlimactic, as well as unsatisfying. There were too many loose ends and questions left unresolved, so unfortunately, I have to say there was a lot of potential and separate pieces I loved but that did not come together in a cohesive and strong narrative.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for a review. What We Devour is out tomorrow, July 6th!

YOU’LL LOVE THIS IF YOU LOVE…

Morally grey/morally unclear characters
Dark fantasy
Slow burn romance (kind of…)
Utterly unique magic systems
Mystery (and the unravelling of a mystery)
MY THOUGHTS:

This book was so good, and completely unlike anything I have read before. The magic of this world revolves around these parts of the old Gods that are left behind in people after their ancestors beat and ate the old Gods (the Noble and the Vile). Most people either have a Noblewrought, which helps them create and heal things, or a Vilewright, which helps people destroy things. To do that the person needs to make a bargain with their wright or their wrought in exchange for them doing something. Our main character, Lorena, has both a Noblewrought and a Vilewright.

I loved that Lorena wasn’t really a hero in this story. She is really an amoral character. She does things for her own gain, to protect herself or those she cares about. But, she also does some bad things in this book as well. She isn’t the perfect heroine that most books would try to make her character be. It makes her interactions with the Heir, Alistair Wyrslaine, even more interesting because they bounce off of each other and talk a lot about morality and motivation. He himself is a character that struggles with morality and what morality is. His mission is to destroy the door that is continually demanding blood sacrifices, but it is hard to tell at times if this is for the greater good, or to fulfil a personal curiosity.

It was really interesting to see the exaggerated class system in this world as well. It’s a system where the upper class literally sacrifice the lower classes in weird blood sacrifices to this strange door that is holding the old Gods at bay. It makes the post-apocalyptic style world of the book even more gruesome and despicable (in a good way).

What We Devour really is a triumph of dark fantasy, boasting a very expansive magic system with very detailed lore that informs almost every action and happening in the book. This can make it quite hard to get into at first as the world building reads like an epic fantasy, despite the book being fairly short for the fantasy novel. But, all of that lore also adds so much to the characters that we meet throughout the book, and even to Lorena’s own character who begins the book with very little understanding of her own wright and wrought and learns more and more about her and their abilities as the novel progresses.

This truly is a book that combines some great aspects to stitch together an interesting story: an asexual main character who questions everything, a broody amoral Prince who is constantly trying to find answers, and a secondary cast of characters that are so different from each other they are so easy to imagine. All mixed into a dark, magical post-apocalyptic world of lore, religion and sacrifice. It was really a book to sink your teeth into…

WHY IT WAS A 4-STAR READ FOR ME:

This was a 4-star read for me for two reasons. Firstly, I loved the characters and the story. It was so engaging and really immersive and I found myself flying through the story because I just wanted to find out the next piece of information that would help solve the mystery. The only thing I struggled with was the initial world building itself. There were a few moments where I was a bit confused as to what was going on, but this definitely didn’t detract from the story overall.

What We Devour is a dark, young adult fantasy filled with demons, magic that demands sacrifice, complicated relationships, grey characters, and 'eat the rich' energy. Although it had a bit of a slow start, I completely fell in love with this book.

This book is set in a world where some people are connected to the banished gods, the Noble and the Vile. They gain dangerous power, but it always comes at a price. Lorena Adler is connected to both, an incredibly rare power that she is forced to hide. When her fiance's father is arrested, the crown prince recognises her for what she is, and she trades her service in exchange for a fair trial. The prince is desperate for her help, as the door holding back the demonic Vile is weakening, threatening their entire world.

The magic system in this book is amazing. I'm always a fan of a strict magic system, because knowing there are rules, and seeing how the character's work around them is always so much fun. I especially love magic systems where magic has a cost. And, oh boy, does it have a cost here. The Noble and the Vile have different types of magic: one can destroy, the other create, but they both require sacrifice. One of the more heartbreaking sacrifices is how Lorena feeds memories of her mother to the creatures until she's just a shrouded figure of her past.

