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A review by bookgirlie_unbound
Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book has good bones, but the execution is lacking.
Deeply creepy vibes? Check. Violence? Check. Academic setting? Check. Unhinged students with rich boy complexes? Check. A girl who is worse than the killers of her cousin? Also check. And yet...
This book has two major flaws that should have been improved in the editorial process to refine it and make it superb. The first is the pacing. Readers are rushed through the quagmire of academic life AND the heartpounding experiences alike. The torturous exploration of daily life and the precipice of death is, at least to my understanding, a requirement of a solid dark academia novel. Second is the magic/spiritual/mystic system at play. Howell nods to it throughout the book, but when poked and proded, there is no support system to justify WHY this power exists in the world- for all that she spends much of the book exploring metacognition and sense of self. When the climax arrived, I was left reeling, not from emotional wind up but from "WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?" because honestly, where?
Thank you as always to NetGalley and the galley gods for providing me this e-ARC.
Deeply creepy vibes? Check. Violence? Check. Academic setting? Check. Unhinged students with rich boy complexes? Check. A girl who is worse than the killers of her cousin? Also check. And yet...
This book has two major flaws that should have been improved in the editorial process to refine it and make it superb. The first is the pacing. Readers are rushed through the quagmire of academic life AND the heartpounding experiences alike. The torturous exploration of daily life and the precipice of death is, at least to my understanding, a requirement of a solid dark academia novel. Second is the magic/spiritual/mystic system at play. Howell nods to it throughout the book, but when poked and proded, there is no support system to justify WHY this power exists in the world- for all that she spends much of the book exploring metacognition and sense of self. When the climax arrived, I was left reeling, not from emotional wind up but from "WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?" because honestly, where?
Thank you as always to NetGalley and the galley gods for providing me this e-ARC.