Star Eater is an incredibly imaginative fantasy, probably the most original fantasy that I’ve read in a while. There’s so much to like about this book. The world is fully realized and the politics are complex. I enjoyed the scheming and the different political factions involved and I think the political aspects were the strongest parts of the story. I liked how in the first half of the book, El was a spy sent on secret missions to uncover what the enemy was doing. The subterfuge was highly entertaining.

Additionally, the action scenes raised my pulse, particularly one of the action scenes set at an abandoned castle on top of a hill. Both the lace and haunts were fascinating aspects of the story. I also liked the themes this story dealt with such as the corruption of power and tradition. There were a few things that prevented this from being a five star read for me though. There were a lot of characters in the book and most of them felt quite flat. While I liked the idea behind the romance I felt it was underdeveloped. Lastly, the ending was a bit predictable and underwhelming. But these are just minor things and overall Star Eater is a meticulously crafted, original and engrossing story.

Cannibalism, magic, zombie-like creatures, a corrupt governing body, and hallucinations. El has a lot on her plate. I loved the premise of this book. A magic system that uses the flesh of their dead mothers as a source? The moral implications of essentially using men for breeding and thus forcing them to physically become monsters? Sign me up!
Unfortunately, the execution of how this story developed left me wanting more. I would have loved more exploration of the cannibalistic magic. It felt like the author should have spent more time on world building and more well rounded relationships between characters. Instead, the reader walks away with a lot of unanswered questions. To a certain extent this could be intentional, with the writer wanting the audience to have their own interpretation of the political/ethical implications of the story. If this is the case, I can appreciate that, but I wanted more. In the end, the horror elements are what I enjoyed most about this story.

I honestly expected this one to be scarier than it was. It wasn’t scary at all. It was well written, easy to get into, definitely a fun read that I’d recommend to anyone.

In a Nutshell: Weird but imaginative. Not my kind of book at all! Hence, don’t judge the book by this review.

Story Synopsis:
Elfreda Raughn is the youngest acolyte in a sisterhood of magical priestesses who have a dark secret to their magic. She wants to get out of this almost dictatorial group but there’s no choice. Until now, when a shadowy rebel group has approached her with an offer of escape. But in order to do so, she needs to become a spy and connect with the head honchos of the Sisterhood. What lies in Elfreda’s fate is what you will discover by reading the book.
The story comes to us in the first person narration of Elfreda.

Where the book worked for me:
😍 Loved the concept of the ‘Haunts’, though they spooked me out!
😍 I’m a bit fed up of seeing ‘Woman-good; Man-bad’ trope in fiction. This book turns this on its head. I ended up feeling sorry for the men in this story. It was an interesting take on gender reversal.
😍 There are some nice characters in the book. Finn’s character is the most interesting, but there are a few other secondary characters that make an impact as well.
😍 I liked the power struggles depicted in the book. The plot nicely highlights how things aren’t easy even for those at the top, and that sacrifices are a natural part of success.

Where the book left me with mixed feelings:
😐 The sisterhood’s magic seems to be somewhat like that of Spiderman, with ’lace’ instead of webs. Though I wish this had been described better in the book, it was still a good idea. The author certainly has imagination.
😐 The represented gender and sexual identities follow contrary paths. While homosexuality and bisexuality seem to be okay and acceptable, the gender normativity when it comes to men and women is almost traditional, with men being the villains in almost all cases. The book could have been pathbreaking in terms of gender rep, but sticks to the tried-and-tested.
😐 The first quarter or so is slow-paced but things pick up after that. So you do need to keep your patience at the start or else you will keep wondering where the heck the plot is going. The writing is quite smooth otherwise.
😐 The world building is minimal when it comes to the location and the intrinsic details of the functioning of the Sisterhood and the society in general. The fantastical elements are highlighted without any detailing. Basically, I enjoyed the magical bits (except for what’s coming up in the next point) but I wanted to know a lot more about them.

