I wanted to like this… awards, a beautiful cover. A dark fairy tale, people said. Negative reviews mostly objected to rape, incest and bestiality in a Young Adult book. I’m not easily offended. Things began well. Lovely prose.

The problem was dullness, monotony. Scenes repeated, seemingly without aim. Man-bear nuzzles up to vulnerable human female… how many times? I got it the first time. Even for readers accepting of harsh content, the middle 150 pages are tedious. Lanagan’s short fiction is intelligent, beautifully written, but despite lovely prose I can’t recommend Tender Morsels except to (very patient) fairy tale lovers.