Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - River of Teeth

Really enjoyable read! All of the characters were well-developed, unique and incredibly fun to get to know. I especially liked the idea of a group of people who would have been incredibly marginalized in the 1890s were able to have this epic adventure. Openly trans and queer characters were normalized, fat characters experienced no fat phobia and were portrayed as desirable, and almost all the characters were POC. The plot was engaging and playful but was still treated with the utmost sincerity.

This is a great book for those fond of westerns, cowboys, vigilante justice, historical fiction, and ambiguous characters.

My only criticism of this book is that the reviews led me to believe it was funnier than it was or that it was more explicit in queer romance scenes. I also found it a little slower to get into, but by chapter three I was totally hooked.

Content Warnings

nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

good but the tension wasnt balanced. there should have been more exposition. more character building. so good tho.

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theoldestbennetsister's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny informative tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I've read only three so far, but I think Sarah Gailey's books are in a class all their own. Rollicking and funny
speculative fiction, they're *really*
entertaining. The first one I read, Upright Women Wanted, was about traveling Librarians (capitalized) running an underground railroad of sorts in the Wild West. This time, Gailey's tale is based on a real life What If - what if, in 1910, hippos really had been imported to be bred for meat in the swamps of the Mississippi River? (Yes, this almost really happened.)

Hippopotamuses might look fairly docile and sluggish but they're really fast and they can be really vicious. It's one thing if a hopper (like a cowboy but ... not) has hand fed a baby hippo so it's a devoted domesticated beast, but what about the ones that get away and breed, and breed, and breed till their offspring are feral?

This tightly-packed novella gives us a handful of rascally scoundrels who come together to gradually remove the ferals from the huge lake where their population has exploded. The man with the plan, though, thinks he can make a fast buck by evacuating the ferals quickly - but as with most plans, things don't go the way he'd hoped. He's gathered the fastest gun in the West, a demolitions expert, an assassin, and a fast-talking thief up against the villain who owns the lake and who wants the feral hippos right where they are.

It's a fabulous story and I'm about to embark on the second half in the sequel, Taste of Marrow.

Content Warnings

caseythereader's review against another edition

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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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