Where the book DID NOT WORK for me:
😬 A book about cannibalistic nuns will never ever work for me. What makes it worse is knowing what exactly they consume to increase the strength of their magic. I am NOT the kind of reader who will willingly pick up a book with cannibal characters. Goes without saying that this ended up in my kitty by mistake.
(At the same time, here’s the odd part: I could read most of those scenes without feeling grossed out. I hope you understand why this is a flaw. If someone such as I could go through those episodes without freaking out, the writing missed its mark somewhere.)
😬 It was a bit too weird for my liking, especially when Elfreda suffered from hallucinations. I’m not a fan of surreal writing.

As a debut work, the book certainly has promise. It shows ‘womanpower’ in a dark and dangerous way, highlighting that a reversal isn’t the solution. This is distinctly YA in its approach, so maybe it will click with YA SFF lovers better. The author has potential, and perhaps with experience, the author will convert her vivid imagination in even better works. But I’ll never know if she brings it to greater fruition because I am not the right reader for this content. One book about cannibals is more than enough in a lifetime.

2 stars from me. But remember it wasn’t my kind of book. Take a call based on your tolerance for cannibalism and gore.

I received a complimentary copy of this book at my request and these are my honest thoughts about it.


PS: Apologies for not including feedback about the narrator. I couldn't listen to the cannibalism parts, so I borrowed the book from my library and read it instead.

There is a lot to like here. I expected this to be far more horror-adjacent than it was but I still found it rather chilling. The haunts were excellent with how they are described but I think the writing held back my enjoyment fully.
Full review on Youtube.

Reading “Star Eater” is charging in the most messed up and in heavenly of ways. It bewilders and harrows deep down, at the same time. This book was a clever read and will pull the readers back the drape and the readers will drink in the savage sights with our eyes open as we fight the desire to turn away. The author’s composition is habit-forming and the story is so striking, hauntingly depicted that the readers will love the book.

The author dives the readers into an existence where human flesh consumption is an inherited custom, borne out of sad need an adequate penance in return for the incredible ribbon enchantment. Yet, that isn’t the main cost. This is the trinity of a priestess’s feelings of dread: pregnancy, horrific creatures, and decay. The first portion of the book is painstakingly enveloped with horror, obligation, and penance. The second portion of the book is the horrendous result of a maverick sister, and it rings of treachery, groans of regrets, and disdain. The third part is more terrible than death. The book is a completely exhilarating accomplishment of world-building, and I adored how the author fosters a whole world in the most impeccable degree of details, gradually and cautiously stringing together the complicated components of her folklore like glass dots on a string. What’s more, there’s murder, affliction, and ghastly political games. The book contemplates extremely profound inquiries about ancestry and force.

One of the delights of the book lies in how the author harps on the details of every plot in the story. I enjoyed this book, yet I can’t honestly say that it had not placed an observable scratch in my mind.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* well. that was. different... pretty good read over all but the cannibalism is strange lol would recommend and i did like it even if it was a but sci-fi for my liking

I went into this book more-or-less blind, only knowing that it was a society of cannibalistic nuns. While reading, I continually had no idea where the story would go next. I enjoyed Elfreda and her character's journey. The society itself was quite interesting, and the plethora of f/f relationships. The ending did feel a little rushed, but it was overall satisfying.

I also liked the narrator (Samara Naeymi), who I thought did a really good job bringing Elfreda and the story to life.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review; all thoughts/opinions are my own.

3.5/5 stars

I listened to an audiobook arc of this novel and it was absolutely fantastic. The narrator did an amazing job with bringing the story and these characters to life. They all had a unique voice which made it easy to follow along with and heightened my enjoyment for sure! I can’t recommend this route enough.

I was sold on this story from the second I heard it was about cannibal nuns and rest assured this definitely has that. But it’s also full of rich political drama, death and martyrs and magic and even a hint of some romance.

