The Devourers

A mysterious stranger hires Alok, a history professor, to transcribe a series of journals. "The Devourers" intertwines the historic tale of the relationship between two gay werewolves, Fenrir and Gévaudan, and Alok's personal story as he struggles to accept his sexual orientation.

The author may be deserving of accolades for tackling the taboo subject of homosexuality in India, which was a still a punishable crime in 2015 when the novel was written. Unfortunately, though, I did not enjoy this book for several reasons.

"The Devourers" has a lot of graphic violence and a lot of almost-erotica, so it definitely is not for the faint-of-heart. I think the author was a bit ambitious in the scope of the novel, trying to capture both the forbiddenness of werewolf-human interaction and the unacceptance of homosexuality in India. Not only was I underwhelmed by the general theme and story, I did not really like the author's writing style. Shifts in POV and the oscillation from lyrical sentences to short choppy ones made the novel a difficult read. Also, the transitions between characters and time periods is awkward, making the characters and story feel underdeveloped.

"The Devourers" may garner some award nominations (like the Tiptree) but it only received a 2-star rating from me.