The Book Eaters is a gothic fantasy with an extremely interesting and unique concept centering about two non-human races -the Book Eaters and Mind Eaters. This is a slow burn character-driven story where the action really starts to pick up about halfway through. Avid readers will love the concept behind what books they allow certain people to eat and the taste that the author associates with them. 

I really enjoyed the narration for The Book Eaters. It was so fitting of the main character and added another layer of authenticity.  If given the chance, I would really love to see a prequel of sorts to get more of the story behind how the Book Eaters and Mind Eaters came to be/once lived.

"a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it"

The premise of this story is genuinely interesting and intriguing however, the book doesn't deliver. The synopsis makes you think you are joining a true secret society but I think that is really the wrong word choice. There is no society it's more like a different race of humans.

The idea for this book is completely unique to itself and really engaging. I loved when the author would describe the taste and texture of a book. There are a lot of intriguing moments of description that stop you in your tracks. As an audio book it was delicious to hear these moments read aloud.

The last half did so much of the work for the beginning. Constantly you are being brought into a narrative that technically was hidden from the reader when it was taking place to then be explained at the end. These points were use as plot twists. This started to become really annoying and off putting. I wish the author would have just put those moments where they belonged in the timeline because it was impossible to have an emotional connection with the characters.

The narration of this book was perfect. The accent was well done and even though it is not an accent I am used to, the entire book was easy to understand.

I think this book has a lot of potential for the right audience. The secret society description is going to have a lot of people unhappy with the story. I will still reccoemend it to friends who are looking for books about survival and fantasy especially a mother protecting their child.

I knew I'd love this book the moment I read the synopsis--what an unexpected, interesting premise! I love a slow burn and character-driven books, and I was gripped right from the beginning when the main character, Devon, meets and brings home a stranger for what I as the reader assumed would be a tryst, only to discover to my absolute delight that I was entirely wrong, and every time I guessed what would happen next, the book took a new unexpected turn. The Book Eaters is dark, twisty, unpredictable, and enjoyable from beginning to end. I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator was phenomenal; with exactly the right accent, pronounciation and inflections to bring The Book Eaters to life.

I’ll be honest I was hesitant to read this book because I’m not a big fan of horror. I loved it though! This book was so different than anything I’ve ever read before! The only thing that threw me from time to time was the timeline bouncing around a bit. Overall a really great unique book that is perfect for the fall!

The Book Eaters had an interesting storyline. The characters were well fleshed out, and I wanted to know what was going to happen throughout.

I would really love for the author to write a prequel to this explaining how the book eaters came to be, I feel like that would have helped me enjoy the book more.

I started out with the audiobook of this title in which the narration was delightful - for as long as I could deal with the NG app’s deficiencies at sped-up playback, which wasn’t all that long. A shame, the narrator’s accent was beyond perfect for the setting and characters and their tone and inflection unique and enjoyable - if you’re into audiobooks and use another platform to listen to them I’d recommend checking this one out.

The book then: a little adjustment was needed on what this book was really about, after which I enjoyed it more. Dev’s motherly tenacity spoke directly to me and I always appreciate a story that calls out the nature of fairy tales and how they can be used against girls and women. The characters (adored Cai full stop) and the writing impressed me for a debut, though one of the main plot threads and the character tied to them, Devon’s brother Ramsey, reduced my enjoyment a whole lot. His petulance and general attitude severely annoyed me as well as his order’s involvement facilitating chases and fight scenes that rarely work for me in any story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for an eARC of this book!

I enjoyed this book immensely. The characters, the story, the pace and tempo, were top notch. I am an avid reader and thinking about being a species that does not eat food, but eats books to sustain not just my self, but gain knowledge. Just fascinating. As the story begins it seems totally up my alley, but as the story continues and the deeper thoughts into the amount of knowledge that be gate kept simply by restricting the types of books you can eat. Mind Blown. Devon is raised to believe she a princess, her diet is limited, and she is "raised" to be docile and fed a steady diet of fairy tales, so she can be princess. She is raised to know that someday she will be married off to a family to have 1 child and then another, both eventually taken away from her. Its an okay practice by idea, but not in practice. She has one daughter, who she comes to realize will experience the same docile and coddled lifestyle that she was raised in will eventually happen to her daughter in a species with fewer and fewer daughters and growing further out of touch with a very changing world. She is forcibly removed from her daughter and married off to another family, where she once again becomes pregnant, only to have her newborn son be a mindeater instead of bookeater. Her son can not live on books, but rather must consume and learn through eating brains. Devon knows she must make a plan to save her son at any cost, and break out of this patriarchal society that will on starve her of life and her family. In the post book chat between the author and the narrator they discuss how this is really a very new take on vampirism. This was an excellent book, I highly recommend.

