Sunyi Dean's debut The Book Eaters is the exploration of one lesbian woman's journey to save herself and her seemingly monstrous son from the expectations and desires of their violent, restrictive, and dwindling family of book eaters—those who consume books as food and retain all of the knowledge therein. Dean's book wasn't quite what I expected and I loved it all the more for it. If you're looking for a refreshing, dark read this fall, look no further than this.

When we meet Devon, she’s portrayed as a down on her luck single-mom. We know that she’s not human, and that she feeds on books. That itself is a wild element of this story, but her son can’t eat books like her. It doesn’t immediately make sense why, but what he does need to eat is very sinister and my jaw dropped to the floor.

I admit, the story immediately shocks you, then simmers for a while.
I actually stopped reading for a moment and checked the reviews. The majority of readers said that it was hard to get into, but that it was worth it. With that in mind, I didn’t give up and I am soooo glad I didn’t.

This story slows down a little after she feeds her son. It’s important because this is when we learn why/how book eaters exist. The back and forth between past and present shows us the dynamics of her patriarchal family. The barbaric methods they employ to keep their species alive. It’s dark and very oppressive. Devon is the first woman of their kind to imagine something better. Thus, she sets in motion a diabolical plan of double crossing betrayals with many hard choices. All of her choices made with one goal in mind, protect her son, get to freedom.

This gothic tale of a book eater tearing down her oppressors is truly bad ass!
Devon is fierce. Nothing matters more than her child. She goes to some very deep lengths for him and all the while I kept thinking, “same girl”. The element of books being food was very imaginative and added a fiction fantasy to an otherwise dark horror of a story. It’s a little confusing at first, but as Devon grows and shares her opinions of fairytales vs. instruction manuals as food, it all makes sense.

Anyone who wants to feel empowered by strength of smart women should read this book. There are so many gems dropped in this story about love, the meaning of life, and friendship. I have so many meaningful quotes to share from this book. I did NOT expect any of that from a “gothic horror” book.

Congratulations on a successful debut book! I hope we get a sequel of Devon’s next fight.

At one point in this book, there is an exchange of dialogue between two characters that I felt was not only central to this novel, but also central to real life:

“Does anyone have family that grows up functional? At all, anywhere?”

“In books, sometimes. A few rare cases.”

Considering this novel is about a species of monsters who eat books to stay alive, these lines seem rather droll, but at the same time, they are also rather true; there are few rare cases of truly functional families, whether they be real or fictional.

“The Book Eaters” has been one of the books I was looking forward to reading the most this year from the moment I first read the synopsis. I can say with absolute certainty it blew me away. To market this book as merely a mix of horror and fantasy with a LGBTQ female lead is to do this book a severe, if not almost criminal disservice, for this book manages to deftly weave in a wealth of commentary on many cultural, social, educational, gender, and economic issues even as it tells a compelling tale of a mother who will do anything to save her son and escape the cabal-like life she was born and raised in.

I thought this was going to be a long review, because I have so much to say about it, but I find myself at a loss as to how to explain the way this book intertwines the importance of childhood literacy while emphasizing the importance of making sure a child’s literacy is a well-rounded experience and not a cultivated one only filled with princesses or knights and instead filled with a mixture of both. I find it kind of difficult how to explain that the more rural the family, the further away from civilization and modern experiences the family will be and the further away from modern experiences the family and their children will be and therefore will be unfamiliar with how to move within and without the modern world if they suddenly find themselves stuck in it. This book is especially keen on pointing out that women have a particular need to be as well-educated as possible, for this world is dominated by knights and dragons and the patriarchy and they love nothing more than for women to submit to their perceived power.

There is more, so much more, in this moving and stunning book I devoured as much as a Book Eater literally consumes the pages of the OED.

Sunyi Dean, I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but I tip my cap to you, because this book is a masterpiece of genre literature I know will eat away at my brain for who-knows-how-long. And I’m not even sorry about it. The only other three books that have stuck in my head this much this year so far are “Anthem” by Noah Hawley, “Blood Sugar” by Sascha Rothchild, and “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin. Sure, there have been other 5 star books, but as far as books that like to peek into my brain and say hello? Yeah, this book is going to be one of those ones.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for granting me access to this book.

