Characteristics:
Pace: fast paced
Moods: tense, dark, mysterious
Plot- or Character-Driven: plot
Strong Character Development: not really
Lovable Characters: not really
Diverse Cast: unsure
Flaws of the Main Characters a Center Focus: sort of

Overview:
A group of long time friends who seem to love the thrill of haunted, ghosty adventures, settle on a Heian-era mansion as the location for one of the existing couple's wedding venue (which has been a childhood dream of the bride-to-be). The friends' individual relationships are already a bit complicated, and after a night of settling in, drinking, eating, and swapping ghost stories, things begin to intensify and reach a terrifying peak. Before the wedding even has begun, the night turns horrifying, and no one will ultimately walk out the mansion the same as they walked in (and in some cases ... fail to walk out at all).

What I loved:
- I loved the Japanese folklore incorporated seamlessly in this story. I kept my phone close and did a lot of translating and Googling as I progressed, and I loved every bit of it!
- I will forever be impressed by authors who can create a strong mood and atmosphere in a short amount of time and just jam-pack what could be a full novel's worth of content into less than even 200 pages. Cassandra Khaw does this so well. There were moments I found myself physically cringing in response to some of the descriptions. This story sets you up with eerie "something's not right" vibes right of the bat and never lets go.
- It's creepy, and it's creepy well-done.
- I could easily see this play out as an hour and a half horror movie on Netflix and it do phenomenally well.

What I didn’t love:
- Honestly, my only complaint is that I wanted MORE of it. I would've been entirely happy with another 100 pages and not even blinked about it.

Overall:
Fantastic Japanese-centered haunted house/horror tale in under 200 pages! It had me feeling creeped out at times, physically repulsed at others, and overall very satisfied. If you're in the mood for a solid creepy tale that won't take too long to read but scratch that horror itch, this one is so worth picking up! I've thrown it in my "favorites of 2021" as I think this one has left me lingering and wishing for more.

Excerpt: "In the last few years, authors like Stephen Graham Jones broke the highbrow slasher into the mainstream. This new evolution of the subgenre contrasts visceral bloodlust with elegant prose and literary thematic elements. Nothing But Blackened Teeth continues the slasher revolution, and Cassandra Khaw is arguably one of the most gifted line-by-line writers in the field. Every sentence in is breathtaking."

Nothing but Blackened Teeth is kind of the perfect ghost story. Right from the beginning, it establishes a sense of dread that only grows with every page. Five friends, with fraught histories of their own, rent out a haunted Japanese mansion for a wedding. In order to provide a welcoming environment for the ghosts, the group lights a hundred candles to blow out one by one as each person tells a ghost story. When the last candle goes out, things go from tense to hostile. This book feels like a ghost story that would get told in the flickering candlelight of your own haunted sleepover (maybe even at a Japanese mansion). The narrator, Cat, is both incredibly intuitive and slightly detached from the situation, watching as her friends make all the wrong decisions but unable to stop them. Familiar without being predictable and self-aware in a way that brings an alarming inevitability to the ending

I really enjoyed this creeping little novella! While it wasn't as horror filled as I imagined it would be and I do wish the paranormal aspect had been fleshed out a little more, I did like how the relationships and friendships between the obvious frenemies played out.

I didn’t intend to start this this morning but then I couldn’t put it down once I did. Very short, creepy creepy novella. Four stars because like half the dialogue is just some twenty-somethings bitching because they’ve all slept with each other and there are still ~feelings~. Highly recommended for horror fans though!

