This is a book I would have expected me to put on the holds list from ages ago. I have been staring at this cover for months, trying to remember what it was about and refusing to look up the synopsis because it felt like cheating. And I’m not mad about going into it as blind as I did!
We follow Devon, a young Book Eater woman. Through her past, we see that Book Eaters are a dying breed of supernatural creatures that look human but eat books if they are lucky, or eat minds if they are not. Those that devour minds instead, they are consigned to being essentially attack dogs to maintain the order that the Book Eaters have created, where women are sent to assigned marriages to create new children who they will never be allowed to see again once they are weened. In the present, we see Devon trying desperately to find a way to keep her mind eater son alive and out of the life she was raised in, knowing what awaits him there.
It’s a complicated premise that was a bit difficult to grasp at first, but the way the story works out it did end up clear by the end how the world worked. This is a really great way to have a lot of exposition without it feeling like an info dump. I do wish I had been eased into the world a little more slowly at times, but ultimately it ended up being well paced and gave me everything I needed to know at the time, even if I wanted to know more.
I really enjoyed the story, as well as the characters as they unraveled throughout the story. A woman in a seemingly impossible situation trying to do what’s best for her son, and the people who both help and harm her along the way. The world and worldbuilding is genuinely interesting, even if the themes get pretty depressing as you find out more about how Devon is being screwed over by the society she’s been born into.
Overall, definitely check it out if you’re looking for something a little darker and you can’t decide whether you want something more historical or more modern. It will give you both, from princesses in castles to a high stakes coup to free yourself of the trappings of all of that.