Flesh Eater

I didn’t know much about Flesh Eater going into the story other than it involved spiders and a queer male protagonist. I’m not totally sure what I expected, but Zootopia for Adults setting up an Epic Fantasy trilogy wasn’t it. Lots to love here, with a really fantastic take on an everyman protagonist. However, it’s not quite as dark as the title and cover might lead you to believe.

Elevator Pitch:
Coal is a fox with very distinctive markings. This is unfortunate considering he is a criminal. Once a librarian, he has been branded a Flesh Eater for consuming his father’s flesh. As he desperately tries to make enough money to clear his record, Coal ends up involved with the underbelly of society. He’s scrambling to get by, to survive the Emperor’s bounty hunters, and to make money any way he can. Unfortunately, life as a librarian didn’t prepare him for any of this.

What Worked for Me
What stuck out to me most in Flesh Eater was Riddle’s treatment of Coal as a normal person. As a librarian, Coal likes to read and generally has lived a quiet life. He is not a hardened criminal, doesn’t know how to aim a gun, and has no idea what he’s doing. He fails a lot in this book. His only real talent is a past as a skilled, but amateur spider-racer. Riddle wasn’t afraid to force Coal into tough situations, and didn’t particularly care to slap much plot armor on his protagonist beyond ‘we know the sole POV character probably won’t kick the bucket in book 1 of a trilogy’. Maybe this stuck out to me so much after reading Ironbound, which took the absolute opposite approach to the success rate of his lead character. It was refreshing for Coal to not suddenly be able to pick a lock, or keep his cool under pressure, or even to anticipate problems that normal people would probably forget about in such stressful situations. It was just well done, and I hope this trend either continues, or provides ample opportunity for Coal to authentically gain competency in a realistic way during the sequels.

This book featured a decent amount of spider riding, and I was surprised to enjoy these passages so much as a person who doesn’t love spiders. To be fair, these scenes felt a little bit more traditional in how successful Coal was in his endeavors, but we rarely get such detail of characters riding anything other than dragons that this was a delight. Expect lots of leaping and web shooting and tapping of legs to give instructions. Again, I hope this continues to appear in sequels.

What Didn’t Work For Me
I don’t know that I’m totally sold on the setting of this story. There’s a lot of elements that feel a bit forced: the entire civilization in a valley trapped by a magic tree, an immortal Dirt King, unknowable monsters appearing in a civilization with steampunk-esque tech levels. It’s take on anthropomorphic animals felt odd. Riddle didn’t want these animals to truly represent their actual sizes and explore how that would impact things like architecture or accessibility. However, he did want those things to matter when it was story-relevant. It just felt … odd. Like everyone was conveniently the same size until he needed a bear who suddenly was extra-large, even though size differences had been noted until then. It just felt like I could shift these characters to entirely human without loosing much. I did like how Riddle handled Coal’s love interest (a woodpecker) and how that affected things like kissing (they nuzzle cheeks).

Otherwise, this book has ended up trapped in the same dilemma as so many book 1s I read. I liked it, and would happily read a sequel. However, did I like it enough to warrant not reading other books I’m excited about? I’m not sure, but it’s made the list of series I’d like to continue some day for sure.

Conclusion: a realistic take on a normal person thrust into extraordinary circumstances, plus cool spider riding sequences.

• Characters: 4
• Worldbuilding:2
• Craft: 3
• Themes: 3
• Enjoyment: 4