A powerful story of overwhelming mother love, as something both powerful and potentially horrific. It’s a book that delves into the need to survive even when a system is built to break you or determined to crush you; a powerful queer story about difference that refuses to flinch away from difficult choices or the impact of trauma, both generational and inflicted. Readers will devour this compelling, rich fantasy."— Booklist, starred review Dean’s unputdownable debut gives the phrase “voracious reader” a new, very literal meaning ... The fascinating magic system, impeccable and unusual worldbuilding, and well-shaded characters will keep readers riveted through every twist of this wild ride."— Publishers Weekly, starred review This is not the first novel I've written, only the first I managed to get published, and I did not start out in short fiction — I only began writing shorts a couple of years ago. The "read" dates are roughly the amount of time it took to write, revise, and hand in my completed edits on it. I'm super slow, sorry! I wrote this book while crawling through a very difficult period of my life, and though it is far from perfect I am still really happy to have seen it across the finish line. 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.

But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.

We consume and store and collect all forms of paper flesh as the Creator created us to do, clothed as we are in the skin of humankind. But we do not read, and we cannot write.”

A secret species of people, who may or may not be of alien lineage, live amongst us in relative peace and isolation in grand old castles. They look like humans, they talk like humans, but they are not human. Most of their kind are born with book teeth and eat our literature for sustanance, absorbing the words as knowledge. Others are born with probiscus tongues and are referred to as "mind eaters" or dragons. They feed on human essence and absorb their victims memories and personalities. Al pasar a la edad adulta, debe enfrentarse a la vida de opulencia, matrimonios concertados y una maternidad forzada para la que ha sido preparada.

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The Book Eaters is a feast of a story, with an aperitif of supernatural mystery, an amuse-bouche of family politics, three courses of contemporary Gothic horror, a vintage bottle of vengeance and a well-earned finale where diners get their just desserts. Atmospheric, gripping and profoundly moving, The Book Eaters is a 2022 new release to watch out for!! Told with gorgeous, effortless prose and exploring themes of motherhood, identity and sacrifice. It can be at times brutal and heart-breaking but ultimately leaves you with a feeling of hope and an emphasis on the importance of chosen family and love. The Book Eaters is my first Dark Fantasy read and I didn't even realize it. I went in thinking this was Dystopian Fiction and boy was I way off. This is called Dark Fantasy for a reason. It's atmospheric and bleak, with equal parts disturbing and horrific. And, by the way, books aren't the only thing some of these characters eat.

There exists a group of people in Northern England whose sustenance is the written word; they live off eating books and retain the knowledge from the texts they consume. Devon is one of these people, born and raised in a society where women are few and are protected at all costs, even to their detriment. She’s raised on a diet of fairytales and happy endings, but as she grows older, she realizes that these books are far from reality. As she struggles with the realities of her life, she begins to wonder if it’s possible to break free from what she’s always known.Cliche magic school failure boy who is a genius in theory with no power finds a parasitic magical OP object that grants him abilities, he promptly runs around and has everything go his way: facing off against those who looked down on him, showing up teachers, beating school bully A, having support thrown at him casually by a trusted one, knowing exactly what to do and handling it all with a stoic "yes, this is fine" expression the entire time. This book is SEVERELY deceptive in its marketing. If I were to describe it, it would be a mix of Midsommar (a red flag right there, as far as I'm concerned) and The Handmaid's Tale with a bit of Sophie's Choice thrown in the mix. The book-eating element is completely irrelevant to the story, which is a shame because the premise itself is very interesting and, quite frankly, the main selling point (just read the summary). The overall impression I got is that Book Eaters is a very heavy-handed metaphor of literally any weird secluded oppressive cult you can find anywhere in the world, because the MO is usually the same as the one described in this story. The themes in this book were really on point and well explored. I loved seeing the insight into book eater culture and how the mind eaters are treated as monsters and the politics within the book eater world to control them. One of the Families has a substance called redemption which means mind eaters can eat books to survive but they are beholden to this one family having a monopoly. There is also a lot of discussion around religious fanaticism (but not actual religion more just an allegory) and the world of the book eaters is very cult-like and Devon journey and emotions in escaping them definitely has parallels with people in real life who have escaped cults. Growing up, there had only been the Six Families, scattered across different regions of Britain. Devon’s family was the Fairweathers, whose North Yorkshire estate was wedged between low-lying hills and wild moorland. Uncle Aike was the patriarch of their manor because he was the wisest, even though he was not the oldest. Under him were a succession of other aunts and uncles ranging from barely adult to discreetly ancient. Writing wise the book was good. I did not have any problems following it. I think there were a lot of genres mashed up together in this book: It is an adult fantasy book, the story is mostly a thriller one with elements of horror (I thought I was the only one who got those vibes but 162 users shelved it as horror on GR so I think it is true).