A review by lezreadalot
Star Eater by Kerstin Hall

4.0

“But then there’s the cost,” she said softly. “And the question of who must pay it.”

I enjoyed the bejeezus out of this, even though several moments had me murmuring 'what the fuck what the fuck' underneath my breath. They were GOOD wtfs, because there's something so thrilling about a book being able to unseat you and unsettle you, even though you know the unpleasant parts are coming. (Yes, I'm talking about the cannibalism.) Broad strokes: El is a Sister of a cult that reigns in a floating city. She's mostly satisfied in with her life and friends and her place in the Sisterhood, but there's one duty that she dreads: becoming pregnant to carry on the bloodline. Different factions are rising in the city, including a rebellion, and El soon gets swept up in it. 

Ngl, the appeal for me is in the horror and the unsettling nature of the plot and the world. I knew next to nothing going in, and I enjoyed that sense of blindness so much. (This book has a blurb that I feel actually does a good job of giving you an idea of what's coming, but not spoiling you for anything significant, which is frustratingly rare in blurbs.) I feel like I didn't really get a chance to stop and think about where the story might be going; I was just swept along by it so completely. Everything I learnt about this world and the Sisterhood was so horrid and fascinating. I adored the rituals and intricacies and how several characters were pushed to the limits of what they were willing to do. Tough to read, but gah, really good. I really liked all of the characters, especially Asan, Osan and Millie. I adored Elfreda; I feel like it's not too uncommon to have a protagonist who has fear (especially this specific fear) as one of her driving motivations and it was super interesting, and really compelling to me. I really loved the intrinsic complicatedness of all the mother/daughter relationships. Shout out to this book for having a main m/f love story that I really really liked. Also, El is bi (and polyam, I'm pretty sure?), and there are lots of prominent side f/f relationships. 

Listened to the audiobook as read by Samara Naeymi: really excellent, lots of emotion, great voices. My only complaint about this is that the ending did feel a bit rushed and hobbled together, and... I don't know, I expected more to happen. I also wouldn't have minded if we'd gotten a bit more horror? But this was so good. I want more books in this world, especially about its history. I know this won't be my last from this author.

Content warnings:

Spoiler

cannibalism, forced impregnation and the dubious consent that attends it, death, blood, gore

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Call your children, call them in,
There will be blood in the fields,
There will be blood on our hands,
It will not be ours.