This about Elfreda who doesn’t want to conform to the Sisterhood’s life. She doesn’t want to get pregnant to continue the line, she doesn’t want anything to do with their goals which would get her killed. So she embarks on secret missions, on being a spy for enemies who align on her terms. It was just so good. I was completely enveloped into the story before I even knew it.

This does have very dark themes so definitely read trigger and content warnings before going in but if you like your fantasy with a hint of cannibalism, badass women and spies? You need to read Star Eater.

4/5⭐️

I liked the premise but the book itself didn’t follow through with what was promised. The magic system is too disjointed & confusing. Too focused on romance when the cannibalistic nuns are RIGHT THERE

2.5 stars

The synopsis was intriguing but the story didn’t really match it in my opinion? Like barely any of the things in the second paragraph (she gains access to the highest reaches of the Sisterhood, and enters a glittering world of opulent parties, subtle deceptions) actually happens? Like there were just two parties from what I remember if not three. She was still doing her farming job in the agriculture sect but was able to speak to some higher-ups so where is this “highest reaches” anywhere in the book? As for the subtle deception, I'm gonna say that none of the evil ones fell for it. They actually knew she was lying every time but Elfreda just wasn’t aware of it. Moreover, you don’t really get to know much about the pregnancy and keeping the line until chapter 7 (besides the martyrdom which was explained earlier).

My biggest issue in the entire book is that the magical system was complicated and barely explained. You don’t realize in the first chapter that some parts were her hallucinations mixed in and I don’t understand the point of it besides her having hallucinations because later on, they actually do have meanings. The lore and magic system were explained towards the end of the book as late as chapter 36 (the whole book is 43 chapters).

As for Elfreda, it was hinting she liked Finn in the beginning and then in the middle she confesses to HIS SISTER but in the end, she slept with Finn while his sister was in the same area? Like what, woman, make up your mind. Don’t get me started on me not recognizing the characters apart because they barely have any physical description. You only know them by names and job status.

Overall, the concept was interesting and you could tell that the Sisterhood is full of history but we aren't told much especially the magic system until the last third of the book. Most of it was a description of every place and room Elfreda has been and could have been cut short since the book was unnecessary long with not much happening in relation to the length. The ending was lackluster and rushed even after all that. The audiobook and narrator was great though and was the only reason I finished the book.

Trigger warning: rape (detailed at the end of chapter 7), abortion (she took a potion and she was weak and fainted afterwards), infanticide (implied a few times but never shown) and cannibalism (which is the main source of magic so it comes up multiple times in the book).

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy for an honest review.

I think I'm growing out of YA. While it is fun, it just doesn't captivate me as much as some of the books aimed for adults do. This isn't a bad book by any means, but I find I'm enjoying more complex worlds and plotlines that typically found in books aimed at teens. I do recommend this for sci-fi fantasy readers that are looking for a quick, fun, and action packed read.

Star Eater was very interesting but could have been more. Acolyte, Elferda decides that she no longer wishes to be a part of the Sisterhood of the Aytrium. I can’t blame her, but I guess I was hoping for more. The audio narrator was not the problem for me, but the lack of information as the story progressed bothered me.

I liked this book and the narrator was great. But i feel like it missed the mark, i really wanted cannibalistic nuns and it just wasn't that.

This was a conceptually fascinating book, but for me, I found the execution a bit lacklustre. Telling the story of a sisterhood of cannibal nuns, I wanted the narrative to have a more horrific feel. Instead, there were times when it read more like a YA fantasy, with too much focus on romance for my taste. With that being said, I did think that the characters were well drawn and felt that their motivations and actions felt authentic. There were times however when it became a bit difficult to keep all of the characters straight. My main criticism is the world building, which I felt was fairly surface level and needed much more depth to truly understand the nuances of the political machinations. Overall, I think my expectations probably influenced my feelings about this book, as I was hoping for a really scary and thought provoking read, but it was definitely an enjoyable time.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

An engaging fantasy tale that teased at being standard YA fare as it made it's way into something else entirely. Brilliant use of very subtle body horror presented both for the horror it is and as things of normalcy.

