I should have known from the book description that I was going to stumble through this one...but being the stubborn individual that I am, I refused to stop reading. So, I will say to begin with that the 2.5-star rating wasn't really any fault of the story or the author...it was just that I didn't "get it" and truthfully, I don't think I really cared enough to try. At the start of the story the main character, Devon, is on the run with her son Cai, who had been born a "Mind Eater", in the present day, carrying out some… extremely morally acts on the "gray' side. We are slowing "drip fed" the past throughout the entire story. It became confusing, as if I wasn't confused enough to start with by interchanging past and present chapters. We learn quickly that Devon will do anything to look after her son's wellbeing. Her "mother of the year looking after" borders on a lot of highly questionable acts. Devon is a 'book-enter". It seems that these "people (?) thrive and survive off of the ink, paper and words of the books they eat.... yes...REALLY EAT. Strange??? Do you think???. The women who are born as book eaters are only supposed to keep their young for a few years and not form any kind of bond with them. There is a bit of the "gay lifestyle" in this story also, which I didn't get at all, and I read a lot of M/M romances. I would consider the story to be a kind of hybrid fantasy/horror. It has won or has been nominated for numerous awards including the NPR Best Sci Fi, Fantasy, & Speculative Fiction Book of 2022, A Goodreads Best Fantasy Choice Award Nominee & A Library Journal Best Book of 2022. I guess if we all liked the same thing there would never be enough to go around and that includes our choice of reading material:) ( )

Slightly disappointed that eating books didn't really play a large role in the story. A more appropriate title would have been Mind Eaters since while the story is from a book eaters perspective the "eviler" version, mind eaters, are so much more relevant. In fact, Devon could have been human and not much would have changed in the story.

Fine book, but misleading title made me not be quite so thrilled about it in the end. ( )

I started this book and could put it down until I finished it. So I devoured it just like the characters in this book eat books. I hope there is another book because I think the author created a fascinating magical horror world, and I’d love to learn more about these book eaters. ( )

This book is a darkly incredible foray into abuse that has trickled down from past generations to the future ones. I couldn’t help but identify with Devon’s struggle to break the cycle with her own son Cai, especially with her lamenting when she fails to live up to the person she wants to be—a role-model she never had, trying to create a better world for her son than the one she grew up in.

This is a contemporary fantasy that takes place in England, but it’s split storyline. While the present-day Devon’s storyline takes place in or near present-day, there’s also another storyline with her younger self in childhood, and the way the two are woven together is absolutely masterfully done. Dark, terrible things happen to Devon bringing her to her present-day quest to save her son, but they aren’t lingered on or described in detail. Instead, the reader is distanced from the events as Devon distances herself from what happens, as a way to survive.

I loved the way the culture of the Book Eaters was explored and revealed, with its struggle to stay unknown in a modern world that moves increasingly fast. I also appreciated the way dark subjects were dealt with, neither glorifying or shockingly, but also without shying away from them: things like emotional abuse and its effects, sexual assault, and physical abuse.

Devon was raised as a princess, punished only by being forced to eat dictionary pages instead of fairy tales, but with the full expectation that once she was grown she would fulfill her duty and give two other Families a child each, after which she could come back home and do as she pleased.

But Devon’s son is a mind eater. To the Family, mind eaters are monsters who must be shut away and quelled firmly by Knights who are trained in how to break their spirits and “train” them to obey. Devon’s not about to let that happen to her son, though.

The only way to save her son is to secure him a drug that will allow him to eat books instead of minds. A drug that has become impossible to find in recent years. Impossible, however, is merely a suggestion for Devon.


CW: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual assault, body horror, gore, explicit violence, domestic abuse, violence against children


I was given a copy of this book, but that has not affected my review to the best of my knowledge. ( )

So I didn’t know what to expect from this book going in. But I was so intrigued by the premise - a secret race of humanoids that survive off books and minds? So interesting! I thought I would fly through this, being less than 300 pages long.

It took me 2 weeks to finish, and while I lost interest around the 50% mark, I am stubborn and wanted to finish the book so I could give a more complete review. A lot of the story was very, very slow and I had to come back to it several times to get through it. The story felt like it was heavy on worldbuilding and light on plot/characterization (for anyone other than the MC). I also had no idea where the story was going until the last 20% or so, and not in a good way.

I did enjoy the worldbuilding and it was fascinating reading about the English and Irish towns. The author did a great job with this and made you feel as if you were really in the setting. I also liked and sympathized with the main character, Devon, I didn’t feel very drawn to her. I struggled to get a clear picture of who she was.

It’s told in 2 timelines, one where Devon is an adult and the second where she is a child, and progressive chapters show her growing older and then the two timelines converge at the end.

This was an ok read for me, but it might just not be my cup of tea. ( )