Dean absolutely stuns with this enigmatically compelling and thrilling debut. Book eating comes to life within this story, incorporating the patriarchy at its worst. I love that we get a glimpse of Eater physiology and the different flavours of books, making this tale even more engrossing.

The Book Eaters do not know for sure where they come from, but they definitely have a grasp of what to do to survive and how to keep their species going. With women being born few and far between, the Families begin a contractual arrangement where the women are entered into 'advantageous' marriages until progeny is produced and if they are girls, gratitude and prestige follow, and then they are shuffled off to the next husband.

Devin grows up on fairy tales and flighty stories, nothing of substance that could engender a sense of self or the world, to keep her under the thumb of her family. But her first child fires a desire for more, for freedom, and she will do what it takes to be with her child.

The Book Eaters captivates as it winds back and forth between past, present, and history, creating a world that mirrors ours even as ingenious devices are crafted and used to tell not only of what a mother will do, but also of the maneuverings of families, knights, and the man who threatens their strength and goals. And with ease incorporates ideas of identity, sexuality, immigrant labour and exploitation, personhood, and queerness.

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
Format: Audiobook
Publication Date: August 2, 2022

I always joke that at the rate in which I read books, I don’t just read them, I devour them. In the Book Eaters, devouring books is not a metaphor. There is a species hidden in plain sight, keeping to themselves, who require books for sustenance to survive. Females in this society are rare and as a result, women and specifically procreation, is oversought by the most powerful in the family. Devon is disillusioned by the lifestyle. However, it isn’t until the birth of her second child, one who requires more than just words on paper, that she starts to really rattle the cage in which she has been placed. While her child might seem like the real monster, devouring minds, the real monsters are those in charge. 

I’m not sure what it was that I was expecting when I picked this up. It just sounded like a really interesting concept but this book exceeded expectations in every way. It was more than just a fantasy story, it was a blending of feminism, horror, politics, and magical realism. It is just this strange little genre bending book that managed to feel like nothing I have ever read before. I loved the exploration of motherhood and how far a mother will go to protect and nurture her child, even at the expense of her own safety and comfort. 

The audiobook narrator, Katie Erich, really brought this story to life for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillian Audio for an advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

This gothic-like fantasy novel describes the culture of beings who nourish themselves with books and thereby absorb knowledge. The story becomes outright creepy with the subset of beings who survive on eating minds. Like all female book eaters, Devon, the main character, is required to marry twice for procreation purposes and is not permitted to raise her two children. Additionally, Devon has the misfortune of birthing a mind eater.

There is much to praise in this novel - excellent writing, world building, development of the story, the two timelines, and the messages around love, motherhood, and female independence to name a few.

However, I never could quite stomach the creep factor. I found much of the resolution predictable and was anxious to finish this book but not loving to listen to it. This is a book for those who love the truly weird and strange.

Note that the narrator’s British accent was difficult to understand at times for my American ears. I needed to borrow a print version to check what I’d heard, and it took a long time for me to feel comfortable speeding it up to my preferred rate.

Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC of the audio version in exchange for an honest review.

Book eaters is a very unique, multiple timeline, dark urban fantasy that discusses a lot of important issues such as parent child relationships, misogyny, and sexual identity in an engaging way. I recommend going into this mostly blind, it really added to the reading experience for me. Really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to a reread in the future!

An unputdownable fantasy adventure that turns the princess fairy tale upside down. Narrated with authenticity and reverence, the author spins a modern bedtime story to scare the breath out of any reader while engaging with the power of words and legends. The Book Eaters explores the mystery and awe of storytelling and revels in the ferocity of motherhood. Highly recommended for readers of urban fantasy and horror as well as literary mysteries.

This novel really grabbed me from the beginning, an interesting take on a 21st century fairy tale where the "princess" protagonist is not driven by her love of her man but her love for her son. If I had a criticism, towards the end, some of the momentum slowed because of the amount of flashbacks/plans within plans, but otherwise a solid read. I will certainly be interested in what Sunyi Dean writes next.

And unlike some of the other reviews here, I really enjoyed the voice acting and did not struggle at all with the accent. Thanks so much for the review copy!

