Here I am, back at it again with another book summary and review! This week, I indulged in the novel known as The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean. The synopsis had me intrigued: families who sustain themselves by, quite literally, devouring books and the knowledge held within them. I was curious to see where the author would take that concept..
Our story unfolds upon a dreary English evening while a 29-year-old Devon Fairweather hunts for a victim.
She happens to find a clergyman, takes him home, asks him the age-old question, "Are you a good person? before feeding him to her 5-year-old son, Cai.
Cai is a Mind Eater; he liquifys and consumes others' minds in order to sate his appetite.
The story then alternates to the past, to Devon's childhood. There, we are able to learn a bit more about Book Eaters and their way of life.
As a child, Devon was raised by her Uncle, amongst her seven brothers. She was raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales: stories in which the princess has a happily ever after and gets to be a wonderful queen.
"'We consume written knowledge. We consume, store, and collect all forms of paper flesh as the Collector created us to do.'"
"The Collector, an extraterrestrial being who created Book Eaters to look humanoid and placed them on Earth for the purpose of gathering knowledge (book eating) and sampling human experience (mind eating)."
"Aside from the teeth, Book Eaters do look identical to humans. Yet they cannot interbreed with them and have strange organs, extreme strength, and night vision."
Back in present day, we learn that Devon is on the hunt for one of the Book Eater families, known as the Ravenscars.
They are the only ones who have a "cure" for the Mind Eaters' hunger, known as the Redemption pill. When taken, Mind Eaters do not need to feed on others, and instead can indulge in books.
However, several years ago there was a coup, and the Ravenscars were disbanded. Since then, "Cai had only three choices for his future: consume humans, starve to death, or get 'put down' by the Families."
While this is ongoing, Devon and Cai must also be on the lookout for her brother, Ramsey, who is a Knight; cast-off sons who enforce peace, arrange marriages between Families, and tame Dragons/adult Mind Eaters. Devon alludes to her plan of freedom, in which she and Cai will avoid the Knights--avoid the Families--while crossing over to Ireland.
The story reverts back to the past, to Devon's childhood.
More information about the Book Eaters is revealed. We learn that female Book Eaters struggle with fertility; very few girls are born, and even then can only have about two children. Families are separated, with children never knowing who their real mothers are, for they are raised by aunts and uncles.
We learn more about Devon's childhood, an event in which she and Ramsey disobeyed the rules in favor of viewing Dragons. They were almost killed by the Dragons before being reprimanded by the commander, Kingsey Davensport. As punishment for their offense, Kingsey took Ramsey to be a Knight, leaving Devon with these words:
"We don't punish girls. But when you break Family rules, understand that those you love will bear the brunt of it. Tomorrow it may be one of your children."
Time passes and Devon is now 18-years-old, preparing for her first marriage
Devon recognized immediately that she did not care for her husband's looks, yet convinced herself she was "lucky," "a princess." During the wedding reception, Devon encountered another wife, and she asked her if she minded her life:
"'Well, there's not anything else, is there? Can't live with humans, so it's this or nothing. It's only a couple of years, a couple of babies, then you go on with your life.'"
The two also discussed the possibility of fertility treatments:
"'And what will the Knights do then, when we can choose our own husbands? What will the Dragons do when no Knights will take them in, and teach them to control their urges?'"
At 20-years-old, on Christmas Eve, Devon gave birth to a daughter, who was named Salem.
More Book Eater traditions are revealed, for we discover that children do not stay with their mothers longer than three years, to ensure the mother moves onto her second marriage and prevents inbreeding. Devon had a difficult time handling this, so her husband promised that they could stay together.
Back in present day, Devon is on the hunt for another victim.
She encounters a woman at the bar named Hester, but upon taking her home to Cai, Devon is surprised to see them laughing and Cai eating a book ! It turns out the woman is a representative of the Ravenscar Manor, she has just given Cai a dose of Redemption, and she is willing to help them, but only if Devon agrees to live with them at the manor. There, they will be blessed with an indefinite supply of Redemption, as well as the formula for it:
"In previous eras, mind eaters were most likely killed at birth. That changed in the 1920s, when the patriarch of the Ravenscar Manor took it upon himself to create a 'cure' for one of his sons, who had been born a mind eater. ... Some 25 years later, he eventually succeeded in creating a prototype of the drug we now call Redemption."
Devon and Cai agree to go with Hester to Ravenscar Manor, boarding a train for Edinburgh when they encounter Knights, one of whom is Ramsey. He agrees to go along with Devon's plan, in order to sabotage the Ravenscar family.
We are transported back in time, to Salem's 3rd birthday.
Devon's husband broke his promise to her: he drugged Devon unconscious before taking her to her home of Fairweather Manor. There, he gave her a compass with Salem's picture inside. Devon told Luton:
"'Someday I'm going to come back, hang it round your neck, and walk off with my daughter.'"
To which Luton replied:
"'And I will tell her that her mother will come back to see her one day, but only if her mother loves her enough. For her 10th birthday, perhaps.'"
Back in present day, Devon, Cai, and Hester manage to avoid more Knights and depart from the train.
However, Hester loses her handbag, along with her prized possession: her father's handgun.
