Plankton's Book Journey

Ah, I'm so glad I finally found the time to read the book - thank you for my buddy reading people!

I thought the book was very well done. In terms of writing, the author showed incredible talent in creating a tense atmosphere and making every single world feel super important and thoughtful.

The horror was really delivering and found new ways of escalating every single chapter - I found it super fascinating how the supernatural horror was blended with the more real life horror of the pandemic, and also the themes of identity, anti asian racism and misogyny. And despite the very heavy themes, the book still managed to deliver some sense of hope and kinship.

What I would say is that in terms of character development I wasn't 100% on-board. Cora is a super complex character and a lot of the things about her character, I really enjoyed, but her development was very back and forth and lacked a bit of coherency for me, making one aspect of the ending (if you know you know) feel a bit too abrupt for me. Also, some plot elements felt a tad underdeveloped.

But as I said in one comment, for me it's much more important, and a sign of a great author, if they manage to completely drag me into their story and make me think about it for hours and convey emotions. A great book, a great horror book, and a great discussion of important topics and themes, while excellently utilising the genre's possibilities.

I started this book mainly cause I wanted to read a book narrated by Natalie Naudus and, cause I’d heard some good things about it – and I was not disappointed.

Bat Eater is a multilayered exploration of horror which are intricately interconnected. Overarching, of course, is the horror of the pandemic – the fear of infection and contamination, the drastic change to public life and the city. It may not have been the cause for anti-Asian racism but it definitely is the catalyst for a new wave of hate flooding NYC. Then there is the horror of losing the one person that you could trust to be there, that knew you, and the fear of never being known again – mixed with supernatural horror and the dread that starts rising once Cora cleans up the apartments of more and more Asian women murdered in cold blood.

This mix of themes kept me on my feet through the course of the book – not once did I feel bored (I read it within three days so you know I was hooked). Cora has an amazing character arc and, even with all the horrors and the constant fear, there are moments of real joy and connection speckled throughout the book that lighten it up.

I’d recommend this to everyone who can handle the gore and horror – and I wanna give a special shoutout to the narrator, Natalie Naudus. There is a reason she is as renowned in her field as she is, and she did an amazing job at bringing this book to life. This is one of the moments where the narration elevates an already amazing prose which made this book one of my favourite reads this year.