The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is a horror story that strikes at the heart of Victorian, England. Violet eyed women are sold like cattle to the wealthy Speakers so they in turn can be bred for violet eyed babies. Sons that can grow into mediums and daughters that can repeat the cycle. Silas, is an anomaly in this system. Born a biological girl, he has always felt in his heart that he is a man. After a series of rash decisions lands him in an school that claims to fix "veil sickness" and turn him into an obedient Speaker's wife, Silas has to to keep his head down while sniffing out the secrets of the school and the girls that vanish from it.

This book is horrifying and haunting in all the right ways. This book is fast-paced, with an atmosphere that is chilling. The mood is often somber, with random bright spots interspersed. The characters are well written, with my favorites being Silas, Daphne, and Isabella. I especially enjoyed the queer representation. The horrors hit home because minus the violet eyes, it has happened and could happen again. It mirrors what really happened in Victorian times and beyond. While a hard read to stomach at times, this book hit all the right notes.

Thank you to NetGalley and PeachTree Teen for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.

The Spirit Bares It Teeth beautifully captures the pain and fear of having to hide and mask who you are, and also the joy of being yourself and finding people like you. It's an angry and gory story but with a thread of hopefulness weaved throughout.

Silas and his world - an alternative Victorian London - are vividly drawn on the page, meaning as a reader you are swept into both the brutal awfulness of the situation he is in and the people around him, and also the little moments of connections and joy he finds.

Most of the story takes part in a mental institution/ school for "unwell girls", and through this setting, White rips apart the hypocrisy and brutality of Victorian patriarchy and its use of "female hysteria" as a means of control.

The use of the rabbit as the voice in Silas' head works brilliantly as a narrative device. It shows the fears and anxieties he's internalised from being brought up to hide and be ashamed of his differences (his autism and transness) and how he learns to overcome them.

This book had me riveted from start to finish, whether it was horrifying me with *that* caesarean scene, drawing me into its mystery, making me hate its many despicable characters, or bringing me joy for Silas and his little moments of connection.

This is a horror story like no other I've ever read before. On top of the gore there is also the societal horror aspect that just draws you in. Violet eyed women are used as cattle to breed violet eyed babies. Any woman that goes against anything the speaker society does is deemed as "veilsick" and gets them send to Braxton to be rehabilitated. Meet Silas: a trans boy with autism who has been struggling through speaker society. His parents have been trying to get him to be the perfect obedient child, and inform him that he will be married off soon. When his plan to get away from the speaker society and impending marriage goes wrong, he gets sent to Braxton and all it's horrors.

The story is incredibly fast paced, I could not put it down. Every single character was fleshed out and served a purpose in the story, even when they were never actually seen by the main character. The book is brutal and doesn't shy away from anything, so please check up on the content warnings before deciding to read this.

Incredible, brutal and fascinating read . This is my first book by the author and I’m absolutely obsessed with their writing style .

Thank you NetGalley for the arc .

If you’re a fan of The Diviners by Libba Bray and are looking for a darker, more edgy, and all around more graphic story of spirits, revenge, identity, and survival, this is it.

I can never resist a good period piece. Give me Jane Austen vibes with a twist and I will devour the story in a handful of hours. To be honest, I picked this book based on the cover. Across between a fun gothic print and a tarot card, I couldn’t pass it up. I had no idea what I was getting into so when I got to the author’s note that explained the history and provided a content warning that was quite expansive, I was intrigued. I’m never one to step away from anything graphic, horror, historical, or medical. That being said, this was a whirlwind of a book and one I could not put down. I’m not going to sugarcoat it; this could be an offensive book and definitely should have a content warning. It is not for the faint of heart. There are many descriptive medical procedures that could make someone with a good imagination and a weak stomach queasy. Some of the actions are written in a jarring, shocking, and matter of fact way that had me rereading because it was so shocking. Sometimes the main character’s feelings about motherhood, the female anatomy, the womb, fetuses, are so blunt and harsh that it makes you pause because your brain doesn’t really know how to process this. And that’s kind of the point. The author does such a good job expressing the views of the main character and the social constructs, the biological expectations for females, and layers it with a magical twist that doubly reinforces a woman’s place in society during the 1800s.

