A review by moniquewrites
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.75

I read this books right after Hell Followed With Us, which I loved, and was my first real entry into YA horror (and body horror),  so it’s hard not to make comparisons between them. This book is very different, but I liked the historical fiction/fantasy aspects, and seeing the experience of an Autistic person who is trans during that time period, which would have been so difficult, and yet I love that Silas always knows himself and accepts himself in spite of everything he’s been through and has been told (and even how he
challenges the rabbit in his head
). 

I liked the way it depicted the Speaker society as coded medical system/government — it’s horrifying to know that the kinds of experiments/surgeries happened in our own history. There were a lot of tragic and difficult topics covered in this book, and I thought they were done with sensitivity to the characters’ experience. 

My favourite parts were when
Silas meets Daphne and realizes the are both trans and realize they have found someone who truly understands
, as well as when Silas connects with the groundskeeper
and sees them as being the same (i.e. Autistic but not named). 
I really cared about Silas and appreciated the way he looked at the world and how much he cared for the people around him (and all the times he
saved people lives!
). White also did a great job of making me hate a lot of characters and I felt like the ending was satisfying.

One thing that was missing for me in this book was that we didn’t see as much of the societal world beyond the Silas’ class. There are mentions of  “the help” and servants but the story was very much centralized on the people in the facility/home — which is fine, but it just felt a little flat in terms of the bigger picture world around them.

I’ll definitely read anything that Andrew Joseph White writes in the future!
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