Rep: sapphic MC, sapphic SC, asexual SC, disabled Indian-British SC

The concept of this book is really cool and creative. Devon’s whole family are secluded human looking creatures who eat books and gain the knowledge inside them. Girls in The Family are rare and highly sought after. But they are highly controlled and have very secluded lives. Their main goal is to have kids, who in turn are whisked away from them after a few years, to never be seen again. Devon’s first child is a girl book eater. Her second is a boy mind eater. Instead of craving books, he craves people’s minds.

This book is told in multiple timelines. It jumps throughout the years to explain the story and how Devon got to the place she is now and why she’s doing the things she is. This leaves you on edge wanting to know what happened all those years ago. Things slowly unravel and are explained until we catch up to the present.

The story is such an interesting concept and has a very fascinating world. I’d say The Family are similar to vampires. How they are so secluded, rarely interact with humans and aren’t entirely human, more so creatures feeding off of humans. It’s really cool how they gain all the knowledge from the books they eat. They gain different information from each genre, and they even taste different. They can also learn new languages by reading a book, or have a better understanding of geography by reading maps.

Of course the women are only allowed to eat certain books, mostly fairytales and cautionary stories. It’s a way to control them so they don’t know any better of the real world and realize how they’re being treated and try to escape, which Devon tries to do a few times. This book has a lot of social commentary that can apply today, especially with how men control women.

The mind readers are also really cool.
<spoiler> I did not expect them to gain the knowledge of the minds they ate. That’s really interesting. Because eating minds wasn't terrifying enough lol It gets a bit weird when one consumes a lot of minds over their lifetime, as they all start to merge together and sometimes take over the host. </spoiler>

Devon is such a passionate character. She immediately bonds with her children and will do anything she has to to protect them. She doesn’t always succeed, and most times it would be way easier for her to just give up, but her love is too strong.

Loved the ace rep! I love seeing ace rep in books, as its so rare and often times not done very well. Here though, the character explains it well and its accepted. I wish we saw more of his character. He really helped her through tough times in her life.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book

I was hooked on this book from the opening chapter. It was creepy and a bit horrifying, and I just knew I wanted to know about this woman and the reasons for the choice she made. The stunning prose and rich characterization kept me entranced as this incredibly unique tale unfolded.

I loved the structure of the story. It had a split timeline similar to the structure in The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons, which I also really enjoyed. The chapters alternated between the past and the present until the narratives came together in the end, and it was a fascinating way to slowly reveal the motivations of the characters while keeping the story moving forward at a good pace.

This felt like a very personal story. Despite setting a great backdrop of inter-family drama and a complex society, the story largely focused on how those things influenced the character of Devon. I enjoy a great epic fantasy as much as the next person, but I loved that this story was more about the effects of all the drama on one person, rather than having explicit focus on all the machinations of the families. It brought a level of visceral emotion to the story that I don't think would have been possible if the author had taken a wider lens.

The book also explored quite a few powerful themes. At its heart, this was the story of a mother's love and the lengths she would go to protect her children. This led to some very interesting ethical dilemmas. The story also acted as a strong critique of the patriarchy and illustrated the negative impacts on women when society views them as objects or commodities. Furthermore, it showed the power of the media we consume in shaping how we approach the world, including desensitizing us to systems based in oppression by framing them as 'normal' or 'ideal.' In general, the characters were realistic, morally grey individuals doing their best to survive in a system that exploited most of them in some way. I enjoyed the ending a lot, as well. It was realistic with a good balance of hopefulness and disappointment, much like real life.

The narrator did a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life. There was a ton of nuance to the performance, and I could tell the difference in the age of Devon by how the narrator read her. The audiobook also had an interview at the end with the author and narrator, which was a treat to hear.

Overall, this was one of my favorite books of the year so far. I'll definitely be adding a hard copy to my shelves at some point because I absolutely want to read it again. The audiobook was fantastic with a brilliant narrator, though. So, if audiobooks are your thing, you can't go wrong with this one! Therefore, I rate this audiobook 5 out of 5 stars.

First, as a librarian, the concept of people eating books and absorbing them is fantastic and what drew me to trying this book! In my job it is good to have titles on the tip of your brain, not for Devon's son Cai, but to be able to recommend a wide range of genres to readers. While I don't typically count myself as a fantasy fan, I enjoyed listening to this dark and moody, creepily good story of Devon and her quest to save her son amid different kinds of monsters, fantastical and human, and also the story I wasn't expecting between Devon and Hester. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Tor for allowing me an early listen and I look forward to recommending this book!

I was so excited about this book. but it feel flat for me. I loved the idea, but I felt like trying to mix them in the real world made it more difficult to accept than if they lived in their own world.

• Dark Fantasy
• Fairytale
• Multiple Timelines

This is a dark fantasy where Devon is part of a secluded family of book eaters. Women eat fairytales and are told that their lives are blessed. Devon believes it until her son is born. Instead of craving books, he craves something much darker, human minds.

Reading this book was fascinating. The twists and turns, the not knowing who to trust, kept me on the edge of my seat. Devon’s dedication to her son is powerful and all encompassing. She really is a great example of parenting (even if it is a mind eater). The Book Eaters is my favorite read this month, but maybe even this year!

