Reviews with content warning for Gore - River of Teeth

The setting was great - I really enjoyed the effects the introduction of hippos had on the course of history and how integrated they had become into daily life as well as how this was all done in such a small number of words and the plot is solid, though fast moving.

When the characters were introduced I HATED almost all of them on sight to varying degrees so it is an achievement that in ~170 pages I came to care for three of them (I would advise that you not read this if you like your main characters to be good people). Admittedly Hero was great from the start (if very murderous). The (domesticated) hippos are actually dears and are another reason this story was good. The romance is a little insta-lovey but with so few pages that is to be expected I suppose and Hero and Houndstooth were a delight together. I won't spoil anything (oh boy does a lot happen in the second half of the book) but in my opinion Hero saved this book for me and is the reason this is 4 stars rather than 3!)

However I wasn't so much a fan of how brutal things got at times. It fits the story but at one point I thought someone was going to get their mustache cut off and instead it was their EAR!

Finally let me warn you that there is a v unsatisfying ending and if you think you are going to like it then maybe have book 2 on hand because I don't and I need to know what happens next. Romeo and Juliet much!

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booksthatburn's review

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adventurous challenging dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

River of Teeth is a dark and fun revenge caper/operation alternate history with hippo steeds and self-confident queer sexiness. If that doesn't make you want to read it immediately, I'm not sure what else would convince you. Check this one out.

I love heist stories, caper (sorry, "operation") stories, anything where we get the crew together for one very dangerous job. I also love alternate history, twisting the past into something a little bit different, a little more weird (or at least differently so). Unsurprisingly, I loved this book. The premise is weird and wonderful, everyone who wants to be sexy is very sexy, the revenge plot is established without weighing down the story... it hit all the right notes for me and I'll definitely check out the sequel.

I don't think it goes quite as far as to have queerness as a default, but it gets most of the way there in very excellent form. Hero is great, their dynamic with Houndstooth is sexy and fun without distracting from the main plot. There's a lot of little things to appreciate and I don't want to spoil them, this just felt very good to read.

That the seed for this premise comes out of a real historical proposal is pretty great, but even if that weren't the case, this would still be a dark and fantastic story.

It moves fast and has a lot of fun, but it's also a revenge story and it has some pretty bloody scenes. Not everyone is up for that, so please take care of yourselves. It somehow manages to be gruesome, edging up to explicit without quite getting there, all without having a dark tone. If you are up for that, go read this.

Content Warnings

caseythereader's review

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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

5.0

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