This type of magic feeds into the setting so well, creating a bleak, savage world where there are immense class differences. Lorena was working class; her mother sustained injuries from her job in the factories that eventually killed her. The factory owners never face consequences for the poor working conditions, for the death on their hands. There's a stark contrast between her and the prince, who was misunderstood and feared but never struggled with his wealth. Lorena has to ask herself, if the rich only care about themselves, if they sacrifice everyone around them, are they worth saving?

Although I loved this book, it did take a little while to pull me in. It's one of those reads that throws you straight into the world and doesn't fully explain itself until later on. I enjoy that kind of book, but I found it a little difficult to grasp where it was going or what it was doing at the start. As the drama begins to ramp up, and Lorena grows into herself, I fell in love. It's a little bit of a slow start, but it's worth it.


Lorena was such an interesting main character. I always love reading about characters that are super competent and tricky. She's manipulative, occasionally bloodthirsty, and totally amazing. As events unfold, she's drawn deeper and deeper into darkness. I feel like people who love corruption arcs would love this book. Though to be honest, her plight against the cruel rich of the city is one you can get behind.

Overall, this book was so interesting and a must-read for anyone who loves dark fantasy. It has a slightly older voice than most Young Adult, so it'd have crossover appeal to people who prefer Adult. Read this if you love morally grey women and eating the rich.

What We Devour by Linsey Miller is a captivating young adult fantasy that blends Beauty and the Beast with Wicked Saints in this dark fantasy standalone that packs quite the punch.

The worldbuilding and complex magic system was difficult to follow at first, as we enter the story in the middle of Lorena's standard work day gone wrong and pick up the pieces of information about the environment as the story progresses and I loved it. I prefer this method to pages of info-dumping in a book's introduction even if it was hard to follow at first.

Lorena is such a strong-willed and clever protagonist.

She's surrounded by men actively trying to manipulate her and she sees right through them all. She's a quiet kind of dangerous that was incredibly interesting to watch progress.

Her relationship with the magical beings that live inside her, the remnants of the old gods of her world, was unique even in her book's universe. Her choice to build relationships based on equality, empathy and mutual understandings is what made her the main character surrounded by the chaos.

I'm left wanting even more of her even though the story's over, but not because I felt she was lacking in anything throughout the story.

Lorena is complex with a strict moral code and watching her get thrown into a world of morally grey was something I couldn't stop reading from start to finish.

4 STARS

The Noble and the Vile may be gone, but their magic is not.

The old gods no longer walk Cynlira, but the remains of their power cling to the mortals who once triumphed over them. Those with this immortal magic are known as noblewrought or vilewrought, depending on whether they can tamper with creation or destruction.

Lorena Adler, though, is dualwrought. Bearing powers of both fallen forces, she keeps her secret held close, at least until the crown prince recognizes her for what she truly is. Swept up in a deadly game of court politics, research, and divine power, she must learn the limits and loopholes of the magic she wields.

More than that, though, Lorena must face the worst Cynlira has to offer, in the form of the Door holding back the full force of the banished Vile. Every ounce of power has a cost, and she is running out of time to determine precisely which costs she is willing to pay.

The gods are hungry, but maybe so is she.


“The world doesn’t demand we break ourselves to survive; the people refusing to help us do.”

I have to get right to the heart of this book. I know I usually wade in, but this time, it’s impossible to hold back from taking the plunge. What We Devour pulls absolutely no punches, tearing away at the structures of power and class with vicious strokes. Frankly, it’s one step shy of advising a literal game of Eat the Rich, and I loved every second of it. Partly because I’m tired of people in power using that power to remain untouchable instead of reaching out to those in need, sure, and partly because I’m petty enough to enjoy seeing intentional cruelty reflected back at its source.

Trust me, these two things can definitely coexist.