This is a story worth devouring.

What a strange, dark, lovely fairy tale. The world building here was A+, I’m so incredibly impressed by all of the small details the author included to create a world so different from our world, but still within it. I also enjoyed the protagonist, and her journey. Where it lost me a bit was around the non linear elements *but* I was also sick while reading and may reread later.

Thank you so much @netgalley @macmillanusa @torbooks & @macmillan.audio for the e & audio copies!

4.5!
I loved the concept and the storyline, but the ending left me wanting a bit more… I got the feeling that there could be a sequel with the way it ended, and if that’s the case then great!! But if not, then I wish there was more to the ending.

This is a VERY odd book. The story premise is vampire-ish, but with a twist that sets it apart and something wholly its own. The horror is almost amusing in its uniqueness. Whether or not you enjoy it, you won't forget it!

Thanks to NetGalley & Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

First thing's first, that cover is misleading as heck. This is definitely not a whimsical fairy tale, as the protagonist learns as the story progresses, this is more of a horror story. At least it was to me.

The Book Eaters follows a mother, Devon, trying to protect her son, Cai, from himself and the rest of the world. He eats people's brains and drains them of any rational thought. He and his mother are "Eaters", his mom will eat books but Cai eats human brains.

It's really gross and sad, thinking of all the victims that Cai, unfortunately, had to feed on all this time...horrifying, really.

The worst part is the book doesn't even explain it in the end! Why do Book Eaters exist? Why are people like Cai born this way? Nothing's explained which really left me feeling frustrated and annoyed. I also didn't like how the new love interest just suddenly changed their mind, after we didn't see them for several chapters, and then decided to join Devon & Cai on their adventure to freedom.

The flashbacks kept frustrating me too, that didn't help either. I just was left really unsatisfied by this book. It had great concepts, but weird executions and oddly made the concepts even more terrifying in prospect and less enjoyable as the story progressed.

This was an utterly original dystopian fantasy debut about a woman forced to have children and give them up. Set in Northern England in a world where creatures called Book eaters exist alongside the real human world. This book was a great exploration of the power of motherhood and the lengths one woman will go to in order to protect her outcast son. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review! Recommended for fans of fantastical stories like the Hell's library trilogy by AJ Hackwith.

A thoroughly engaging blend of adventure and social commentary, with high moral stakes. Full review posted at BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/pr287680

If you know me, you know I've been talking about this book pretty much nonstop lately. The synopsis immediately drew me in because PEOPLE WHO EAT BOOKS?!? Say less. I couldn't wait to make time for this one and Sunyi Dean did NOT disappoint. This was such a wild ride and the world building was truly top notch. Devon was a phenomenal main character and watching her attempt the impossible for her children was actually really inspiring. Her journey kept me on the edge of my seat the entire book and after that ending.... let's just say I'm demanding a sequel now.

Pick this one up immediately if you're looking for something enthralling.

I love a cleverly written secret society story! A captivating dark fantasy that tackles complex themes of motherhood, identity and the power of knowledge and imagination.

:More than a few avid readers have probably wished out loud for the ability to survive on books alone. Sunyi Dean made an entire dark fantasy out of that idea and once again I am thankful for the presence of pizza in this world.

The Book Eaters focuses on a mother/child dynamic in a world where a vampiric people of dubious origin survive on printed knowledge and patriarchy. Dean's lush writing accomplishes what I love most in fantasy writing: taking boundaries that have been pushed or broken by the established magic system and asking intimately human questions. In a world were someone can absorb knowledge by consuming books, and highlighting a character who should - but can't do this, Dean avoids any worn down tropes by instead asking how far would a mother go for her child.

This book was excellent, and practically dared me to take a bite out of it myself. Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Sunyi Dean’s The Book Eaters is a gripping, gothic-horror-meets-fantasy novel about a mother’s quest to save her son no matter the cost—and maybe, just maybe, save herself in the process. Haunting, adrenaline-laced, and dripping with themes as dark as book eater blood, this novel has teeth and isn’t afraid to show them.

