A review by kaypringle
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This novella has stunning imagery from the cover itself to the mood and scenery described by the author. This being said, it feels as though too much time was dedicated to attempt to establish the typical “five young 20 year olds go off to a haunted area” trop that when it came time to advance the plot, there was so little to work with which resulted in it feeling like a lack luster book. This also caused there to be little room to hypothesize that “no point” could have been the purpose and background of this novella, and it just left me feeling deeply unsatisfied and disappointed. There was an extreme amount of potential for this author but I feel as though this one fell right on its face, which is only furthered by the fact that in the acknowledgments, when the first one states “I like this, but it needs a lot of work” still holds true after it has already been published. Not all horror stories have to be long, drawn out and perfectly suspenseful, but the best are ones that are able to leave someone feeling shocked or thrilled in after seeing the experience of the characters, which was not the case here. I know I may not have caught everything in this first read through and may need to read it again to grasp more, but not very sold on it through this first read through. 
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