But it really is Eat the Rich. As Lorena researches the Door and works further with other wrought, including Alistair, the crown prince, she learns the full truth of the horrors she’s always known: the peerage will use anyone to increase their wealth, their standing. She’s understood this since her mother died from injuries caused by a perfectly preventable fire, but the full truth of it is laid bare now that she has access to the heart of the nation’s power. All around her, those ruling the country conflate worth with wealth or usefulness, with few qualms about sacrificing those they deem worthless.

It makes Lorena angry. It makes me angry, because it’s so damn timely. We see it all the time in our very real lives, whether it’s in jobs deemed essential during a pandemic but not essential enough to deserve better working conditions, or in the efforts to prevent unions from forming and bargaining, or even in the way casual ableism paints disabled life as less worth living.

But this book also looks toward solutions, towards revolutions, and I love it for that reason above all else. What We Devour looks at failed systems, and it sets to work burning them to the ground.


The characters, though, are incredibly important to the success of What We Devour‘s central themes.

This book wouldn’t get half as far without its stellar cast. Naturally, Lorena is my favorite. Crafty and self-reliant, she’s also compassionate even for those she has no connection to. Her determination to right the wrongs carried out through Cynlira’s history is what makes the plot of this book possible. Things do not happen to her. She makes things happen, carving out a space, a path, even if she must do it with bloody, bared teeth.

(She’s also asexual, and whenever I need an outstanding ace protagonist, I turn to Linsey Miller books. She understands what it means for a character to not experience sexual attraction but still be a whole person, just as much as she understands the cruel things people might say to someone who’s ace. I felt such an incredible swell of connection to Lorena when she details how she likes to touch and be touched, how she falls in love, but doesn’t want the sexual intimacy others might expect to follow. And you bet I saw red when another character accused her of sacrificing sexual passion for power.)

Equally important, though, are the supporting characters. Alistair Wyrslaine is a curious shade of morally gray, at once awful and pitiable and relatable. His history is a map of cruelty and trauma, but he acts from a desire to create, the very antithesis of his vilewrought powers. Meanwhile, researchers Basil, Carlow, and Creek chafe at the boundaries placed on their magic. Their ability to do good is limited by the powers that be, and they each handle it with different degrees of vitriol. Basil, my personal favorite, simply does whatever they can when they can, while Carlow refuses to accept limitations without a sneering, stubborn fight. And that’s to say nothing of Creek, enigmatic in more ways than one, and sometimes impossible to put into words.

Seeing these different characters with their different powers, origins, goals, is what makes their partnerships and conflicts so much stronger. More than that, it makes every one of Lorena’s machinations sharper and more calculated. There are so many moving parts to this book, and it delights me to no end.


What We Devour should be on your TBR, if not on your shelf as well.

Though occasionally a little heavy on sudden world-building that takes a moment to sink in, it still packs a powerful punch, ruthless to the last. I can’t get enough of its defiance in the face of tradition and power, and I’m enamored with all the wheels that turn to make it work. And though it’s a standalone, I could see myself returning to this world again and again for more. My curiosity is piqued, and it pleases me to no end that another Linsey Miller book has impressed me so.

Do yourself a favor. Read What We Devour, and while you’re at it, eat the rich. It’s good for your health.


CW: child death, gore, suicide, loss of a loved one, violence (including gun violence), self-harm (for magic purposes), graphic injury, aphobia

[This review will go live on Hail & Well Read at 10am EST on 7/5/21.]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start out and say I couldn't finish the eARC. I tried pushing to halfway but I couldn't force myself to and then put myself in a reading slump. I stopped around 30%. It is one that when I get a physical copy of it, I will finish it.

What We Devour by Linsey Miller is a perfect dark fantasy. It's filled with gory sacrifices, a unique magic system, and LGBTQ representation.

It's definitely a more slow-paced book, but sometimes those are great! From what I read, I liked this one! I do want to get a physical copy once it is released and read the entire thing, because from what I read, I was intrigued, but couldn't force myself to finish it

I loved this magic system and learning more about how it works and what sacrifices must be made. Overall the theme of sacrifices throughout the book was really well done. The characters were also intriguing and I enjoyed seeing their different perspectives on sacrifice and who they wanted to save. The moral aspect of these decisions was also well written and thought provoking. I did however feel like there was often so much going on with all the deals and contracts being made that it brought me out of the story a bit, particularly since I found the outcome of all these deals and double crosses was pretty predictable. I wish it had focused a little more on the people and the door and less on the intrigue of the peers scrambling to save themselves. Overall though it was still an interesting story and world.