This book is a new take on creatures similar to vampires but not like any I’ve read before. THE BOOK EATERS by Sunyi Dean, narrated by Katie Erich.

Dev is a Book Eater, which means she must consume books in order to live, much like humans consume food. Book Eaters look just like humans except for when their book teeth come out as the chew through their meals. And since it’s biologically impossible for them to read and write, they absorb the knowledge contained in the books they eat. They live in very secluded, patriarchal families and the women are pretty much seen as breeders. Dev has been forced to have children that are taken away from her at a very young age. When she has her son she does everything she can to escape with him. Every about the world outside the gates is only known to her by the books she’s been given to eat, and fairy tales haven’t prepared her for it at all.

This was a great story and the narrator for the audiobook was amazing! I won’t say this is a LGBTQ+ centric story but it is inclusive and that was nice considering the families were extremely patriarchal. 5 stars! Highly recommended!! Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the gift of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This was an interesting concept and new (at least for me) on vampires. Characters were well written and story was developed decently. I could have used more information on the various families. Overall and enjoyable listen.

📚 📖The Book Eaters 📖📚

📕 Synopsis: As readers we love the smell of a good book, but we don’t bare fangs and devour them. Set in Yorkshire Moors, this gothic horror asks the question…How far will you go for the one you love?

An underground network of six families has an unusual trait, they eat books to survive. Once the book is eaten, the book eater retains all the knowledge from inside. Even more rare than a book eater, is that they can parent a mind eater. With a thin, tubelike tongue, they feed off the minds of humans, absorbing the personalities and memories of those they consume.

Devon knows she must break free of this life and her family to save her son. What are the limits of undying love? What is she willing to sacrifice?

🖊Published August 2, 2020

🤔Review: i couldn’t have written a more perfect book. The world created by author Sunyi Dean was IMPECCABLE. The network of six families of book eaters, how they must carefully intermarry to avoid genetic mutations. The descriptions of what each book tastes like to an eater….perfection. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book with so much detail that didn’t interrupt the flow of the story with descriptions. Little details sprinkled in show the creativity of Sunyi Dean, like only feeding child book eaters fairy tails, until their old enough for mature content. Brilliant.

Mind eaters are like modern twist on vampires. Having each mind eater absorb the memories of those eaten, wow. Also, brilliant.

The only wish i had for this was there was more backstory. I’m hoping for a part 2, but I’ll settle for a prequel!! How did the book eaters come about?

First I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and author for allowing me an early listen to this audiobook. This is such an ingenious audiobook. The whole concept is so different than any other book I have read. The author’s creativity was brilliant. The location is unique, the characters are divergent bringing the story to life in such a pleasant way. I would’ve never thought something like this.
The only downside is that I think if I would have read the book physically rather listen to the ARC audio version I would’ve given this a five star review. However, because of NetGalley the audiobook has a slight robotic sound on all of their narrators, It was hard for me to understand/fully enjoy the book. From the ending it does sound like there may be a part two, which I look forward to reading or hopefully listening to if it does happen. Great book for fiction readers.

DNF at 54%.
It's really unfortunate that I couldn't get through this one. I Just felt really bored and the story felt like it wasn't really going anywhere.

I'm blown away.

Horror/Fantasy is possibly my favourite intersection of the literary world, and this has just the right balance.
The world-building of the Families and the Book Eater universe hidden away from human knowledge was super well done, and given to the reader in good bursts without overwhelming the action.

The characters were believable, relatable, and despicable in perfect amounts.
The perfect moment was the one between Devon and Cai <spoiler> when they're shopping and he bugs her about 'her girlfriend' </spoiler> and they are just a cute mother-son having a moment and it was so sweet and real.

The narrator does a stellar job, immersive and with good emphasis when changing 'voices'.

Downside? This book is sooooooo long, I was starting to struggle at about the 3/4 mark because it felt like the plot had slowed way down, both in the present and flashback chapters, and the action had been building nicely until that point. But the ending more than made up for it!

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for access to the Audiobook ARC.

This is a beautiful story of a mother's struggle to balance her duty with the love of her children. The premise of this book is so fascinating and intriguing! An entire underground society of creatures who live on stories. exploring this world was very fun. Specifically we follow the story of one book eater over her life as a young child through adulthood. As an audiobook I did struggle with it a little bit. The narrators northern English accent was a little hard for me to understand at times and the narrative bounces between time periods which could be hard to follow as well. If you are able to, I'd recommend reading this physically rather than audiobook.