They arrive at Ravenscar Manor. There, they meet Killock Ravenscar, the patriarch of the manor, along with being the only person alive with the recipe for Redemption. They attend dinner to discover that everyone living in the manor is a Mind Eater; not a Book Eater in sight.
Devon learns after the Ravenscar Family stopped killing Mind Eaters, Weston, Killock's father, refused to let them live unsupervised or give him the cure for Redemption. In order to "free" themselves and with no other options, Killock ate Weston's mind.
Killock also informs Devon that if she wishes to have Redemption for Cai, the two must agree to live in the manor; so, they agree.
After losing Salem, 22-year-old Devon prepared for her second marriage to Matley Easterbrook.
However, she developed a bond with his brother, Jarrow, who introduced her to video games. He told her that they had a sister, Victoria, but similar to Devon, she also struggled with her pregnancies and was sent away. He told Devon the Families would never let her see Salem, it was all a lie, and he could help her escape to Ireland.
Devon gave birth to Cai before quickly discovering that he was a Mind Eater. Although Matley was not pleased with the news, he agreed to let them live at the manor and give Cai Redemption.
One night, Matley arrived to inform Devon that the Ravenscars had disbanded due to a coup, and that Redemption would no longer be available. When he attempted to kill Cai, Devon and Matley began to fight, and 2-year-old Cai consumed his mind.
After dinner with the Ravenscars, Devon comes to a realization:
"The ideology that made Killock dangerous came from the Families. His problem wasn't that he'd tried to do something different, but that he'd tried to do something too similar."
"It was always the same story, she thought tiredly. Just small, angry men clinging to fading power."
She learns more of Killock's plan from Hester: that after he killed Weston, they agreed they would set up a haven, dock Mind Eaters tongues so they could no longer feed, and give them Redemption. However, Killock broke his promise, saying "it didn't feel right anymore" after consuming his father.
"'My brother is gone, Devon ... That wasn't Killock. It was some monstrous, amorphous collective of his victims, overlaid with Weston's personality.'"
"'If I believe that about your brother, then I have to believe my son is gone.'"
"'Not necessarily. Cai seems to be able to control it!'"
Devon tells Hester the plan: that the Knights will be descending on the manor, and she and Cai will be leaving for Ireland with Jarrow's help. They will finally be free to live their own lives.
"'Women are taught not to envision life beyond those bounds, and men are taught to enforce those bounds.'" "'I could not imagine a better or different future, and because I could not imagine it, I assumed it didn't exist.'"
On the night Matley lost his mind, Cai became overloaded with the mind of a Book Eater.
Ramsey told Devon: "'Leave Cai untreated, and he'll slip into a coma within a day. The only thing that can help him right now is to overwrite his difficult feed with an easier one.'"
Thus, Devon fed a newborn baby to her son, a baby who in turn lost his mind. After the event, Ramsey recruited Devon with the task of tracking down the Ravenscar Family, and to prevent her from refusing, he fitted Cai with an explosive device in his abdomen. One that could explode at the touch of a button...
After that, Devon and Cai started their life, living among the humans. Devon faced yet another dilemma:
"How, then, did one choose? Perhaps she could feed Cai the so-called 'undesirable' humans: killers, thieves, and rapists. ... But eating each person had been a hugely affecting for Cai... For Cai's sanity and mental well-being, she'd have to choose good people."
At the Ravenscar Manor, Cai finds out Devon has been in contact with Ramsey and Jarrow, and Devon comes clean about everything: the explosive in his belly, the plan to sabotage the Ravenscars, then fleeing to Ireland. Cai says to his mother:
"'I want to stay with you. Even though you lied about so many things. ... Because you're a monster. ... You're not scared of me because you're an even bigger, meaner monster than me. ... You're my monster and I'm yours.'"
The two meet with Jarrow, who tells Devon he will be able to render Cai's explosive useless with the help of a transmitter. The Knights and Ramsey arrive at the manor early, attacking the Family and killing Killock. While Ramsey and Devon are busy fighting, Cai attacks Ramsey and eats his mind:
"Because despite her fanatical commitment to protect him from the world, she hadn't been able to protect him from his own choices, his own crimes that were his to commit. The sins he chose to bear, for the love of her."
In the end, Devon, Cai, and Hester all leave with Jarrow, to begin a new life for themselves in Ireland.
My personal thoughts? I really enjoyed this book.
No, I would not consider it a new favorite! But it was definitely a very unique and refreshing approach to motherhood, the things we do for our loved ones, the lengths we will go through to protect them.
As a mother of two babies, there were moments in the book that truly struck me. Throughout the novel, Devon must face incredibly tough choices to protect the ones she loves, constantly asking herself what she is willing to do to protect them.
At the end of the day, the answer is always: anything and everything. Obviously it is awful to have to choose between "us or them." Again, at the end of the day, I am the one looking out for my children, I am the one who makes the choices for them that they cannot make, and they come first. One cannot put a price on love; I would do anything and everything to protect my children.
Because of her choices, Devon also struggles with the issue of morality often. She constantly wonders if she is a terrible person for having to commit heinous acts in the name of love, wonders if she is a "monster." In his own way, Cai also struggles with his morality, questioning if he is a "monster" due to the fact he has consumed people's minds. Again, at the end of the day, love has no price. Despite Cai's struggle with morality, he still made the choice to consume Ramsey's mind, despite not wanting to, because his love for his mother was greater.