This book was a bit of a let down. It was very hard to get into as there was almost no setting described whatsoever and the story was entirely character driven to a fault. Normally a character driven story is not something that particularly bothers me, however, in the same breath, I want to be able to see what is going on around the characters and I just didn't get that. It felt like I was reading a play being performed on a stage without a set. There were the characters and their words but nothing around them to really bring the story to life. Admittedly I can barely remember what happened because the book never fully bloomed in my head.
I've read Miller's work in the past, namely Mask of Shadows, and it was good so I have high hopes that the finished version of this book has been edited enough to give it some life. As it is, I was unimpressed.

I received an e-arc of this from netgalley for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Okay so let me start off by saying this was highly anticipated for me, as in I have preordered special editions of this before I'd even read the arc 😂

The reader is first introduced to Lorena, the main character. She is an undertaker in a small village, betrothed to her best friend Julian. Their village is attacked and Lorena is laying to rest a twelve year old boy who died in the attack when guards arrive looking for Willoughby Chase, her betroths father. It is revealed she has the power of both gods- the noble and the Vile. The heir to the Crown of Cynlira, Alistair Wyrslaine becomes intrigued about Lorena's power and accepts her deal to leave Willoughby alone until his trial date if she comes to the city of Mori with him. She agrees and our plot takes off from there.

So my immediate thought of the Heir and Lorena was almost Darkling and Alina vibes. Very much a "you are a power I must possess" vibe.

The plot ran so smoothly and was expectionally unique. I really enjoyed the plot of manipulation and courtly intrigue. The magic system in this was complex, as there is two types of magic, the vilewright and the noblewright. Each comes from a different god. It was all very unique and entertaining.

I loved our main character Lorena AKA Lore. She was so smart, sneaky and an absolute badass. She was everything I want in a MC. She was able to play the political game, get what she wanted and was ruthless when she had to be. Nothing could stop her quest and I truly adored that aspect of her character.

The ending left me wanting so much more!

I definitely recommend picking this up if you are a dark ya lover in need of a fix!

The premise of this book really intrigued me as I had seen it pitched as similar to a previously popular book series I had enjoyed but unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me. Although the magic system was intricate I struggled at the beginning to get a grip on the system as well as the world bu. However, I did enjoy the LGBTQ rep in the book but for me that was the main take away from this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcefire books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What We Devour by Linsey Miller is a semi-dark fantasy filled with gory sacrifices, an interesting magic system, and excellent LGBTQ representation, but I had little idea what was going on or what the characters were doing most of the time.

I haven't really read 'dark fantasy' specific books, but to be honest, this didn't seem that dark to me (I mean, I love true crime documentaries with gory photos from the scene, so...), just a bit darker than your typical YA. The magic system was really interesting though, I enjoy systems that involve sacrificing something to use powers. It can really show characters' strengths and weaknesses and just how far they'd go for power. The setting was also interesting, it felt post-apocalyptic but also had that end-of-the-world tension as well. Unfortunately, that's pretty much all I enjoyed about it.

In all honesty, this was almost a DNF but I powered though. It started off quite interesting, and I was keen to see where it was going but it quickly tumbled into a confusing and bland story. I vaguely understood what was going on enough to get the overall plot, but it was so hard to understand the character's motivations or even care about them. There were so many huge and significant moments that ordinarily I would expect a big lead up to, some tension, and bigger aftereffects, but everything just... happened suddenly and then it moved on without pause or consequence. I was more shocked about how plainly everything happened rather than what actually happened. It also felt like the same sort of things were repeated over and over, particularly about the wrights, that I think could have been condensed.

