I figured I would love The Book Eaters. But I was not prepared for how much. This is a book about motherhood, about agency, and about socialization. All with a fantastic magical premise. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book’s content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.
Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales and cautionary stories.
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.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW: rape, child abuse
The Book Eaters is an action packed emotional tour de force. Beginning as a story about motherhood and sacrifice. About what we would do to take care of the ones we love. It quickly morphs into a book about socialization, sexism, and agency. The magic world building idea is unique and thoughtful from the very first moments. How books serve as a symbol for the stories we are told, forced to learn as truths. All the ways we can control our society, lives, and families via books.
On the reverse side, The Book Eaters is a testament to the importance of imagination, possibilities, and stories. To illustrate that we can be limited by what we think of the world. The options that are present to us. But that once we can foresee a new opportunity, a new ending, our lives transform. My heart broke for Devon throughout the entire book. To the ways her decisions, her bodily control, her love is held against her. As a methods of control.
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The Book Eaters manages to be both a book that inspires rage and also inspiration and hope. It showcases the ways our lives are so deeply written into our desires and wants – so that one toe out of line becomes sanction. The importance of the ability to see a different ending. If you’re looking for a rich and moving adult fantasy that will make you scream, shed a tear, and celebrate, you have to read The Book Eaters. Find The Book Eaters on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.