Friends in an abandoned, crumbling, haunted, mansion with a ghost-bride? I was soooo ready for this horror, especially considering it's a novella, which we don't see enough of, in my opinion. I'm strangely torn writing this review, because the prose itself, while stunning, is also part of my hang-up. There are some gorgeous passages in here, but the overall effect is one that took me out of the story on a regular basis. Even the beginning felt rather jarring, like I was scrambling to orient myself.
An example of what I loved: "The night stretched chandeliered with fireflies and stars and the last cicada songs of the year, the world coloring indigo-dark."
Like wow, atmosphere. Love that. Unfortunately I found there wasn't enough atmosphere throughout though, and instead I often felt disconnected and couldn't entirely picture the house itself.
An example of what I didn't love: "Too excited to have ever molded the Ecstasy-glutted into shambolic choreography, but that had always been a plus point for its most strident advocate."
Like what? A lot of this feels overdone/wordy for no reason.
I was also not sure about the 'friends' part. It rather felt like everyone mostly hated each other and we are never really told the details of the past. There is only a faint glossing over of basics.
Overall, things I did like: the setting, the folklore, and the characters were well-described.
Like any good classic horror, I'm somewhat left wondering what piece I failed to miss, or was it all in our narrator's head?
Thanks to NetGalley for the free arc.

This was too short, relied heavily on stereotypes/didn't build out characters, plot was rushed, so it wasn't scary at all and there wasn't really any room for visuals. The part about the painted screens coming to life and watching the people in the rooms was very cool, however unless the reader is super knowledgeable about Japanese demons and folk figures, they're not understandable as something scary. The ending was such a 'ta-da!' that it didn't even make sense - this was 90 pages of a either a failed movie or comic script.

Absolutely riveting. I ate up every paragraph this offered me.

The prose was heavily stylized and lyrical but absolutely stunning. I have never read a story with a setting so vividly painted for me, I felt like I was seeing it unfold right in front of me. Khaw was prepared to deliver on every promise this book made. It was horrifying, funny, disgusting, beautiful, and consuming. I can see this not being everyone’s cup of tea, the prose is very “flowery” but I absolutely loved it. I’d give it 6 stars if I could.

This short story was very different then my normal reads. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC for this story and was able to finish it in about an hour.

Things I liked: the Japanese Folklore. I feel like that is one area of horror that we do not get nearly enough of in the west. Japanese culture and history is something we are rarely exposed too, so hearing about the different types of myths/legends was super fascinating. The setting itself was even amazing! The atmosphere in this book was both beautiful and creep.

Things I did not like: the writing style. I do not read many short story’s and this story could have benefited from being just a bit longer. The story was simple and thoughtful but there were almost too many moving parts that didn’t get a chance to shine because of the length of the book. The prose is this story are beautiful, but the symbolize and constant metaphors bogged down some parts of the story. It was hard to understand at some points what was happening because of the constant metaphors.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and think it is the perfect creepy/easy read and will be great when it is released around Halloween!

More often that not, I am of the opinion that most books could and should be shorter. But this novella could have frightened me so much more in novel-length. Khaw writes lushly, and I've loved her stuff since I first read the Rupert Wong stories. But with so few pages, I couldn't connect with the characters in NOTHING BUT BLACKENED TEETH enough to care about their peril as much as I ought.

I enjoyed this short novella. It has all the elements of a larger story, and the epilogue was satisfying. I feel novella’s often leave something to be desired, and Khaw managed to avoid this. The plot of it was, at times, a bit confusing and all over the place. However, this is forgivable when logic gets thrown out the window in most ghost stories. The characters are already at one another’s throats from page one. This allowed for the tension to be set without a long build up.
If you’re looking for a quick, gory horror story- this is the novella for you. The imagery is dreamlike and dark. Our characters are perfectly unlikable, and our ghost is wonderfully terrifying. The ending to this was a bit confusing, but the epilogue cleared a lot up and wrapped things nicely for me.
Full review October 18th, 2021

Beautifully written but it ultimately felt like I was getting a snippet of something larger. The reader is plopped into a scenario and doesn't have much time to really get to know the characters. Though they're intriguing, I felt like I was hovering over them not really quite getting the full picture.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a short novella that features a haunted house, ghosts/demons, and a group of people who really shouldn't be allowed in the same room together. While the "haunted house" and "ghost" aspects of the book were good, I really disliked the characters and their incessant bickering and nitpicking. After reading reviews of this book, I wonder if we read the same book. There was nothing likable about the characters and the gothic horror elements were not enough to make me like this novella.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a pure horror novel. This was very ghost story-ish, but also a very quick read. It was hard to like the characters and the storyline lime moved very quickly without a lot of details. I would’ve enjoyed more of the storyline rather than the characters banter.

