Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Nothing But Blackened Teeth

“After all, isn't that the foremost commandment in the scripture of horror? They who are queer, deviant, tattooed, tongue-pierced or other must always die first.”

This was sooo good! Beautiful prose throughout and there are so many quotable passages from this book that stuck out to me. This book takes your typical horror story if the group of young naive 20-somethings who vacation at a haunted house looking for the ghosts they’ve been told dwell there and turns it on it’s head. It’s still the same story in ways, but this book tackles grief, the complexities of adult relationships, and so much more in such a short time.

When the thing happened, my jaw dropped. I was expecting something crazy, but I was still shocked by it. Highly recommend for horror fans, or those into the disturbing and macabre, otherwise, it may be a bit too horrifying. Great for spooky season and a short read.

Overall this slapped.

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fuguefire's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Loved this book! A quick read, with amazing characters and incredible prose.

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thestylishreader's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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ldipkin's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

There were some descriptive passages in this that were genuinely great, but the characterisation of the group did not endear them to me, the solution to the haunted house issue seemed rushed and like it came out of nowhere, and the numerous meta references to horror media didn't really add anything to me. I do thin Khaw has what it takes to be a good horror writer but I really felt disappointed by this one because I didn't find it scary at all, and their characters were so intolerable it made me root for the ghost/house. That being said, the paragraphs focusing on the setting and sense of place were lush and wonderful, and I liked the focus on Japanese yokai and folklore - in that it was a fresh take on monsters/ghosts, one that we don't see much in horror writing.

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bibliophilecrocodile's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The story is about five acquaintances (let's call them that) who visit a supposed haunted house so that two of them could get married there. Yeah one of the character's childhood dream was that "she wants to get married in a haunted house."
Well obviously they aren't alone, they have an ghost of a girl there who lost her husband-to-be just before their wedding ceremony and so she decided to be buried alive so that she can be waiting in that house when her husband's spirit comes home.
Well then stuff happens which you'll have to read this book to know what's it about.

Umm well I was really damn excited for this one. My favorite parts were where the characters called out horror movies for always killing off the queer characters. Now to how I felt about the rest of the book.
I'm obsessed with myths and Japanese myths are one of my top favorites. I loved the yokai parts in the book, but the book was too short and felt too rushed to me? I don't know, the comedic parts didn't work for me. I saw a lot of reviews saying don't read this book at night and stuff, and I was like so damn excited to be spooked and well, yeah, disappointment was all I got. It's probably my problem, nothing wrong with the book as it's written really beautifully but I just had some expectations which were not met, clearly my fault. But I'm still sad, I was so damn excited for this one.

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