The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“It’s not a question of worth, or cost... I have always done the best that I can for the people that I loved. There’s nothing else that anyone can do.”


I spent the entire time reading this debating whether I found it four- or three-star worthy (admittedly, not a healthy way to read a book). On one hand, I loved the story’s originality, and I thought the writing was delicious. On the other hand, I had several idiosyncratic issues with parts of the worldbuilding and fixated on minor things I disliked. (I’ve recently decided this is a recurring personal problem while reading fantasy. It’s honestly just a me issue.)

Ultimately, I decided to give this book three stars for the stupidest reason which has nothing to do with the narrative or the writing. There is a misattributed quote at the beginning of one of the chapters claiming to be from Frankenstein. Quote misattribution is neither uncommon nor surprising, and I think every quote-lover alive has been guilty of it at some point (three fingers pointing back at me). But Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorite novels, and I can’t get past crediting a line from one of its film adaptations as something written by Shelley herself. It hurt my tender, Frankenstein-loving feelings. Sure, it’s an idiotic reason to determine a book’s rating, but—if you haven’t figured it out from the nonsensical gabber in this “review”—I’m kind of an idiot.

The misattributed (and incorrectly transcribed) quote in question:
“There is love in me the likes of which you’ve never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied in the one, I will indulge the other.”

The correct version of the quote:
“I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”

The correct source of the quote:
The 1994 film adaptation, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, written by Steph Lady and Frank Darabont and directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Unrelated tangent aside, I do recommend The Book Eaters to anyone who enjoys dark fantasy and would like a fairly unique premise. Overall, the story is good.

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𝓟.𝓢. In case it isn’t abundantly clear to anyone who happened to read this... When I get irrationally hung up on something, I fall into a rabbit hole from whence there is no return.

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𝓟.𝓟.𝓢. This review was crossposted from Goodreads because it contains actual thoughts rather than a typically facetious single-sentence remark. View all my book ratings and pointless takes on Goodreads or The StoryGraph.