#TheBookEaters #SunyiDean #NetGalley #AudioARC #TorBooks #MacmillanAudio #ARC #Audiobook #BookReview

<i>Thank you to Sunyi Dean, Tor Books and Macmillan Audio for the Audio ARC in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley.<i>

Now THIS is how you write a book.

The Book Eaters is a dark fantasy story with a bookish twist on vampires, and exactly what I didn't know I wanted to read. The story is unflinching and dark, playing with a bit of horror while exploring gender roles, family ties, and societal systems. Sunyi Dean proves from the first chapter that she won't pull punches, and convinced me immediately that any character might be killed at any time. What a fantastic change from "suspenseful" stories where characters' wellbeing is never really in question!

While some stories struggle to jump back and forth meaningfully in a timeline, Dean nails this. Flashbacks aren't just filling in little details - they are a meaningful part of the story unfolding. Rarely do I find myself loving both current and past storylines the way I did here.

The only quibble I have is with the audio narration. I appreciate how much extra effort went into carefully selecting a narrator! and the northern accent is a nice surprise. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the lack of energy or the single voice for all characters. In dialogue sequences, I regularly found myself confused about which character was speaking a particular line.

I'm so happy to have found a new favorite, and very excited for what Sunyi Dean will do next!

Wow. You think you are reading a sci-fi/fantasy book, and very early in you understand you are reading a valuable, perceptive, impactful allegory about the world in which women live, and have lived, for eternity.

This debut novel by Sunyi Dean is a homerun. I wouldn’t label it as sci-fi, as it is listed by Macmillan Audio on Netgalley. This is speculative fiction at its best. This is the story of women with no importance other than as breeders. As a citizen of the United States in 2022, I feel every bit of this tale.

Suspend belief and accept that the characters in this novel eat books and gain the knowledge, emo, lessons told in their choice of written word. The few girls in the book eating society are fed fairy tales and cautionary tales and absorb the “wisdom” of those works. There are strong families within the story and Devon, the main character is a Fairweather but she is also a forceful mama bear determined to feed her child who, unfortunately, is not a book eater, but a human brain eater. I know, right? There is a lot to unpack in this story. It is deep. It is poetic. It makes you think.

This is not a beach read. It’s not a quick read. As an audio book its about 13 ½ hours which is long to retain a listener’s attention. The words are magic. The idea behind the words is scarily perceptive. I am excited to have found Dean at, hopefully, the beginning of a long career as an author.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for making me use my brain and allowing me to listen in advance of the August 2, 2022 release.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

If you're looking for something that's extremely unique, this is definitely the book for you! I absolutely loved the world and how unsettling it was. It was like it wanted to be horror, but then you realized how closely everything mirrored our own society and that made it even more unsettling. I loved the way that Dev really overcame her world and saved herself. Despite growing up on fairy tales, she didn't sit around and wait for her prince. It was really refreshing to see that kind of tackling of society.

I will say that the first bit of this book was hard for me to get through. I felt like I had no idea what was going on and had no direction to look toward. But the further I got in, the more sucked in I became! I ended up absolutely needing to know what was going to happen to Dev. The alternating timelines also really helped suck me in because I needed to know what was going to happen in each of them.

If you're a lover of all things uncanny, definitely check this book out! It will leave you thinking about society while also wishing you really were reading horror!

The Book Eaters was my most anticipated fantasy of the year as somebody who rarely reads from the genre, and I'm sad to say I found it aggressively average despite the intriguing title.

I enjoyed how accessible the story was: this was an urban fantasy, meaning our modern world is still the backdrop, but with a magical layer weaved into it. Since I don't read fantasy often, this is pretty much the only way I can get through fantasy books, and at no point was I confused about the magical system and society. The author also did a great job of separating each character with distinct personalities and scenes, so I was never confused about which character was which, which is the other major drawback I have from many fantasy stories.

However, I had a really hard time getting into the story and caring about the characters. While I found the main character to be really compelling, I also found that due to the lack of meaningful interactions she has with other characters, especially positive interactions, I was bored with her story and thought it got a bit repetitive. I would have liked, for example, more relationship building between her and Hester, as well as her cousin (? I can't remember exactly who he was) that gave her the gameboy. I found what listed relationship development scenes the main character had with others to be so compelling, and I wanted more from that to keep my interest.

I was also a bit underwhelmed by the social commentary that actually comes out of the novel. The idea of people who can consume and memorize books and /minds/ via eating was so interesting, and I expected lots of layered commentary to come with it, but found the book lacked it. I think, while the author did give some commentary, the sociological aspect of the book had a lot of untapped potential which was disappointing.

I was really excited to read this but I am kind of on the fence on whether or not I am liking it. I love the idea of the story with people who eat books and can retain the knowledge. As well as a select amount of people being able to eat other humans minds. I do think this would Read better as an e-book or physical book instead of an audiobook. I feel like there are parts that I had to keep rewinding to understand what was going on in the story. The narrator was great and added a lot of life to the characters there were just some parts that felt a little strange to be read aloud. There were also some things that were kind of just dropped in and then rarely mentioned again. Things that felt like important in crucial but were kind of glossed over.
I also loved the dark and bad vibes of a lot of this book. This is definitely a story about what a mother would do to save her child. We get to see Devon as she tries over and over again to help her mind eater child Even going so far too find victims for him. .

