Blood River: A Review of I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

As we continue on with Pride Month reviews, I can only think of one thing. It’s another quote, this time from Audre Lorde: “Gay Rights!”

And what book am I reviewing today? What’s in the hot seat this week? Please give a warm welcome to I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea!

As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you will know that I simply love to spoil the entirety of the books I read. This is your one and only warning. I also have a content and trigger warning before getting to the synopsis. This book has a decent bit of body horror, there’s some ritualistic self-harm, and as this book is set in the cut-throat world of ballet, there is some body-shaming and dealing with body image issues. Oh, one final topic to note, there is also a subplot dealing with parental neglect and abandonment. Please note that there is really no avoiding these topics so please read the book at your own discretion. With that, let’s get to the synopsis.

Laure will not be ignored, she will not be looked over, she will become part of the Paris Opera Ballet no matter the cost. On the verge of graduating from the Ballet Academy of Paris, Laure is approached by the shining star of the Paris Ballet, Josephine Moreau. Josephine sees the drive and desire boiling inside of Laure and offers the young girl a way to fulfill her dreams.

Give Laure the lead and a crown, please and thank you.

So down to the Catacombs Josephine and Laure go. In a secret room runs a river of blood and an ancient being ready to grant Laure power. For a cost that is. And what does she wish for? The ability to bend others to her will. The ability to force the Paris Opera Ballet to choose her for their ranks. And the cost? Laure’s willing to give up everything and anything so long as she can rise through the ballet’s ranks and become a lead as soon as possible.

Obviously things take a turn for the worse. Soon after taking a dip in the blood river, Laure finds Josephine murdered and there are far too many suspects. Could it have been a jealous ballerina who offed Josephine? Could her death be related to whatever being lives under the Catacombs? Or it could have been a random attack, that’s always a possibility. Who am I kidding, Josephine’s death is most likely connected to the blood river and ancient entity as something or someone is seemingly stalking Laure now as well. So Laure is going to figure out the mystery behind her new friend’s death whilst keeping herself safe from both jealous co-workers and unseen forces.

I don't know which villain is worse: jealous, cut-throat ballerinas or an ancient entity.

Can I just say, before I get to my review, I Feed Her to the Beast and the Best is Me has a metal dedication. I love it so much. It sets the mood for the book perfectly.

That little tangent aside, let’s finally get to the review proper. I have one large issue with this book; that being the flow and structure. I found myself engrossed in the story from the first page. And I love the plot. But the flow between scenes did not feel right to me. This was most evident in between chapters. To me, scenes were placed in the wrong spots. For instance, Josephine tells Laure that she will tell Laure everything about the blood river and the entity the morning after Laure makes her deal. Instead of cutting to this meeting the next day, the next scene is Laure at one of her dance classes where she must deal with the jealousy and gossip of her fellow dancers. It interrupts the flow of the larger story and essentially stops the book in its tracks. There are multiple instances of this issue throughout the novel. Personally, I would have structured things differently.

That’s my main issue with the book. I, as I’ve said, had a great time with this read. I already said it was an engrossing read and am able to overlook the flow issue because I enjoyed the story so much. My favorite part was the class divide and themes of nepotism and quiet racism within the Paris Opera Ballet because the writing was extremely well done. Reading that sentence back, it sounds so messed up to say, but it’s true! Jamison Shea makes readers sit there and think about quiet racism seen in day to day life. It’s the backhanded comments, the searching for skin toned clothing and makeup that actually matches darker skin tones, it’s being told you’re easily replaceable even though you’re the best in the class, it's everything that alludes to being less than based solely on skin tone. None of these things are shied away from and are expertly explored. I believe a good book should make a reader really, truly think about the topics the author presents in his, her, or their book while taking the reader for a ride; which is what I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me did for me.

Please give Jamison Shea all the applause.

There is so much depth to this book. I applaud the fact Jamison Shea made the horror in her novel both mythological and very real. Sure, there are some questions remaining regarding the lore and entity living in the blood river, but there is a sequel so those questions could very well be answered; I don’t know, I assume they are though. Overall, I really enjoyed this read. I’m probably going to reread it sometime fairly soon.

With that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you very much for joining me today. I will see you all again next week with another new review. If you can’t wait that long then you can follow RHRML on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post on there almost daily. If you’re looking for something not related to books then you can check out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. It stars me and two of my dearest friends and we talk about everything and anything. Seriously, there’s a whole series where we watch every Disney film ever made; my bestie Amanda leads that one.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!