As for the characters, I felt no connection to most of them. The main character, Lorena, felt pretty emotionless at times and I could not understand her motivations. One minute she's determined to be invisible and then all of a sudden, she a scheming, court-savvy temptress who can manipulate the minds of princes. The most expression I really got from her was 'she reared back' whenever she was shocked. Her motivations seemed a little all over the place as well.
As for the Heir, when he was first introduced, I was so excited. Here was this super dark, villainous guy - feared by many and responsible for so much death - who I was sooo keen to see progress from 'dominating, evil prince' to 'gentle, misunderstood prince/love interest', but it seemed to happen straight away in the carriage? I was so sad! From then on his motivations were confusing as well, and he became rather boring.
The side characters were a mixed bag. Lorena's 'family' from her home were all emotionless like her, and just giant assholes. I feel like their little establishment in the beginning wasn't enough to give me any connection with them, so as the story unfolded, I felt no impact. However, my favourite characters were Carlow and Basil! The little we learnt about them had more depth and emotion than Lorena through the entire book. I would've loved to have learnt more about them and their histories, and Carlow’s curse was really interesting.

Something this book really excelled in was its seamless integration of LBGT characters. A lot of times I feel they are a little highlighted or pushed into the spotlight, but Miller perfected this. This was actually my first book with a non-binary character, and I have always wondered if I would get confused with 'they/them' pronouns when in a group scene, but Miller's writing ensured it was easy to understand what was happening. Lorena's asexualness was also described in a way that could be easily understood and relatable, even if one is not ace.

Overall, We What Devour was a mixed bag that I don't think I would reach into again. The goods thing about it really shone and were so interesting, which is what kept me going, but I just couldn't wrap my head around what was happening as everything seemed to happen and move along so suddenly. I was really keen from reading the blurb, and I was saddened that I wasn't able to enjoy it.

You know how there’s that one author who, no matter how disappointing their previous book was, you’ll always keep picking up their next one? That’s Linsey Miller, for me. I was unimpressed with Belle Revolte so when I received the email with the What We Devour widget, pitching it as Wicked Saints vibes, I was prepared to be severely disappointed.

Dear readers, I was not!

What We Devour is an intriguing concept wrapped in a plot that is neither too difficult nor complicated to understand and follow. However, the worldbuilding is confusing and convoluted, making reading comprehension an exercise in effort and perseverance. But we’ll get to that later.

In a world of Noblewrights (those who can perform “good” magic) and Vilerights (those who can perform “evil” magic), Lorena Adler is dualwrought; one who wields both Noble and Vile magics, dualwroughts are incredibly rare. However, by law, wrights are forced into service to one of Cynlira’s several ruling council members by way of contracts limiting the scope of their magics with magical bindings that could potentially kill them should they perform magic outside of their contracted limits.

After her mother’s passing, Lorena is forced to hide her true nature and finds herself on the run until she comes to the small, obscure town of Felhollow. Lorena is taken in by kind strangers and soon begins to build herself a quiet, quaint life away from the politics of Cynlira’s ruling class with her found family. Until one day, Cynlira’s crown prince comes guns a-blazing into Felhollow to arrest her future father-in-law, Will, for an unknown crime. Desperate to save Will, Lorena is forced to reveal her unique powers and ends up capturing the attention of the crown prince. Fully aware that Lorena is a dualwrought, he offers her a bargain she can’t refuse: work for him and he will allow Lorena to prove Will’s innocence. But, the prince has bigger plans and Lorena is dragged into a dark world of deceit, treachery, treason and self-discovery with the future of Cynlira and the world at stake.

As someone who started out liking Wicked Saints and then growing to hate it, I absolutely detest that a lot of the marketing behind What We Devour compares the both books. And I am here to tell you that besides both books being dark and involving a lot of self-harm to practice their magic, they’re nothing alike. For one, What We Devour actually knows what it is doing and despite the hard-to-follow worldbuilding, does a damn good job at being a fantastic piece of text with likeable characters and a unique worldview. The open ending left room for interpretation (and maybe even a sequel!). However, as with most of her works, Miller has a tendency to be rather repetitive in her descriptives without really clarifying anything.

