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A review by lisacanteven
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0
This will be my favorite book in 2024.
I will put money on it if anyone doesn't believe me.
From the first page, I was hooked. The writing is so good and the pacing is perfect. I couldn't stop reading, but I also didn't want it to end. Every time I picked up this book, I was immediately pulled back into the story. Sometimes it takes me a bit to get back into a story when I pick up a book, but this was not the case here. I loved every single minute of this book. The characters were so dimensional, even the villains. Sometimes it is difficult in a story when there are just as many villains as there are good characters, but here it made sense. The twists kept coming until the very end.
Another review written a few weeks after reading:
Have you ever just been so moved and touched by a book but at the same time it was so difficult to keep reading because it was just breaking your heart apart? That was The Spirit Bares Its Teeth.
Silas Bell is a young trans man during the the Victorian era in London, 1883 to be exact. People with violet eyes are highly treasured as mediums. There is a secret society of men who control the family lines of all the people with violet eyes. Silas is born with violet eyes, which means he will married off to an important family to keep the violet eyes lineage going.
Well Silas gets in some trouble at the beginning of the story that results as him being sent off to a girls' school that specializes in "veil sickness" which is what they said any violet eyed girl who did not confirm was inflicted by. This was basically a conversion school for girls, and Silas' betrothed was paying for it.
Throughout the rest of the book we meet the girls at the boarding school, but terrible things keep happening, and loyalties are questioned. Ghosts of residents from the past start reaching through the veil to communicate, mainly with Silas.
So yes, this is more of a ghost story, but the real monsters are all of the cishet men. And doesn't that mirror real life?
This book is very dark and emotional. Please check the trigger warnings because there are a lot, and most of them are very graphic. For example, there is a graphic abortion scene that was very hard to read. Take care of yourself.
I will put money on it if anyone doesn't believe me.
From the first page, I was hooked. The writing is so good and the pacing is perfect. I couldn't stop reading, but I also didn't want it to end. Every time I picked up this book, I was immediately pulled back into the story. Sometimes it takes me a bit to get back into a story when I pick up a book, but this was not the case here. I loved every single minute of this book. The characters were so dimensional, even the villains. Sometimes it is difficult in a story when there are just as many villains as there are good characters, but here it made sense. The twists kept coming until the very end.
Another review written a few weeks after reading:
Have you ever just been so moved and touched by a book but at the same time it was so difficult to keep reading because it was just breaking your heart apart? That was The Spirit Bares Its Teeth.
Silas Bell is a young trans man during the the Victorian era in London, 1883 to be exact. People with violet eyes are highly treasured as mediums. There is a secret society of men who control the family lines of all the people with violet eyes. Silas is born with violet eyes, which means he will married off to an important family to keep the violet eyes lineage going.
Well Silas gets in some trouble at the beginning of the story that results as him being sent off to a girls' school that specializes in "veil sickness" which is what they said any violet eyed girl who did not confirm was inflicted by. This was basically a conversion school for girls, and Silas' betrothed was paying for it.
Throughout the rest of the book we meet the girls at the boarding school, but terrible things keep happening, and loyalties are questioned. Ghosts of residents from the past start reaching through the veil to communicate, mainly with Silas.
So yes, this is more of a ghost story, but the real monsters are all of the cishet men. And doesn't that mirror real life?
This book is very dark and emotional. Please check the trigger warnings because there are a lot, and most of them are very graphic. For example, there is a graphic abortion scene that was very hard to read. Take care of yourself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail