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A review by ciborium
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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
In short, my review is this: This book is disturbing, it's spectacularly queer in all ways, and anybody that has the stomach should read it.
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth (TSBIT) is now undoubtedly one of my favourite books. If you liked Hell Followed With Us, this is going on your TBR.
The autistic, trans, and queer representation in this book is phenomenal. It is beautiful and appreciative, as much as it is cruel, brutal, and truly honest. TSBIT is raw with the experiences of Silas and the other characters' identities and how they experience the world. I felt the most seen I ever have while reading. The story is not gentle with its depictions of misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and all around bigotry — and it is perfect like that. TSBIT hits hard and deep, with the precise aim of a scalpel. It isn't messy, but it is bloody, and gross, and full of wonderful trans rage. Bringing it all together for me was the painfully sweet experience of young queers falling (plummeting) headfirst into each other's arms and being angry at the world together.
This book is NOT for everyone and the content warnings should be taken very seriously. It is not a gentle read. It is messed up.
I only ran into a couple small issues during my read as I blasted through the whole thing in one sitting. For the most part, I think it was an issue with the formatting of the EPUB. I can tell that a lot of the intentional formatting got absolutely lost and trashed in the digital copy, and left me majorly confused until I could properly figure out what I was supposed to be actually seeing. I will be getting my grubby trans hands on a printed copy at any cost. I can only recall maybe three random grammatical / writing errors in the story, which is certainly not a damper on how much I love this book.
TLDR: Read it read it read it, but only if you can manage what you are going to see in there. Keep in mind that a digital copy may have the formatting screwed up, and march onward.
I look forward to literally anything else that Andrew Joseph White will be writing. Very well done.
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth (TSBIT) is now undoubtedly one of my favourite books. If you liked Hell Followed With Us, this is going on your TBR.
The autistic, trans, and queer representation in this book is phenomenal. It is beautiful and appreciative, as much as it is cruel, brutal, and truly honest. TSBIT is raw with the experiences of Silas and the other characters' identities and how they experience the world. I felt the most seen I ever have while reading. The story is not gentle with its depictions of misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and all around bigotry — and it is perfect like that. TSBIT hits hard and deep, with the precise aim of a scalpel. It isn't messy, but it is bloody, and gross, and full of wonderful trans rage. Bringing it all together for me was the painfully sweet experience of young queers falling (plummeting) headfirst into each other's arms and being angry at the world together.
This book is NOT for everyone and the content warnings should be taken very seriously. It is not a gentle read. It is messed up.
I only ran into a couple small issues during my read as I blasted through the whole thing in one sitting. For the most part, I think it was an issue with the formatting of the EPUB. I can tell that a lot of the intentional formatting got absolutely lost and trashed in the digital copy, and left me majorly confused until I could properly figure out what I was supposed to be actually seeing. I will be getting my grubby trans hands on a printed copy at any cost. I can only recall maybe three random grammatical / writing errors in the story, which is certainly not a damper on how much I love this book.
TLDR: Read it read it read it, but only if you can manage what you are going to see in there. Keep in mind that a digital copy may have the formatting screwed up, and march onward.
I look forward to literally anything else that Andrew Joseph White will be writing. Very well done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Violence, Physical abuse, Abortion, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Transphobia, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Minor: War and Vomit