Most reviews I came across highlighted that the pacing is rather snail-like but I actually found the pacing to be really steady and consistent, picking up towards the end when the stakes are driven higher. I neither breezed through the book nor found myself sloughing through it. But, there were too many time jumps and strange plot occurrences with no explanation that made reading a little confusing. I like to believe that these were probably resolved in post because there was absolutely no logic to the timeline of events. However, perhaps most found the pacing a drag because the worldbuilding was so convoluted and reading doesn’t make digesting it any easier.

Worldbuilding: We Need A Flow Chart

Politics, class and magic are heavily tied together in What We Devour. However, none of these elements got easier to understand the further into the book we went. Most fantasy books info-dump worldbuilding elements onto readers in the first few chapters. And I’m not too good with grasping fantasy concepts so I normally just push through and after a couple of chapters, I would be able to understand it. However, with What We Devour, we’re still learning about convoluted and complex worldbuilding elements even mid-way through the book, forcing us to slow down and attempt to interpret how they fit into the larger context of the plot. This severely slowed down the pacing and after pushing through all the way, the elements only became clear towards the end.

The magic system suffers the most in What We Devour. Personally, I felt this is just a matter of the way Miller introduces the elements and demonstrates the characters using them. For such a complicated magic system, involving multiple branches of noblewright and vilewright abilities, more care should have been given to plotting out and explaining the abilities. Even trying to explain my frustration with the system in this review is difficult. For example, Miller explains the following concepts simply as:

noblewrights are those with the magical ability to create
vilewrights are those with the magical ability to destroy

However, Miller doesn’t go further in explaining what can noblewrights create and what can vilewrights destroy. We are shown that noblewrights can heal mild to severe injuries, grow plants and gardens and so forth while vilewrights can take away a person’s ability to lie, stop their heart and so on. But, the boundaries or abilities are not clearly demarcated, leaving too much room for interpretation as well as providing too much leeway to both Miller and the characters to perform random acts as it suits the plot. It feels a little incomplete as like much thought hadn’t been to what these abilities are able to or to not do.

Furthermore, a crucial part of the plot and worldbuilding is that wrights are contracted and bonded to the ruling class to ensure that wrights perform within the boundaries that are determined for them. But we don’t learn much more about the ruling class (consisting of councilmen and courtiers) and they remain pretty much faceless throughout the book. Despite What We Devour being marketed as a book about magic and class warfare, we are hardly introduced to the political system. We are only told that the wrights and working class are oppressed and they work and live in hazardous and dangerous conditions, again, in service to the ruling class, of course.

A chart determining the multiple branches of noblewright and vilewright professions and affiliations would have been very helpful to understanding the magic and political system. However, as there wasn’t much time spent linking the two, it would have just been another part of the world rather than plot.

Characters: That’s Great Writing

What We Devour’s saving grace is it’s characters! Charming, devious, sarcastic and utterly likeable, this is by far the best writing of characters I have ever come across. There’s not a single character I dislike; even the villains of the story were so well-written and despicable.

Many reviews have described Lorena Adler as morally-grey and perhaps Miller did intend for her to come off that way but I think she is actually quite heroic. Lorena is quick-witted and quite cruel; she has a one-track mind to achieve the things she wants to and is seldom deterred. She does make some questionable decisions, especially when bargaining with the prince but throughout the book, she is pretty infallible. It might seem a little incredulous that she barely slips up but I guess that’s the charm of it all, especially in a book that is already so dark and grim.

Alistair Wyrslaine, the crown prince of Cynlira comes off very much like an emo soft boi, not my favourite character trope at all and reminds me too much of the disaster that is Malachiasz from the Wicked Saints series. But, he does have some redeeming qualities in that his softer side feels very genuine, a testament to Miller’s writing. I could understand his laser-focus in his work, his devotion to Cynlira and the hard, asshole exterior to hide his marshmallow feelings.

