The Book Eaters

"Imagine learning Morse code from eating a manual or literally growing up on a diet of Jane Eyre in the Yorkshire moors. Sunyi Dean’s contemporary fantasy debut features extrahuman creatures who consume more books than we could ever attempt to read, yet possess a stunning lack of imagination for stepping outside the pages of their own toxic fairy-tale narrative. Princesses, knights, dragons, weddings – these words lose their meanings when queer mother Devon must protect her monstrous, beloved mind-eater son, Cai, from the intergenerational abuse in their family tree. Unlike her book eaters, Dean pulls from a nigh-infinite well of inspiration."