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A review by rattletheshelves
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
challenging
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
Dark. Gore. Brilliant.
Hell Followed With Us was one of my absolute faves of last year so I was overjoyed to get a chance to read the author's second book early on. And even though this time I knew what I was signing up for, woah, did it still hit HARD.
I'm pretty sure that Andrew Joseph White is on a mission to find all the settings that terrify me the most, squeeze all the awfulness out of them and fill them with gore and queer rage. I won't be surprised if his next books is set in 1950s US (*shudders*).
It's a book filled with gore and involuntary medical procedures and experimentation. It's about forced institutionalization, there's sexual assault, and did I mention gore and gory, bloody details? There's so much transphobia and ableism and misogyny.... and somehow, it all balances out. It doesn't feel like too much or maybe it's just that all these elements aren't there for the shock value. Andrew Joseph White fills these horrible things with queer rage and reclaims them. Even when the world and all the horrible people try to break his characters over and over, even when they're helpless, they keep on fighting. They keep on surviving. And isn't that what we, queer people do?
The characters, as in Hell Followed With Us, are amazing. I love that Silas gets to meet another autistic person and another trans person. I love that whatever he goes through, there are others with similar experiences. It's a reminder that in this horrible horrible world you're never truly alone.
Everyone in this book is seriously messed up, omg. All the characters are morally gray to say the least. But then, as the book itself says, would you judge an animal for doing everything it takes to survive? Why would you judge a person differently?
I need to reread Hell Followed With Us soon.
***Thank you NetGalley for the eARC***
Hell Followed With Us was one of my absolute faves of last year so I was overjoyed to get a chance to read the author's second book early on. And even though this time I knew what I was signing up for, woah, did it still hit HARD.
I'm pretty sure that Andrew Joseph White is on a mission to find all the settings that terrify me the most, squeeze all the awfulness out of them and fill them with gore and queer rage. I won't be surprised if his next books is set in 1950s US (*shudders*).
It's a book filled with gore and involuntary medical procedures and experimentation. It's about forced institutionalization, there's sexual assault, and did I mention gore and gory, bloody details? There's so much transphobia and ableism and misogyny.... and somehow, it all balances out. It doesn't feel like too much or maybe it's just that all these elements aren't there for the shock value. Andrew Joseph White fills these horrible things with queer rage and reclaims them. Even when the world and all the horrible people try to break his characters over and over, even when they're helpless, they keep on fighting. They keep on surviving. And isn't that what we, queer people do?
The characters, as in Hell Followed With Us, are amazing. I love that Silas gets to meet another autistic person and another trans person. I love that whatever he goes through, there are others with similar experiences. It's a reminder that in this horrible horrible world you're never truly alone.
Everyone in this book is seriously messed up, omg. All the characters are morally gray to say the least. But then, as the book itself says, would you judge an animal for doing everything it takes to survive? Why would you judge a person differently?
I need to reread Hell Followed With Us soon.
***Thank you NetGalley for the eARC***
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape