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hookerkitty's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Physical abuse, and War
crusoe's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Positives. I'm a sucker for monster stories and I know it. This might not be a 5 star for everyone but it was for me. I adore the atmosphere of the house in which the Zarrins live and how it contains these subtle hints of the family's history. I love how some of the secrets slowly unfold where others remain unanswered (such as the mystery of Eleanor's grandfather on her grandmère's side). The descriptions of Eleanor's family are deliciously grotesque. If you are expecting an Adams family dynamic you will be sorely disappointed, but I think the toxicity and brokenness of this family made the story more thrilling. It was nauseating in a good way. The Zarrins are broken, stuck in old traditions that they desperately need to burn and they have a hard time dealing with someone like Eleanor who is so very different from the rest of them, and yet unmistakably a Zarrin. I loved it.
Negatives. (Spoilers for the ending.) Eleanor's self-pity was very justified after being treated like an outsider by her own family. But at points, this self-pity spiralled into something more malicious which made me dislike her character a bit. I also don't think Eleanor should have kissed Arthur at the end. Their romance subplot should've been resolved differently. Dating a living corpse who despises your family for keeping alive and who has also had a fling with both of your grandparents, does not sound like a very good idea. I think it would have been more interesting if Eleanor's obsession with him was due to her being a Zarrin, as was the reason behind Rhys' and Luma's obsession with Arthur. Eleanor convincing herself that she is better than Rhys and Luma because her love for Arthur is "different" as she is willing to let him go, would've been a more interesting motivation.
Quote. "The way it blew over was like this: on the day I punched her in the stomach, while she was staring at me in shock and pain, I realized that the only way to escape the trap i was in was to stop existing, to become someone else.
So I turned myself inside out, and that was who I stayed until the day Lucy tripped me on the stairs. On that day I snapped back in midair, although my body stayed the same. There was more than one way to perform my family's trick, the inversion of selves, the different skin."
Negatives. (Spoilers for the ending.)
Quote. "The way it blew over was like this: on the day I punched her in the stomach, while she was staring at me in shock and pain, I realized that the only way to escape the trap i was in was to stop existing, to become someone else.
So I turned myself inside out, and that was who I stayed until the day Lucy tripped me on the stairs. On that day I snapped back in midair, although my body stayed the same. There was more than one way to perform my family's trick, the inversion of selves, the different skin."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death, Gore, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Abandonment
nytephoenyx's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I absolutely loved What Big Teeth. It’s unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s supernatural horror but not quite a fairytale retelling and not quite a werewolf book and… I don’t know. It was dark and a bit grotesque and kept me guessing. I really enjoyed it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pregnancy and War
Author is transgender and identifies as nonbinary, using they/them pronouns. Certain editions of their books use their deadname (like this one - StoryGraph has it right, but the physical copy was printed with the author’s deadname).starreddust's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Abandonment
Minor: Homophobia and Fire/Fire injury
yaoipaddle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I almost dropped this book, but I'm glad I kept reading. It has a slow and slightly frustrating start. The main character takes a long time for me to like her. Not a long time to be "flawless" (Neither she nor anyone else in the book is), but a long time for me to not feel like smacking her and telling her to realize what the heck is going on.
It took me until about a quarter of the way through the book to keep wanting to read and about 40% of the way through I really got into it and zoomed through. The book starts slow and a lot of stuff is kind of sprinkled throughout. It feels semi worth it in the end to me, but I still think the beginning was really rough.
I'd recommend this book if you like gothic stories and elements of fantasy. If you like Gillian Flynn books where everyone kind of sucks but there's still intrigue and enjoyment to get even from the characters that piss you off.
It took me until about a quarter of the way through the book to keep wanting to read and about 40% of the way through I really got into it and zoomed through. The book starts slow and a lot of stuff is kind of sprinkled throughout. It feels semi worth it in the end to me, but I still think the beginning was really rough.
I'd recommend this book if you like gothic stories and elements of fantasy. If you like Gillian Flynn books where everyone kind of sucks but there's still intrigue and enjoyment to get even from the characters that piss you off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia
ticktock's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
debussy's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Look, the beginning of this book is confusing. You don't know what's going on, or why, but the weird monster family vibes and visuals are pretty on point so I continued. The story snaps into focus when Grandmere shows up, but it eventually starts to run out of steam when the mystery gets convoluted and Arthur's backstory is revealed and I completely stopped caring about everyone. Most of the reveals are done in heavy monologue, which took me out of the story. The characters were interesting but not to the point that I wanted to watch them bicker and threaten to murder each other. I also was not sure of the theme--stick with your family, even though they continually fear and abuse you? For what? I also took issue with the weird amount of unchallenged homophobia. It felt like the author was attempting to critique it, but did not at all succeed.