Due to the graphic nature and sheer content, it makes me a little uncomfortable that this is a YA book. Definitely not for the younger YA. I think this could easily find a home in adult fiction.

This was my first book ever dealing with a trans character and I apologize if I use any terms incorrectly. Please correct me. Silas (or Gloria as forced to be called by those who label by biological sex and not gender) Bell is an engaging and gripping character. Silas’ emotions are potent and expansive. There’s depth and complexity that is built throughout the story and really encompasses the internal conflict faced when being told you are female and knowing, without a doubt, you are male. Despite anatomy, despite how everyone refers to you, that is your truth and self-awareness. This was powerful for me to read. The reality of it is, unless you are exposed to people of different genders, it’s almost something in the background that is not given any thought.

One of the things I truly appreciated about this book was the acceptance Silas found. In a little school of horrors, in a world where anatomy and eye color trump emotions and agency, finding that small glimmer of hope by being welcomed gave Silas the strength to keep going. That in itself was a beautiful thing.

The secondary characters were memorable and all had a purpose.

The story itself was a gripping tragedy based in history. The experimentation on people placed in asylums is one of the darkest parts of human history and really only ended less than 100 years ago. The horrific reality of what these medical doctors were allowed to do to human lives for the sake of a “cure” for insanity is appalling and repulsive. Andrew Joseph White does an amazing job capturing this historical truth.

This is one of those books that you will feel overwhelmed by because it’s hard to process all the feelings. There are so many things that I want to say and this review has come nowhere near all of them.

There’s just something about the way Andrew Joseph White that leaves me questioning what I just read, in a good way.

I honestly don’t even know what to say. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth was so good

I found out about Andrew Joseph White from his debut novel Hell Followed With Us. That book stuck with me to this day just because of the descriptions of the world and just how gruesome the apocalypse can be, and how we see religious trauma dumped onto the young trans boy in that story. In this one we have an autistic trans boy who is being forced into these boxes he doesn't fit, however in this society just being who he is grant's him entry into this school for girls. It really reminded me of the insane asylum from the 60s and how mistreated those people were. Being autistic myself I really felt for Silas in times where the way people talked to him and how he couldn't understand why people couldn't communicate in a clearer way, or just accept him for who he really is. I really felt like I was in 1883 London, Andrew has the best world building and atmosphere down in his work. Highly recommend.

“You know what happens to little girls who play with ghosts.”

The Spirit Bares it’s Teeth follow Silas, a trans teen forced to make a series of decisions that lead him to being thrown in a boarding school for sick girls. But there is something more deadly and sinister lurking beneath the surface that Silas has to cut out and find. The writing in this is phenomenally vivid and descriptive! It felt like watching an episode of greys anatomy but the best episode of it ever.

Silas is forced to suffer essentially conversation therapy and forced to follow gender norms of historical society. This reminded me of The Meadows which had a similar concept but lacked the execution that this book has succeeded in.

Hidden in this is a romance too! A love story between two souls born in the wrong bodies. Found lovers who can find comfort in one another through the bad of it all. Daphne and Silas have captured my heart and I want nothing more than a HEA for them.

Another favorite ascpect of mine was the violet eyes and the overarching theme of them. From their symbolism to their depictions throughout the book. How they kept coming up and mirror selves being sewn throughout, ugh such detail! And that cover is so on point I love it

TW: There is a very detailed abortion scene that’s wonderfully done but i know that’s a big trigger for some. It’s such a good scene Omg

This was very similar to Stalking Jack the Ripper in the fascination of cutting up bodies and the human anatomy! I definitely recommend picking this up ASAP make sure to preorder now!

