It has been nearly a month since I finished this book and I’ve been attempting to write this in a back corner of my mind since then. I still don’t know how to say exactly what I want to say, but I must say something so here goes. THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING MIND BLOWING STARTLINGLY ORIGINAL AND TOUCHING AND NOW YOU SHOULD READ IT.
Damn, that word count isn’t enough. Let’s do better.
I Feed Her… came to my attention through social media, an author I enjoy was absolutely raving about this and so I put it on hold despite the fact that it is a YA ballet horror novel. I mean, look at that cover. Gorgeous.
And my goodness, did this book give me more than I was expecting. This is a dark, snarling, vicious book, full of blood and power and rage. Laure is a Black ballerina in Paris, transitioning from student to professional dancer – or trying to, given the “traditions” of ballet (racism! classism! misogyny!) – when she is presented with the opportunity to make a supernatural deal. Laure jumps wholeheartedly into this well of power (both figuratively and literally) and as she starts gaining everything she’s worked for, she starts questioning if this really is what she wants.
The blurbs for this refer to it as a villain origin story and I don’t agree with that. Laure was never the villain in my eyes. When a person uses whatever power they can accumulate to tear down discriminatory power structures that thrive on the pain and sacrifices of young women…well those are hero moves in my book. Even if that power comes from a river of blood in the Paris catacombs and results in death and destruction.