I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me
Ratings8
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings8
Average rating3.8
There will be blood. Ace of Spades meets House of Hollow in this villain origin story. Laure Mesny is a perfectionist with an axe to grind. Despite being constantly overlooked in the elite and cutthroat world of the Parisian ballet, she will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take center stage. To level the playing field, Laure ventures deep into the depths of the Catacombs and strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood. The primordial power Laure gains promises influence and adoration, everything she’s dreamed of and worked toward. With retribution on her mind, she surpasses her bitter and privileged peers, leaving broken bodies behind her on her climb to stardom. But even as undeniable as she is, Laure is not the only monster around. And her vicious desires make her a perfect target for slaughter. As she descends into madness and the mystifying underworld beneath her, she is faced with the ultimate choice: continue to break herself for scraps of validation or succumb to the darkness that wants her exactly as she is—monstrous heart and all. That is, if the god-killer doesn’t catch her first. From debut author Jamison Shea comes I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me, a slow-burn horror that lifts a veil on the institutions that profit on exclusion and the toll of giving everything to a world that will never love you back.
Reviews with the most likes.
wow this was a amazing book and is a debut YA Horror novel. A deal with a pulsating river of blood you've said more that enough. The payoff is really satisfying and plays to well-established themes throughout: power, rejection, loss, loneliness, betrayal, surrender and retribution.
Paris isn't my favorite setting and ballerinas aren't my favorite characters, but I was really interested to see how those things fared in a horror book. And Jamison Shea didn't disappoint! The horror is both supernatural and all too normal. It puts everyone's faults on display, so I wasn't sure how it was all going to work out. I would never have guessed the ending! I just keep thinking about it. So good.
I did not love the scenes in the ballet academy, but that is a personal preference.
And one last praise. The audiobook is so freaking good! It helped me visualize the book and create scenes in my head.
took some time to get going but when it did... nasty in the best way
Ballet body horror was not at all a thing I'd have expected to ever find myself enjoying, but I liked this book. This is a shimmering feverdream of a novel - no jump scares here, the frightening bits roll in slowly and organically. Not everyone's topic, but the adventurous stand a good chance at enjoying this.