I thought this book was difficult to get through, but I did. I love the rep in the book though. I was confused most of the way through this book but I did eventually figure out what was happening by the end of it. I did really enjoy the narrator of the audiobook version of this story. I loved the characters and have no complaints about them.

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, Star Eater is the story of a world that has put that absolute power in the hands of a mean girl clique. And it’s working about as well as one might think it would, because these mean girls have real power and are using it to destroy people’s lives AND play with politics, sometimes at the same time.

Once the reader is as far on that train as the worldbuilding will allow, the situation gets even more dire and much, much stranger, all at the same time, until the story reaches a conclusion that doesn’t quite feel like it was part of the book that we started with.

When the story opens, the protagonist, the point of view from which we will view this world, is about to be raped. It’s her duty as an Acolyte of the Sisterhood of Aytrium to present herself to the “Renewal Wards” once every few months in order to, well, propagate the species. Not the human species, but specifically the “Lace”-wielding (read as magic) members of the Sisterhood by allowing herself to be raped – and it is rape even though she gives forced consent for it to happen – by a man who has already been infected with the disease that men contract when they have sex with a woman who has “lace”.

If her visit to the Renewal Wards results in a pregnancy, if the child is male he will either be given away or killed. If the child is female, the birth of her daughter begins the countdown on her mother’s life. Because the only way that lace can be renewed is for women to literally eat the flesh of their comatose mothers.

You’re probably already creeped out. The person I attempted to describe this story to certainly was. It is seriously creepy and this world is utterly fucked up. There’s no other word for it.

The thing is, as bad as Elfreda’s situation is, and the situation of every single one of her Sisters, the situation on Aytrium as a whole is even worse than you’re imagining. The Sisterhood controls everything in Aytrium because they are the ones keeping the place literally afloat. All of Aytrium and the land that supports the city and everyone in it was jerked out of the crust of the planet below by the very first Sister of the Order. If they don’t keep pouring their power into the spells that keep the city floating, it will crash back down.

And maybe it should.

Escape Rating C+: This story is a hot mess and so is its protagonist Elfreda Raughn. And the story is not nearly as high-falutin’ or well-put together as the blurb would lead one to believe.

Elfreda is a rather unreliable narrator, and not necessarily in a good way. She’s unreliable both because there are so many things she doesn’t know, and because there are just so many things that she doesn’t LET herself know. So she gets surprised a lot, and so do we, and it’s pretty much never the good kind of surprise.

Although there are plenty of things about this world that honestly, I wish I didn’t know now that I’ve read the book. Or had it read to me. In the end, a bit of both.

In the beginning, the focus seems to be on Elfrida’s relationship with the Sisterhood, and that’s where the mean girls vibe comes in. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the Sisterhood has absolute power over the lives of everyone on Aytrium, especially the Sisters. While the power over everyone else is ordinary temporal power, the power over the other Sisters has a weird feel to it. It’s not just that Elfreda and the other Sisters regularly eat bits of their mothers, but the way that their mothers are kept comatose is referred to as martyrdom. And that Elfreda’s mother was martyred for political reasons and not because it was her time.

At the same time, the whole setup leads to the Sisterhood, and all of Aytrium, being ruled by a group of middle-aged women who are more interested in playing power games against each other than they are in running the place. Also, it feels like there are no elders among the Sisterhood because of the martyrdoms. Which feels like it matters more than it should, because it removes the possibility of hard-earned wisdom as a bit of a check on how bad things are both for the Sisters and for everyone else.

So part of the story is the poisonous internal politics of the Sisterhood. A second part wraps around a threat to that power, in the form of a semi-organized resistance movement made up of regular people, particularly but not exclusively men, who seem to be just about completely disenfranchised.

An organization, using the term loosely, which Elfreda’s best friends, Millie and Finn, seem to be an integral part of every bit as much as they are Elfreda’s life. Millie is Elfreda’s counselor (read Sisterhood-licensed therapist) and Millie’s brother Finn is the love of Elfreda’s life and vice versa, even if that relationship can never be acknowledged or consummated.