The vibes and visuals were great, and the concept was on point, but the confused plot and character choices were just ruinous and made it an unsatisfying experience.
The vibes and visuals were great, and the concept was on point, but the confused plot and character choices were just ruinous and made it an unsatisfying experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
laguerrelewis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Harry Szabo cements themself as one to watch with this killer debut. An excellent story about being an outsider, family, generational trauma, and love, this had me enthralled from beginning to end and in awe of their writing. Do yourself a favor and experience it for yourself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide attempt
michaelion's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I adore this book. Not so much for the story, but for the writing! What beautiful writing! In all my years never have my eyes flown across the page so fast. I even stopped to go back and read the descriptions. I hate descriptions. I usually just skip them. Don't get me wrong, the plot itself is good too, but I wasn't expecting the writing alone to appeal to me so much. I was so gripped! This story left my body feeling empty and hollow but also my heart is warm with love?
I didn't like that for so long it all felt confusing. It felt like something was missing, like something was supposed to be between the lines, but not in the metaphorical sense of a book; like there was literally supposed something in between the spacing of the sentences that was missing. I figure, it's a horror/thriller type book, so maybe other horror/thrillers are like that, and even though I knew answers would come at the end it wasn't so frustrating that I wanted to stop. But I did want to add that note in my review.
I also personally don't like when people don't answer questions, and that happens throughout the book. It works as a plot device when you wanna do the misunderstanding / miscommunication type trope, and again I knew all the lore questions would be answered when the pages were getting really thin, but many if not all the characters except Arthur are aloof to their core. Stubbornly aloof. Like it made me dislike the characters a bit more.
Even still I breezed through 200 pages before I realized the sun was coming up again.
Of the handful of things I disliked, that all is made up for in how much I loved the writing. The writing really did something for me. I would love to read another story in this world, even if it's not including any of these same characters. I'm gonna read Szabo's next book. They've got a real craft for words.
I love that everyone's either fruity or implied to be fruity. 5 stars for the fruity family.
In my journal notes i simply wrote "VORE?!?!!" idk leave it to a fellow nonbinary to write vore as a character detail!
I removed .25 because of Arthur. We could've had a happy polyamorous couple living it up in the 1910s with no family curse but no! How can you be so miserable you think "Damn, I gotta strangle that baby." And not even because he thought Rhys was dangerous, just because he was... sad. :/
The fact that Grandmere was centuries old and a supernatural creature and somehow still homophobic?! Girl. She got what was coming to her. Her other major sin was, of course, being French.
I wanna buy this book.
I didn't like that for so long it all felt confusing. It felt like something was missing, like something was supposed to be between the lines, but not in the metaphorical sense of a book; like there was literally supposed something in between the spacing of the sentences that was missing. I figure, it's a horror/thriller type book, so maybe other horror/thrillers are like that, and even though I knew answers would come at the end it wasn't so frustrating that I wanted to stop. But I did want to add that note in my review.
I also personally don't like when people don't answer questions, and that happens throughout the book. It works as a plot device when you wanna do the misunderstanding / miscommunication type trope, and again I knew all the lore questions would be answered when the pages were getting really thin, but many if not all the characters except Arthur are aloof to their core. Stubbornly aloof. Like it made me dislike the characters a bit more.
Even still I breezed through 200 pages before I realized the sun was coming up again.
Of the handful of things I disliked, that all is made up for in how much I loved the writing. The writing really did something for me. I would love to read another story in this world, even if it's not including any of these same characters. I'm gonna read Szabo's next book. They've got a real craft for words.
In my journal notes i simply wrote "VORE?!?!!" idk leave it to a fellow nonbinary to write vore as a character detail!
I removed .25 because of Arthur. We could've had a happy polyamorous couple living it up in the 1910s with no family curse but no! How can you be so miserable you think "Damn, I gotta strangle that baby." And not even because he thought Rhys was dangerous, just because he was... sad. :/
The fact that Grandmere was centuries old and a supernatural creature and somehow still homophobic?! Girl. She got what was coming to her. Her other major sin was, of course, being French.
I wanna buy this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Homophobia, and War
nutm3g's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The best summarization of this book's concept is this, highly dysfunctional Addams Family with a nice helping of generational trauma. I really wanted to love this book, but there was just too much that felt lacking. It seemed as if it would be a build-up to healing old wounds, but even to the end tension in the family remained. It is a bit difficult to explain why this book did not reach its potential without giving away any spoilers. Regardless of all it lacked, the concept behind it was creative and entertaining which is why I have it 3 stars in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War