Book Review: The Book Eaters

I’ll be honest: judged this book hard by its cover. Look at it. Look how cozy it looks. How literary. I have never been more delighted to be more wrong in my life. This book is action-packed. It is deep. Above all, it is pleasantly and unapologetically weird. I went in blind, on a family member’s recommendation, expecting something like a historical fiction drama about the power of storytelling or something in that lane. This is not that. At all. Here’s a hint: The title is far more literal than you would expect.

The Basics:

Title: The Book eaters
Author: Sunyi Dean
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Literary, Drama
Published: Tor, 2022

Spoiler-Free Summary:

Devon and her son Kai are book eaters: A reclusive almost-human cryptid species which can only live by consuming books. They cannot stomach human food. Believe her, Devon has tried. To avoid all the unpleasantness which would inevitably come with discovery, book eaters live in a sequestered parallel world, hiding in plain sight by interacting with humanity as little as possible. Theirs is a painfully patriarchal world – with a feudal structure of small clans where the women are treated as little more than breeding stock: Their marriages are arranged, they stay with their husband’s clan only long enough to bear a child, and then are forcibly moved back to their home as soon as the child is weaned. This cycle repeats three times, before the woman is allowed to retire to a life of mundane leisure, her service to the clan complete.

Devon went through that pain once before, with her daughter. She won’t risk it again with Kai. Not when he’s a rare and dangerous hybrid known as a mind eater (book eaters eat books, mind eaters eat… well. You get it.). She takes her son and flees before he is taken from her.

Devon lives on the run, doing what she must to keep her young son alive. She is at the end of her hope and strength when a rebellious maverick clan offers her a chance she cannot ignore: The slim possibility of a ‘cure’ (of sorts) for Kai, and a normal life for herself.

Why You’ll Love This Book:

Do you love sympathy for monsters and shades-of-gray tough decisions? Are you a parent who wonders how far they would really go to protect their child if push came to shove? You will love this deeply moving, well-developed story of devotion and hard decisions.

Despite the delicious, multi-layered drama, The Book Eaters is far from a navel-gazing literary think-piece. It keeps page-turning thriller pacing going throughout as Devon fights to protect herself and her son from those who would exploit them. There are shoot-outs, chase scenes, and all-out brawls.

It’s hard to find an original idea in fantasy and sci-fi. If you read a lot, it can feel like you’ve seen it all after a while. So, I was delighted by the out-of-the-box worldbuilding Dean deftly weaves into this fascinating tale.

Read it. Seriously.

Where Can You Find More?

You know where to find books, I don’t tell you that anymore. Follow the author’s latest updates at her website.

Happy Reading, folks.

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