Soul Eater

Lily Mayne — 2021

Twenty years ago, monsters rose on earth and began a new age of civilization. One where humans live in military-controlled, cramped and dirty cities along the coasts, and the majority of the United States is known as the Wastes. A lawless, desolate and dangerous place, teeming with monsters that have claimed the land for their own. Including Wyn the Soul Eater. He appears every three years, making his way across the country and slaughtering humans randomly, sucking them dry until they’re nothing but husks. I’ve only been in the military for six months, but now I’m part of a unit tasked with trying to stop and capture him. And when I’m the only soldier out of hundreds that the Soul Eater leaves alive, I realise that… something about me has intrigued him. But what is it? What could a twenty-three year old guy from the south, with no one and nothing in the world, have possibly done to capture the attention of a death monster with horns, blackened fingertips and a face hidden in the dark depths of his hood? Soul Eater is the debut novel of Lily Mayne. It is the first in a planned post-apocalyptic fantasy series featuring monsters and human men falling in love. Warning: This m/m love story contains explicit content and is not suitable for young readers. There are also graphic depictions of torture and violence. Revised and extended: August 2021

Reviews

marie@marievol6

Apr 7, 2024

i love danny and wyn sm

aleksandra@aleksandrareading

Apr 2, 2024

2.5/5 Probably not a popular opinion, but after seeing the rating and reviews I thought I will be obsessed with this series from the first book, but it sadly didn’t happened. It might be just me not the book, but oh man, it was just boring. There was some action in the book, I won't deny it, but it was usually resolved quickly and all the main characters did was wander through the Wastes. There was one moment when I shed a tear and swoon for them being cute, but that was not enough for me to be obsessed with it. The book being boring is probably my main problem here. The characters were great and the relationship, even though I had a lot of questions, because hello how did it work, a man and a Soul Eater? How could it have worked? Somehow, it made sense and I even thought it was cute. They were giving shy, sometimes clueless boyfriend x really overprotective, will do anything for his man boyfriend. Wyn, despite being one of the most dangerous monsters, was so gentle and sweet for Danny. Him calling Danny 'sweet' and asking him every time if he for sure wanted something, was ughh soo cute. "I love you.” His voice shook the tiniest amount, making my heart swell too big for my chest. “More than anything in this universe. But you can’t tell anyone.” I burst out laughing, happiness filling every inch of me, every cell, until it felt like I would burst. I shoved at his chest. “Because no one can know Wyn the Soul Eater has a heart?” He leaned in and nuzzled my face, his cool lips brushing my mouth. “Exactly,” he murmured," There was some things which I couldn’t wrap my head around. I know the author wrote at the end that readers finding them like that are right, and she changed for example the car for a military track, because how after 20 year of human world being occupied by monster the car could possibly work, but still. I don't know how Danny lived. He was eating food which should expired at least 15 years ago, and he was supposed to still survive on that while they walked through the Wastes till idk when. If you love Danny and Wyn, don’t read that. The thing I can't even think about or I'll probably cry is that Wyn is immortal, while Danny obviously isn't. This basically means Wyn will outlive Danny and live after he dies. I don’t remember them talking about that, so it freaking sad. The book ends, at least for me, in HFN, so they'll just wander around until Danny dies? I hope this will be explained in future books. The whole idea for the series is truly amazing and I will probably try to finish it one day, but maybe I’m not in the mood right now. I saw someone saying that the next books are better and more interesting, so I will give them a try when I’m in the right mood for it.

Lover of Romance @addictedtoromance

Oct 7, 2023

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨.75

First Impressions
Soul Eater is the first book in the "Monstrous" series and I have been really apprehensive about monster romances because I can't do it when they are too animalistic. It just way too close to the beastiality fetish. But I was recommended this one by a wonderful friend over at instagram who knew that this was more supernatural feeling in the monster and now having read this infamous monster romance I definitely understand now why its been so popular. And while it wasn't a perfect read, it was quite entertaining and the monster aspects of the story worked for me, not sure if I will invest in the series though, will do some research on the other books before deciding whether to move forward or not.