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing me with this audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Book Eaters follows Devon, a mother, and a book eater. Book eaters are a race of people who are able to consume books and absorb and retain the knowledge or the stories from those books. Each type of book provides different sensation depending on the genre or content. While book eaters are able to adapt to normal human behavior, and conceal their unique ability, there are those, like Devon’s son, born with a much more terrifying hunger. A hunger for minds.

The premise of this story is what made me so excited to read this book. How awesome would it be to be able to obtain knowledge by eating the written word? (Assuming it tastes like chocolate and not parchment!) Or to automatically know the lay of the land by consuming a map of a certain area? It’s so unique and imaginative! That’s what makes me so bummed that this book didn’t work for me. While the writing was good, and Dean clearly has a talent for storytelling, I just did not connect with this story, and did not find the characters particularly likeable. The story seemed like it would be much more magical and whimsical than it actually was. It’s pretty dark and, at times, gruesome, and I was not expecting that going in. They were also a few things that just seemed nonsensical to me that just didn’t vibe with the story we were supposed to believe. I think this book will work well for a lot of readers, especially if you know what you’re getting going in, unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.

2/5 Stars 🌟

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me an ARC of the audiobook.

Devon is from a long line of Bookeaters: an acnient race of people who eat books for sustenance. Sometimes, though, Bookeaters are born as something more sinister: mindeaters, who consumer the minds of humans. Devon's son is one such mindeater and they are on the run, trying to avoid a disasterous confrontation with The Family.

This book is so atmospheric and so... weird? I loved it! Devon is a flawed but sympathetic character, and her son Cai is also a character you want to be disgusted by but also empathize with, because he didn't choose to be a mindeater. I really enjoyed the dual timeline that converged at the end to explain the internal politics of Bookeaters in general and Devon's family specifically. I was so rapt with this audiobook and finished in a just a couple days. This is a great fantasy/horror combination that completely sucks you into this sinister society. 4.5 stars

I hate that I'm leaving a bad review on this book. I'd been excited for it since I heard it existed! The premise sounds absolutely fascinating, almost immediately mythical. It's the sort of plot that you can't believe hasn't been done a million times before. Book eaters gaining knowledge through eating books! It's a good hook, for sure.

Sadly that was where it lost me. The premise is as great as I hoped it would be, but the story it's stuck with is generic fantasy. There are different factions, they hate each other, it's all very archaic and medieval, etc etc etc. After the 10% mark the book might as well have been about vampires or ghouls or Insert Generic Monster Here. It's not bad, the writing shows promise, and I feel like the author has a lot of potential, but for this specific book the experience was disappointing.

Also I hope her next book has a different narrator. This one was just awful. She reads absolutely everything at the same clip, with the same inflection. Dialogue sounds the same as scene description which sounds like the quotes that open each chapter. She's always at a seven in terms of intensity, which is either way too much or not enough depending on what's happening. The end result is that it mixes the story into a dull hum of white noise. Also "coup" is not pronounced "coop." I actually looked it up because hey, maybe it's a British thing, but no. She says "coop," and she says it a LOT.

"You are my monster and I am yours".

Wow, where to start? Amazing story and a great new take on the vampire type monsters. But this is also an exhilarating story of motherhood and the lengths a mother will go to protect her children.

Although the depictions of "The Families" is reminiscence of Victorian or older society there are still alot of social commentary that can apply today. Especially, regarding what info women are given to "consune" and lack of choices in their own lives because of the roles one is expected to take.

Devon is a great character to follow and to root for even when she has to make impossible choices. I enjoyed the duel time lines and the inserts of the book written about the history of book eaters sprinkled in. No doubt I will be rereading this one soon.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced audiobook for review.

Well this was an interesting story! We get many themes here - danger, motherhood, different cultures, religion….so much and it’s all wrapped up in an incredible fantasy world that meets up with our world. This book features Book Eaters, Mind Eaters and the occasional human. The book eaters eat books and absorb their content. Mind eaters feed on the minds of others (literally) and absorb in aspects of their personality when they do. There is a medicine that stops this craving and keeps them functioning - but when it’s no longer manufactured, it gets real complicated for several people.

We follow a mother trying to save her son. She makes some friends that help her along the way. She faces many obstacles but no matter what she refuses to give up on saving her son. It’s an amazing story of the power of women - mothers especially.

Thanks to NetGalley I was able to listen to the audiobook and it was fantastic. The narrator did a great job sucking me into the story and the voices of the characters were amazing.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved this darkly supernatural fantasy. In fact, it’s the best book of this genre I’ve listened to in a very long time. The characters were well written and everything about this just works. Throw in the fairytale aspect, and I’m all in.! The narration for the audiobook was superb.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of this unique and darkly magical book. This is my unbiased review.