To Be Devoured
Sara Tantilinger
What does carrion taste like? Andi has to know. The vultures circling outside her home taunt and invite her to come understand the secrets hiding in their banquet of decay. Fascination morphs into an obsessive need to know what the vultures know. Andi turns to Dr. Fawning, but even the therapist cannot help her comprehend the secrets she's buried beneath anger-induced blackouts.
My Thoughts
Implied spoilers, Nothing too explicitly stated
As one of the first books that caught my attention in my quest for lesbian horror, I really did not know what to expect. NGL, I'm still unsure how to fully feel at some parts, but I still enjoyed it a lot. It was written so beautifully and grotesquely. The forest, The hunger, The vultures, Luna, Dr. Fawning, they hit so well for me.
Andi is such a weird protag(pos). She's fucking insufferable but understandably so. Brash, angery, obsessive, but drenched in mourning and childhood trauma. I think her descent into obsessive madness over flesh, vultures, mourning and Luna through her POV ( memory gaps, missing context, etc.) made me viscerally uncomfortable. There are points were you could call the book edgy, bc dear christ it is, however it felt in-character for the most part. The last scene in the Darn was iffy for me.
IDK how to feel about Luna yet. Not out of her own character/actions, She's actually great imo. It's mostly how attention is drawn to her darker skin tone. I will always appreciate some interracial lesbianism - especially in horror because fuck yeah - but uggh. I get it in the way of Andi's obsession with all of her, and it mixes in well mostly. When it doesn't though, it just lingers in an uncomfortable way. Not fun uncomfortable, peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth uncomfortable. That's not to say it's a large fraction of the book, it's not drawn attention to too much, but still. Luna's ex-husband recognizing what's in the wickerbasket made that aspect fucked in a kinda neat way though.
My only comment on the only sexual scene: Okay. Just. Okay. (pos in a grossed out way)
Overall, fuck yeah!!! Lesbian Spatterpunk!!! I had much more to say in friends' DMs but it's a good visceral read.