Although I found the blossoming relationship between Lorena and Alistair a little underwritten despite the relationship playing quite a role in the grand scheme of things, I liked how calm and almost serene it was. Of course, it was played in direct contrast to Lorena’s abusive ex-boyfriend, Julian (who’s father is, of course, Will). I also liked that from befriending Alistair and using their contracted relationship as a lens into the world beyond Felhollow, Lorena learned that her feelings as an ace are valid and that she didn’t have to put up with Julian’s emotional abuse.

Other characters I was absolutely taken with were Creek, Carlow and Basil: three wrights working for Alistair on his big project. Creek and Carlow were perhaps my favourite and they had great potential to being a romantic relationship; they were like an excited puppy and the sassy kitten dynamic. And Basil is an adorable sweetheart with the heart of gold. These few characters make up the found family trope which while not my favourite trope, was done very well in What We Devour.

To sum it all up, despite a shaky worldbuilding and some misplaced marketing, What We Devour is a stellar installment in the long list of Linsey Miller’s books. I know I’ve expounded quite a bit on how the class warfare aspect that was marketed hardly played a role in the book and despite that, I liked how it did discuss overthrowing the ruling party and the struggles in order to fill that gap. With endearing characters and a great storytelling voice, What We Devour ticks all the boxes for how to do a dark fantasy, what more, a standalone.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of requesting a bunch of arcs of books with a certain vibe towards the beginning of the year and then, even when I ceased to be interested in them, continued to be approved (sometimes with only a short few weeks before release). Such was the case with What We Devour, an atmospheric and dark book, but one that I felt little connection with. I don’t really have any specific critiques because it’s kinda on me that I didn’t enjoy it. Would recommend for fans of Hannah Whitten’s “For the Wolf” and the like.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5
Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked by the title and the cover! That cover is beautiful! Then finding out that it's fantasy, YA, magic, evil queen, darkness and a prince..... sign me up!!

All that being said I am having a hard time reviewing this book. I really liked the story line and the characters, I liked the magic elements and the sacrifices and the mystery surrounding the door. So I'm not sure why I'm having a hard time in writing it. I think the Vile vs. Nobel world was my hang up in this book. I think if that would be simplified I would have given it a 5. I also didn't understand how you can be the Queen but have no power - I'm hoping I read that right, I was a little confused.

This book is pretty slow paced and you need to concentrate to read it. It has the dark elements I like and I really liked the heroine (even though I didn't feel connected to her) of the story. There are twists that I wasn't expecting so that is a plus. I don't want to paint it as a bad book per say because there are things I liked but I just didn't feel connected to the characters and had to reread parts that could be annoying. I know this is a standalone but I would like to see more of this world and I felt it was left open to continue.

This was a real struggle for me to get through.

Before I go into that though, I want to say the cover is awesome! That is what grabbed my attention right away. So whoever was in charge of that, great job! But for me, the cover does not at all match what goes on in the book...it is very disjointed. The description of the book was interesting, and the how unique the story was made me want to read this. I love how the book did not have a long exposition. It got right into the action which I loved...but sadly things went down for me from there.

For me, the story became very disjointed. I often had to go back and read things because actions just didn't make sense. I got sick of rereading to the point where I just kept reading and if something didn't make sense, I just kept going. The protagonist also goes though major character changes to the point that by the end it isn't the same person at all. While usually I am more than okay with this, in this story it just looked like a new protagonist all together and there was no real connection made.

I did find interesting that what I thought was going to be the climax of the story ended up happening in the middle of it. It really made me question where in the world things could go from there and I think the author did a great job with the actual climax. There were definitely things you didn't see coming, and that was great to read.

The story could stay where it is at or continue and I think reader will be happy either way. If there is a sequel to this novel, I am not sure if I would read it. I am a reader that always has to read the sequel no matter what, but I don't know if it is something I really want to do. Do I want to know where things go from here, yes, but do I feel like I could be wasting my time...that has yet to be determined.

Thank you Netgalley for the early access to this book!