Reviews - The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

5.29k reviews for:

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

Andrew Joseph White

4.51 AVERAGE

chubbycapybara's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

manta_moony's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It was very interesting and the main character was so great to see the world through. I’ve never read gothic horror so this was an amazing introduction to it!

Content Warnings

pages_of_paige's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sunflower_hjordis's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

claudiafoxwell's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

elrichreads's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark reflective 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: Complicated

I loved this book! It took me a little bit to really get into it, I think mainly because I had trouble knowing the main character as he truly is supposed to be known until much later in the story. Though, that's not a fault of the book because makes sense narratively, it was just a struggle me.
It's heavy and though there are obvious sci-fi/fantasy elements so much of the historically accurate abuse of those deemed "unwell" in the time period the story is set in is difficult to stomach and so necessary to learn about.
Highly recommend a read! Especially if you like the authors other works but aren't typically into works with historical fiction aspects because that's how I decided to read it and was not disappointed!

Content Warnings

kacuval's review against another edition

3.0

For 75% of it, I felt like I was forcing myself to read it. My interest would peak at some points, but it really couldn't be retained. It just felt so slow at some many parts then it would pick up for a hot second, then slow down. The end just felt rushed. The fantasy aspect of it was really confusing and a part that I actually didn't really enjoy. I kind of just started to ignore it in the beginning. Wish it was more developed more because it seems cool, but treated as some side piece and not something integral to the story.
I really did like Silas and his internal monologue. The way he describes things is so beautiful sometimes (and sometimes hella graphic which I enjoyed), especially with his fixation on surgery. The way he talks about being trans--loved every bit of it, including the parts where he talks about being autistic. Though, I had a hard time warping my head around him "falling in love" with Daphne. Quotation marks because they did not fall in love for me. They liked each other and understood each other at a deep level because they were both trans. But that's probably the point; they can only be safe with each other in their current society because they are both trans. But if the story was set to today and their surroundings were accepting, they would probably harbor no romantic feelings towards one another.
Besides Daphne and Mary, maybe that girl who was on that side (I do not remember her name), nobody was really memorable. Sure, they had their different personalities but I really did not care for them. The sudden plot twist of George felt kind of... eh. I was a bit upset that he turned out to be one of the villains of the story, but not surprised because every man in this story is a terrible person.
Honestly, the more I think about this, the more I realize I didn't really like it. Just couldn't get in it.