Reviews - Nothing But Blackened Teeth

7.7k reviews for:

Nothing But Blackened Teeth

Cassandra Khaw

2.72 AVERAGE

megan_is_aa's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

This was a difficult read for me. Getting through the first few chapters were a chore. I read about it a little and found it's supposed to be like that (?) so I gave it another shot.

Points against:
-I didn't like any of the characters
-It was confusing in a way that didn't seem to pay off
-Did't care for the dialogue

Points for:
-unlike many others, I did enjoy the prose
-

I really liked the image of the spirits watching and laughing at them while they were freaking out. Such a vibe.

I guess killing a billionaire is technically good but it didn't feel very satisfying

moonstone914's review against another edition

3.5

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

raem414's review against another edition

2.5

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

taintedcrimson's review against another edition

2.0

The author has a real talent for writing eerie descriptions and atmospheric horror, but the characters knocked down those stars. There's a lot of complicated drama between them that I couldn't entirely follow, and it just had me questioning things more often than not. I felt like I needed one of those boards with red string and dozens of post-its to connect the dots between them.

The audiobook narration was pretty great, and that's coming from the perspective of someone who can rarely stand listening to audiobooks. Some of the voices were a bit annoying but they fit the characters well, and my only real complaint is about the odd Japanese pronunciation at times.

The ending felt too neat and tidy for me. Too easy. Overall, the story feels like one of those movies that is edited for television, the "worst" bits cut out for public broadcast. This story could have gone much harder than it did but it held back. I was looking forward to being scared but it just never quite hit right.

geofrog's review against another edition

2.0

It’s hard to write a novella with a fully fleshed out story and cast of characters. None of the characters in this novella are interesting and they all felt one note. I couldn’t picture their faces. I wasn’t expecting deep and complex characters from a short novella, but I was expecting more than this. I loved the premise. I loved the setting of an abandoned Heian-era mansion in rural Japan. I loved the use of Japanese folklore. The story has plenty of classic horror tropes but the setting and use of Japanese folklore gives the story a fresh feel. The characters also had some decent self-aware horror movie character moments. There isn’t much to say other than I feel like this could have been better fleshed out had it been fully expanded into a novel. I would have loved to have read this story if it had been a full length novel with a tone and story similar to The Grudge.