It’s taken me a long time write this review. The book was very gritty, dark, and disturbing, which is exactly what I was expecting. Definitely makes me consider going vegetarian.

The story is emotionless and you don’t feel connected to main character at all. And it’s not emotionless because no emotional things happen, but because so many tragic and revolting things happen that the writing style is ~almost~ numb of the emotional damage from the events. Detached.

The world building…
I saw several reviews saying that they just couldn’t suspend disbelief that this change from animal meat to human would happen so rapidly. I mean, our MC grew up eating animal meat. And I agree, it’s not a wild concept that this could happen but I do agree it wouldn’t happen in like a year. The weirdest part is that it would make SO MUCH sense if MC’s dementia-ridden father experienced the change and was against it and instilled that belief in MC. 1) It’s already true and MC believes it contributes to the dad’s rabid mental decline, 2) it would explain why MC and his sister differ so strongly, and 3) the timeline would be more believable. I don’t remember if they established Jasmine’s age but I think she was described as young adult so I think late teens/early 20s and if you think about she would’ve been like first gen human cattle. How did the slaughterhouse have such a large amount of adult humans who were raised in complete captivity as livestock?

The ending…

Honestly I didn’t feel like the ending fit our MC’s character. He quit his job at the slaughterhouse, which makes you think he’s going to completely reject the idea of human consumption for meat, but then so callously kills Jasmine. I didn’t think he loved her but I thought it was shown that he recognized her as a human person, not meant for breeding or eating.

If I were to guess what happens after the book, it would be that he gets his job back (his boss kind of rejected the notice anyway) and starts eating meat again. It was a little disappointing. I would’ve honestly been happier if he chose to commit suicide because I feel like it would’ve fit his character better, but that would conflict with the birth of his son.