Main character Dev comes from an English secret society of monsters known as book eaters, whose vampiric natures have them consume books instead of blood to survive. In addition to a harrowing, misogynistic, and patriarchal political landscape, there’s another horror in book eater society: mind eaters. When Dev’s son is born a mind eater, she learns the depth of cruelty book eater society is capable of.

Dev is so believably messy and flawed as the main character, and her choices fascinated and compelled me. Told in a series of flashbacks between past and present, the present-day sections have all the tension of a thriller and the past sections are laden with emotional weight. The interweaving of the two makes for a complex blend.

A note: While Dev is queer (sapphic and lesbian in my interpretation, though the label is not used on page), this book is not a romance nor does it heavily involve romantic elements. It is much more fantasy/horror and though there is a romantic subplot, it is very minor in the overarching narrative.

To fantasy fans who enjoy explorations of unconventional motherhood and family, examination of stories and the ways in which they shape us, and a darker tone to their fantasy, I would highly recommend The Book Eaters.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2022 and I am SO glad that it didn't let me down. In fact, it's become one of my favorite reads of this year!

"The Book Eaters" is an incredibly creative story and the concept was unique. As a librarian and a book-lover, I really connected with the idea of absorbing books. This novel is a subtle (or maybe not so subtle) commentary on how the things we read and see shape the world around us, which is truly a beautiful idea.

It is also a story about sacrifice, about motherhood, and about fighting back when you don't know how, just that you MUST.

I will say that when I read the final words, I was left with a feeling of heaviness. It's one of those books that toyed with my emotions, that made me laugh, smile, and shed a few tears. It was a truly wonderful read and I cannot wait for others to enjoy it.

Sunyi Dean clearly has an apt for storytelling and I cannot wait to see what else comes from her talented mind in the future.

BY: ELECTRA PRITCHETT
ISSUE: 1 AUGUST 2022

I was intrigued as soon as I read the description for The Book Eaters, Sunyi Dean’s debut novel. A young book eater woman undertakes a desperate, violent quest to find a way to preserve her young mind eater son from a fate decreed by the six book eater Families of Britain: death, or servitude as a “dragon,” the enforcers of the book eater militia known as the knights. That intrigue (further deepened by the excellent US cover, with art by paper and book artist Su Blackwell) was amply repaid just in the book’s first paragraph, one of the strongest I’ve read in recent SFF

http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/the-book-eaters-by-sunyi-dean/

Absolutely spellbinding glimpse at alternate vampire lore. A feisty princess learning to save herself. Monsters trying to be human. Humans reduced to monsters. In this difficult but important tale, the enemies we face are within us.

The imaginative Family politics and convoluted history of vampires and their misunderstood relationship to the human race is impeccable. Dean creates a world within our world with its own set of rules and its own sense of loss and triumph. Love may not always be good, but loving is. I adored Devon and hoped with her, loved with her, and fought with her. Grieving her grief, I stepped into a world of fateful fairy tales. She never conquered unscathed, but still, she won.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

Devon is part of The Family, a group of people who don't eat food, but instead eat books. Like all book eater women, Devon was raised on a diet of fairy tales, and is nearly destroyed when she learns that life isn't a fairy tale. Her son is born a Mind Eater, a branch of book eaters that feed on the memories and personality of a person, usually killing the person. The Book Eaters follows Devon as she fights to keep her son, and herself, alive. I absolutely adored the way this book was written. We start in the present, when Devon is with her son, but we also get many chapters that track back to Devon's past, and why she ended up where she was and what she was doing. This constant question of how did Devon get there and why is she so determined to continue fighting, is what kept me reading this book. Such a poignant view on love, family and what it means to care about someone, I highly recommend this book to everyone!

Sunyi Dean has spun that rarest of creatures, a unique perspective on tradition, motherhood, trauma and how love can make villains of us all. It has a compelling twist to the concept of fairytales and vampires, for what is the hunger for minds but a type of vampire, ripping the very essence of a person out. With Devon, we have a dark heroine, queer and unapologetic for her actions, willing to risk everything for her son. It delves into the ideas of how the stories we’re told shape us, whether those stories are good or bad. And that story is so riveting that it is impossible to put down. 

