Book Eaters are an ancient and secretive people living throughout England who eat books to absorb information. Inhuman and closed off, the five book eater Families have few daughters, so in order to continue their bloodlines these daughters are kept like princesses and mandated to have children. These children are meant to be taken from the mothers and raised by the Family, removed from the knowledge of who carried them.
But Devon loves her daughter, and soon realizes being a princess to the Families means being less than a person. When she can’t protect her daughter, she vows to stay with her second child, Cai, a dangerous mind-eater son. No one in the world will love him like Devon will, and she will do whatever it takes to protect him, and free them both from the Families.
Writer Sunni Dean blends fairytale fantasy and realism to create an eerie but heartbreakingly gritty atmosphere throughout the novel. Devon was raised as a princess by a vampiric, secluded culture. Her past is told alongside passages from fairytales and mythologies, while her present takes place on dark streets, in bars at odd hours, as she lures priests and drunk philanderers back to her apartment for Cai to feed on. Dean’s writing does not shy away from the brutality of the feeding, or of Devon’s treatment as a “princess” meant only to marry and produce children. The magic in the story feels real and enticing, and Devon’s grief even more so. Cai’s pain, as a child forced to feed on human minds, is beautifully written. His unique character is both childlike and too old at once as he questions what it means to be a monster. The reader is easily pulled into the realities of this family’s struggles, even as the struggles are fantastical.
Book Eaters depicts realistic and charming characters throughout while exploring themes of motherhood and identity, as Devon (and most of the main cast) also discover freedom and comfort in Queer identity. In a story about the hardest parts of motherhood and loss, the challenges of defining yourself in a world that doesn’t want you to, this is also a story confident in the necessity and strength of love. Devon repeats a lesson she learned throughout her life, throughout the many painful sacrifices she has made: “Love has no cost. Love is a choice.” She and her chosen family decide it is a choice worth making over and over again. The writing doesn’t overstate its theme, but lets this message be felt naturally. I have been thinking about Devon’s words since I finished the book. I hope this lesson more than anything sticks with you after you’ve read this deeply immersive novel.