Interesting concept and introduced me to different folklore concepts. I wish it had been a little bit longer. I would have loved to read a more expanded version of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

So this book was not my favorite but it was also not bad. It was just okay. This story is a new take on a creepy haunted house with some Japanese folklore added in. The characters were interesting and I enjoyed reading about how they handled a lot of the spooky moments. A problem I ran into with the characters though is that I didn’t have a real connection with any of them which led to me not truly caring about what happened to them.

The main problem I had with this book is how outrageously purple it is! I cannot deal with such lyrical and purple writing. I just can’t. I appreciated the bisexual and Asian representation. The horror was also enjoyable but the writing style just prevented me from truly enjoying this book.

First, this cover is absolutely amazing! Every now and then, I pick up a book based solely on the cover art and this was the case with Nothing But Blackened Teeth. It's absolutely haunting and gothic and a wonderful visual to jump start the story.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a hybrid of literary prose and B movie fan fiction. Khaw is a wordsmith. She knows how to paint a scene, but at times, the descriptions become too involved. I give her credit for coming up with lines like:

"The light plunged through the gap between her lips, and there was only ink and the smell of vinegar, only black teeth."

"Enclosed in Nadia's ribs was an entire vocabulary of sighs, each one layered with delicate subtleties, each laboured exhaulation unique in its etymology."

Lovely, but when every bit of exposition is written with the same grandiose flair, it's simply too much.

While the prose tilts toward literature, the plot is a B horror fan's dream. There's constant references to stereotypical plot points in horror movies, a technique for the characters to not take themselves or the situation too seriously. However, because one character in particular (Lin) keeps pointing out that the events feel like a horror movie unraveling, the story is predictable and the dialog becomes redundant.

Even so, it's a lot of fun. Yes, you'll know what happens before it occurs, but that doesn't make it any less nightmare inducing. The horror elements are masterfully described, and it's a book you'll be able to breeze through in one setting. I recommend giving it a try!

i really enjoyed the writing, but the dialogue took me in and out of the story, unfortunately. I would love to read more of this author's worked though!

Title: Nothing But Blackened Teeth
Author: Cassandra Khaw
Release Date: 10.19.21
Review Date: 5.4.21

I was given an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own.

A group of twenty-somethings have a bridal party in an allegedly haunted mansion in Japan. There's possession. Murder. The Usual.

I hate to say it but I thought it was truly terrible. I haven't read many horror novels but I assume they're supposed to actually scare you at some point. This just ended up annoying me. I didn't care about any of it. The only good thing about it was how quick it was to read. But that could have also been a bad thing.

A group of friends travel to an abandoned Japanese mansion to celebrate a friend’s wedding and investigate an old ghost tale. This is a fast-paced page-turner and I was invested in finding out what happens until the end. The story is presented in a very visual way. It would be well adapted to a visually stunning horror movie.
Khaw’s abstract writing style was unique and makes for a different reading experience. She crafts words together to create visually stunning images and emotional responses. I liked the descriptions of the location:
“But the interior didn’t smell like it had people here, not for a long, long time, and it smelled instead like such old buildings do: green and damp and dark and hungry, hollow as a stomach that’d forgotten what it was like to eat.”
However, the character descriptions could be excessive in a way that did not add to the story, for example:
“The words swayed like a body on a rope, finally slack. Emotional distance reframing that previous incarnation as a stranger, without body or nuance, a monochrome despair decanted into the slumped mouth, a six-month affair with cigarettes and self-loathing.”
Nothing but Blackened teeth is a refreshing, quick read. Despite the style over substance mechanics, the story wraps up satisfyingly. The writing style may not be for everyone, but I found it a unique change of pace. I would recommend this to fans of Eastern horror and those who are interested in artistically rendered stories. Just try not to rot your teeth from the excessive use of sugary metaphors.