Reviews with content warning for Violence - River of Teeth

River of Teeth is a historical fiction inspired by a real plan the United States government concocted to breed and slaughter hippopotamuses as an alternative meat source. The story is set in 1890s America after the plan has been put in place - multiple hippo generations have come and gone, bred and raised like cattle. Despite the government's best efforts, the plan failed when the hippos became feral and savage, eating anyone and everyone that got too close. To solve their problem, the government hires a small team of mercenary hippo wranglers, lead by Winslow Houndstooth... a man looking for a fortune and revenge.

River of Teeth successfully weaves relationship dynamics and non-heteronormative characters into a fast-paced compelling story full of adventure and mischief, tension (both romantic and murderous), a heist, romance, humor, violence, and history - all packed into less than 200 pages. When this book popped up in StoryGraph's "Up Next Recommendations" feature, I was intrigued. I did not expect to be sucked in immediately and so enthralled by the story. I mean, who wouldn't be intrigued by mercenary cowboys riding hippos? Think The Magnificent Seven, Wild Wild West, The Harder They Fall, and Razorblade Tears. I finished the book in just a few hours reading physically and listening to the audiobook. I have the sequel queued up for tomorrow because I need to know more. This is the first book that I have read by Sarah Gailey and I will certainly be reading more.

Representation: (I don't remember a confirmed official sexuality on page but I assume) pan/bi male main characters, bi plus sized female main character, nonbinary main character (they/them), aroace Latina main character,

Content Warnings:

violence and gore with blood
deaths and murder, including both humans and animals
theft and arson

Content Warnings

amandalachelle's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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kristina_in_space's review

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a doozy of a book. So unexpected and weird! But it was a fun little adventure. It’s short and fast paced. But the characters and story don’t suffer for it. I felt a connection with the characters, as varied as they are. The writing and descriptions are so lush I could easily picture everything, even the hippos.

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aurora4847's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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? No

1.0

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rebb003's review

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adventurous funny hopeful fast-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? Yes

5.0

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c_dmckinney's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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a_kt's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

2.5

Sadly, this book was a disappointment. The premise and "alternate history" feel of it is so intriguing, but the execution is just... not good. The characters are so two-dimensional they felt like parodies of actual people. The plot was fairly nonsensical. It was supposed to revolve around this whole revenge situation- but it was really unclear as to who the revenge was for? I think there was supposed to be some big twist/reveal towards the end of the book but the way it was written I had a moment of, "Wait, I thought we already knew this? Didn't they already tell us this was what happened? Or was it just so obvious I subconsciously 'figured out' the twist a while ago?" There was a romantic subplot, which had exactly negative chemistry. The end of the book ended up having one deus ex hippo after another. Needless character deaths. Lots of things that were very poorly explained. Just about the only saving grace of this book was that it was very short.

I'm going to start collecting books into a new subgenre called "YA novels except they say the f-word sometimes" which consists of books that are written at a middle-school level but advertised as adult fiction simply because some curse words are thrown around. That's exactly how I would describe this book.

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avacadosocks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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