Either of those two scenarios would have been enough for a book. The repressive government and the resistance thereto, or the internal political squabbling of the all-powerful Sisterhood with its religious underpinning and its combination of “corrupt church” and “religion of evil” tropes fully on display.

Except that it gets crazier and weirder from there in ways that didn’t seem predicated on what happened so far and needed a bit of deus ex machina plot and character rescue at the end to make the whole thing tie itself up in a very messy bow.

In spite of all of the above, I have to admit that there were plenty of points where as much as I marveled at just how much shit this protagonist could manage to get herself into, and just how fucked up her world was, I felt compelled to keep reading after kind of a slow start. Elfreda’s story is the “Perils of Pauline” on steroids, out of the frying pan, into the fire and then jumping from one active volcano to another.

This is a trainwreck book, as in I knew it was going to have LOTS of awful things in it to see and read but I couldn’t turn my eyes away even when I wanted to. Hence that C+ rating. I was riveted even as I was appalled, and not in a good way. More like I couldn’t stop turning pages or sitting in the garage listening because I just couldn’t believe how much weirder and crazier it was going to get.

I mostly listened to this in audio through the NetGalley app. As I said above, the story is a hot mess. I have issues with the app. But the reader did an excellent job. I’d be happy to listen to her again, hopefully in a better story.

Summary: All martyrdoms are difficult.

Elfreda Raughn will avoid pregnancy if it kills her, and one way or another, it will kill her. Though she’s able to stomach her gruesome day-to-day duties, the reality of preserving the Sisterhood of Aytrium’s magical bloodline horrifies her. She wants out, whatever the cost.

So when a shadowy faction approaches Elfreda with an offer of escape, she leaps at the opportunity. As their spy, she gains access to the highest reaches of the Sisterhood, and enters a glittering world of opulent parties, subtle deceptions, and unexpected bloodshed.

Review:
This was a WEIRD book. Like nothing I had ever read before. The world was so unique. I was constantly confused and felt like I was on a journey the entire time.

BUT, the book felt like more of an idea for a book than an actual book. There were large parts that just felt unfinished, so many details were never made clear, you as the reader were left in the dark as to how the world worked. On one hand this meant no info-dumps, but on the other this meant mass confusion.

While I did enjoy this book, I am not sure if I would recommend it to many people. It's made for a very specific type of fantasy reader, and if you think that's you I 100% say check it out!

Thanks for Netgalley and RB Media Records for giving me a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wasn’t approved for advance access to the e-ARC of this book, so I was ECSTATIC when I was approved for the audiobook ARC. And honestly, it was super fun as an audiobook. The pace is quick enough and the story intriguing enough to make you want to keep listening, making Star Eater perfect for long car rides, commutes, or whenever else one needs a good, gripping audiobook.

As for the story itself, it’s perfectly creepy, horrifying, and inventive. I’m a hardcore fantasy fan, but even I get a little sick of protagonists mysteriously born with great magical powers thanks to sheer dumb luck. But not the members of The Sisterhood, a matriarchal religious order and oligarchic governing body. In Star Eater, magic comes at a price, for each and every member of the order must replenish their magic by dissecting and consuming pieces of their mothers’ comatose bodies. This makes the prospect of motherhood a bittersweet proposal, to say the least. After all, it means raising a child who’ll one day be eating you, and probably far sooner than you’re ready to essentially die (or euphemistically, be “martyred”). ON TOP OF ALL THAT. Pregnancies result from monthly ritualistic rapes.

If you can stomach all of that, you’ll find much more than mere gore in these pages, or, mp3. Star Eater is full of great characters, magical-political intrigue, a compelling bisexual love triangle, and more!

My one note on consuming Star Eater as an audiobook is that the names of the elder sisters can get a bit hard to follow if you aren’t paying close attention.

Many thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for giving me advance access to this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.