First Line
"Alright, men. This is the culmination of twenty years of intel, lost lives and millions of dollars.

Summary
Our story begins in a post apocalyptic world set in the United States, we have our human protagonist "Danny" who is in the military and joined when he was stuck in the city and lost his only family. Now he is just another "grunt" and a cog in the machine. He is sent in the barren lands called the "Wastes" to confront the "Soul Eater" aka Wyn. His wholed troop is killed by the Soul Eater, but he is left alive. His commanders capture Wyn and wants Danny to find out all the information he can on him. Wyn and Danny form an alliance and friendship of sorts. Wyn gives Danny an option to stay with his military forces, go out on his own or join him on his travels. Danny decides to join Wyn despite not knowing what to expect from Wyn. What starts out as a alliance, turns into a friendship and into something deeper on a romantic level. But their enemies will test their relationship in their journey across the American lands...

What I Loved
There was so much that I loved about this story. First, I adored this futuristic world in the States. It was so intriguing and I love the post apocalypitic worlds that authors create and this one was just right. The author really handles the atmospheric vibes so well in this one. But we also have such strong friendship between Wyn and Danny. And their meet cute was so intense and compelling. I just had to keep with their story because I was so drawn into their relationship and the connection that they have together. Now granted, there is so much mystery surrounding Wyn as he is killing human. But once you learn the secrets of what happens then it really makes sense what he is doing and his true mission. We get to meet one of his friends along the way and I am so tempted to read his book. haha

The romance that develops between Danny and Wyn was so precious. I loved the way that they explore each other and really have this connection that is so much more than on the physical level. Its intense and poignant and melted my heart with each chapter. I was immediately on the team cheering for these two to find their way. They definitely have some challenges that they both need to overcome and seeing them work together and work with their issues really resonates on a deep human level.

What I Struggled With
Some of the sex scenes were a little strange. I went with it because its a monster romance but it did turn me off a bit. And some of the pacing in the middle of the story was a bit slow at times. And the plot was a bit more simple than I would have liked. I would have preferred a bit more complexity developed in the storyline.

Overall View
I found Soul Eater to be sexy urban fantasy romance that had great focus on the romantic relationship and solid world building that will leave you eager to read the next in the series.

Favorite Quote(s)
“You’re in my blood now, Danny Sullihan. I’ll always be able to find you.”

Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Urban Fantasy, LGBTQ, Dystopian
Character Types: Monster, Military
Themes: Gay for You, MC Experiments, MC on the Run
Tropes: Forced Proximity, Friends to Lovers

Book Perspective
1st POV

Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
A mix of both

Song This Book Inspires
Whispers in the Dark-Skillet

Recommendation For Reading Order
Yes I would say read these in order

Steam/Spice Explanations

Steamin' up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.

Amira BEN@amirasreading

Jun 30, 2023

Daniel and Wyn have all my heart. Ooh they were so cute and endearing. I really enjoyed reading their story.

That and the fact the dystopian setting was really interesting and I can’t wait to read the next books to learn more about the world

Also, Edin ! I can’t. Such a teddy bear. I am looking forward to read his story where he’ll meet a little human of his own

Aishling@nilghias

Jan 28, 2023

2.5/5 ⭐️ My monster fucker career ended before it ended began 💀 I’m pretty disappointed since everyone seemed to love this so much but I was honestly bored and once I hit 50% I just read enough of each page to have an idea of what was happening. There wasn’t anything bad about this story, it just did nothing for me. I still wanna read the next book cause I feel like I might like Edin’s story more.

Wren Elliott @wren

Oct 9, 2022

Wyn and Danny are the sweetest, most tooth rotting fluff balls I’ve read in a long time. I loved this, it was spicy, it was sweet and the overarching plot was interesting. I hope in future books it builds on more but as a starter I really like where it’s going. If you’re wanting something easy to read that’s still an incredible monster romance story then give this a go!