A review by petrichorandcoffee
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

dark sad tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I felt it was overwritten, way too many similes. Some really beautiful language and wonderful word choice, but it was often excessive and distracting- especially since many of the similes were repetitive. Excellent imagery. Interesting repurposing of old myth/folklore. The characters' actions often had little to no motivations and the setup of the plot didn't really make sense (it was illogical that those invited on the trip would actually have been invited). The commentary on race and gender was accurate and reasonable but repetitive and shoehorned into dialogue in clunky ways. The dialogue was broken up too much and didn't have a natural flow. Overall, I think Khaw is probably a great writer in different mediums but I personally wasn't a huge fan of this book. I do appreciate that I learned some Japanese folklore from it, and there were some really great lines and great descriptions of grotesque imagery. 
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