Sunyi Dean layers the plot, weaving through Devon’s past and present as she survives being ground down into a system that continually fails and betrays her, never allowing her to be her true self. Even when she manages to escape, she is dragged back in. And yet, for her son, she dives into the heartache and despair of the Families and attempts to find hope in the darkness. It peels back the fairytale trappings to show the gritty, bitter underside and keeps you hooked until the very end. 

If you love a gritty, dark, compelling twist on society, vampires and fairytales, I truly found this riveting and intriguing. I loved the characters, none of whom are truly without failing but still are too compelling to look away.

The nitty-gritty: The Book Eaters is a delicious, dark surprise, strange and compelling and utterly original.

Don’t let the whimsical, fairy tale-esque cover fool you. The Book Eaters is a very dark fantasy, bordering on horror at times, and I was not prepared. I’m always delighted when a book surprises me, because it doesn’t happen that often, and The Book Eaters subverted my expectations in just about every way possible. The worldbuilding is fresh and unexpected (and a bit complex, to be honest). The characters are flawed and sometimes do horrible things, but I fell in love with them anyway. Best of all, Sunyi Dean infuses her story with relevant themes and plays around with fairy tale tropes in new exciting ways. 

The story revolves around a species called book eaters, humanoid creatures (for lack of a better word) who consume books instead of food. Book eaters live within six Families, but their numbers are quickly dwindling, and so measures have been taken to preserve their kind with arranged marriages and forced pregnancies. The story is told from the perspective of Devon, a grown book eater who appears to be on the run when the story starts. We meet her five year old son Cai who was born a mind eater, a creature who eats minds instead of books. In Devon’s world, mind eaters are a danger to society, and so they are forced to become “dragons” when they grow up. A group of enforcers called the knights use a drug called Redemption to temper the dragons’ constant hunger for minds, and the knights are responsible for conducting marriage matches and making sure they produce a child.

The story shifts back and forth from the present to the past, showing Devon as a child and how she came to have her son Cai and why they are on the run. Sunyi slowly peels back layer after layer of Devon’s story and gradually introduces the reader to this strange world, its even stranger characters, and the emotional ties that bind them together.

That’s the plot in a nutshell, but of course it’s much deeper and more complex than my simple recap. Let’s talk about the worldbuilding first, because it’s simply fascinating! Book eaters were “created” by an entity called the Collector, but the author doesn’t give us much information about who the Collector is or why book eaters exist. You just have to go with it, although to be honest I wanted to know more about this world, and although this book appears to be a standalone, I’m secretly holding out hope for a sequel. Book eaters can pass as human, but instead of eating food they eat nothing but books. They are born with “bookteeth,” which I’m imagining are a lot like vampire fangs, and they extend these teeth to eat. In fact, the image of a vampire isn’t too far off the mark. Different genres of books taste different, and even the type of paper a book is printed on affects the taste of the book. Even better, when you eat a book you absorb its knowledge, so if you want to learn about guns, for example, all you have to do is eat a book about them. Pretty convenient, right?

On the flip side are the mind eaters, who are seen as deviants and treated horribly in this world. Devon’s son Cai is a mind eater and she spends most of the book trying to find Redemption so he can live a fairly normal life. Mind eaters are born with a long proboscis instead of bookteeth, which they insert into a person’s ear in order to suck out their brains! Just like book eaters, they absorb what they eat, but with mind eaters it’s much worse because they take over the thoughts and personalities of the people they kill. Watching this happen to a five year old child was truly horrifying, especially when Cai eats bad people.

Readers will recognize shades of The Handmaid’s Tale and other dystopian stories that revolve around societies where women are oppressed or forced to bear children. Devon has been raised eating only fairy tales, and so she’s grown up knowing she’s a “princess” with specific rules to follow. Girls are rare, and so each one is treated as such until they come of age, and then they must marry and produce a child. And when the child turns three, the mother is separated from them and forced to marry again and give birth to another child. These scenes were heartbreaking and rage inducing, and yet I loved seeing Devon’s love for her children and the lengths she'll go to keep them in her life.

Devon is a wonderful character, and Dean perfectly captures the fierce love a mother has for her child. Devon knows what’s expected of her, and she doesn’t complain, even when her husband drugs and rapes her. But when she holds her baby for the first time, she experiences a profound shift, a sense that her life will never be the same again. She can no longer be the good princess who follows the rules. Her child sets her on a different path, one filled with pain and joy, anger and determination. Devon finds she can do things she never thought possible, all for the love of her child. Luckily she meets others who help her along the way. I absolutely loved Jarrow, the brother of Devon’s second husband, who introduces her to video games and plays a key role in her escape. We also meet a human journalist named Mani who is writing a book about the history of the book eaters and befriends and helps Devon on her journey. My favorite character, though, was Hester, a woman with her own secrets who gets tangled up in Devon’s and Cai’s lives.

There are a host of other characters, most of them on the “bad” side, like Devon’s brother Ramsey who is determined to control his sister at all costs. Killock Ravenscar is Hester’s brother (I think Jarrow is the only good brother in this story!) who is a fanatical cult leader and the source of all kinds of misery. And then there are Devon’s two husbands, one who appears kind but really isn’t, and the other who is downright evil. The story is filled with tense, thrilling moments and plenty of exciting chase scenes, as Devon spends most of the book trying to evade her brother and the other men who want to catch her.

The author uses quotes from fairy tales and excerpts from Mani’s book Paper and Flesh: A Secret History at the top of each chapter. I loved the way these quotes give us glimpses into the history of book eaters, and the fairy tale quotes mirror Devon’s thoughts and experiences and give her situation even more depth. 

The Book Eaters is a rich, complex story with fully developed characters, beautifully written and executed. Highly recommended for readers who appreciate unique world building and enjoy a darker edge to their stories.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

I first became interested in reading The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean when I read somewhere that the author was interested in crafting a unique vampire story, something that hadn’t already been done to death. Dean succeeds too because The Book Eaters is, by far, one of the most unique vampire stories I’ve ever read. For that matter, it’s also one of the most unique fantasy novels I’ve read in a long time.

The story takes us deep into the world of book eaters, a species who can pass for humans with the exception of their diet. Rather than eat food and drink water, they rely on eating books for sustenance. The author does an incredible job with creating this world, showing us what the eaters get from the kinds of books they eat. Whatever books they eat are immediately committed to memory, and the eaters have a definite “taste” preference when it comes to things like glossy vs. non-glossy pages, etc.

The book eaters also have a real problem on their hands because their species is dying off. Very few females are ever born, and so in an effort to stave off extinction, the few females who are born are raised to eat only fairy tales in order to groom them all to become wives and mothers. Arrangements are made, and basically, as soon as each female gives birth to a child and it is weaned from her, she is then sent on to fulfill her next arrangement and get pregnant again.

The story follows Devon Fairweather, a young book eater who has been forced into motherhood, hates the oppressive nature of the life she is being forced to live, and ultimately wants out of it. Devon sees the especially cruel nature of her world when Cai, one of the babies she gives birth to, is considered to be a monster. Cai is one of those few babies who are born to book eaters, that instead of existing on a diet of books, they exist on a diet of brains, thus leaving behind a trail of bodies whenever they feed. The elders in Devon’s family want to get rid of Cai, and Devon is not having it, which spurs her into motion and propels the overall action of the book.

I don’t want to give away any more details because this unique story is best experienced knowing as little as possible going in. I did occasionally have to re-read pages to really understand the worldbuilding and the relationships between various people Devon encounters throughout the book, but I think that was more of a me issue than anything wrong with the writing itself.

Devon was a fascinating character to me. I’d classify her as morally gray in the sense that she makes a lot of hard choices when it comes to doing what she feels is right to ensure Cai’s survival. I loved her mama bear instincts though and, as a mom myself, was 100% on board for her doing whatever it takes for the child she loves so much. I also loved the way the author has the story unfold through dual timelines, one with Devon as a child and the other after she becomes a mother. It really illuminated the oppressive nature of the book eater world, and that oppression of women and their bodies resonated all the more with me after what has happened with Roe v. Wade this year.

I highly recommend The Book Eaters to anyone who is a fan of vampire stories, and also to anyone who enjoys thought provoking, action packed dark urban fantasies with fascinating morally gray characters.