"The Spirit Bares Its Teeth" by Andrew Joseph White is a wild ride of transgressive gothic horror proportions. This book is a dark, visceral masterpiece that left me both enthralled and genuinely disturbed in the best way possible. White's storytelling is so raw and provocative that it feels like he has taken a scalpel to the deepest recesses of our fears and nightmares, laying them bare for all to see. I must admit, there were moments when the graphic descriptions were so vivid that I had to take breaks, as my squeamish nature couldn't handle the intensity, but that's a testament to the author's ability to immerse the reader in this haunting world.

Set in 1883 London, where the boundary between the living and the dead blurs, the story follows Silas Bell, a trans and autistic teenager determined to resist societal conformity. When Silas is diagnosed with the enigmatic Veil sickness and sent to Braxton's Finishing School and Sanitorium, he discovers the school's dark secrets. Ghostly apparitions of missing students lead Silas on a perilous journey to expose the school's horrors.

One of the standout elements of the novel is the unapologetically trans protagonist, Silas Bell. White fearlessly tackles the violence of the patriarchy and the struggles faced by trans youth forced into societal conformity. Silas's journey is both thought-provoking and emotionally gripping, making this a truly unforgettable read. White has created a character whose resilience and determination shine through the darkness of the story, giving voice to those who have been marginalized and oppressed throughout history.

Andrew has done it again! This gothic horror is everything I wanted. It was gruesome, heartbreaking, and engrossing. If you liked Hell Followed With Us, you will adore this.

The Spirit Bares its Teeth was a refreshingly unique read that was still heartbreaking and devastating to read. I found myself rooting endlessly for our main character Silas as he tried to survive the horrors of this world.

The worldbuilding was simple to navigate and the atmosphere was so eerie and dark that I instantly found myself transported! The setting was like a gothic London in the 1800s but with the British Empire ruling the world and violet eyes being the main commodity that was sought after.

Despite how infuriating and hard it was to read this at times Andrew Joseph White takes you on a harrowing journey of survival, perseverance and growth. Silas journey was incredible to watch and I am beyond proud as a reader. This is certainly a story that will stick with me forever.

Silas knows he's a boy, but society doesn't see him that way. And as his parents get closer and closer to marrying him off, to fulfill his duties as a good Speaker wife, he decides to take matters into his own hands by posing as a man who was supposed to do his initiation. But the night goes awry, and his real identity is exposed. In the aftermath, he learns that his parents have agreed to an engagement to the son of a prominent man who decides to go ahead with the engagement. After all, there's a school for girls with Veil sickness--girls with violet eyes who have interacted with the veil too much and have lost their way. A school run by the father of the person Silas is to marry.
Immediately upon arrival, it's clear to Silas that something terrible is going on at the school. Girls have gone missing, and punishments are cruel. He decides to investigate, and what he uncovers is even worse than he imagined. Through it all, his one source of comfort is the person he's supposed to marry. A person with a secret, who wants the girls in the school to be safe.
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is one of the best books I've read in a very long time. I was sucked in right from the very beginning, and could not put it down. Silas is autistic, and it was so beautiful--and so hard--to see that laid out so explicitly on the page. It was a level of representation I've rarely, if ever, gotten, and it was painful and comforting in equal measure. This book was definitely at times a very hard read, but one of the best I've read in a long, long time.

Definitely check the trigger warnings for this one, because there are a lot. I'm worried I may be forgetting some, but they include: transphobia (with a LOT of misgendering), ableism, conversion therapy, self-attempted abortion, lots of medical gore, torture and murder within a conversion therapy setting, and sexual assault.

Oh, Andrew Joseph White, if you keep writing books as good as this one and your debut I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself.

I fell in love with White’s 2022 release, Hell Followed With Us, from the moment I first heard of it. It was like nothing I’d ever heard of before and I was ready to board the ship. I enjoyed the ride immensely. Then, when White announced his second novel, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, I could’ve swooned. Everything about this book made me swoon and behave like Veruca Salt, shouting, “Don’t care how, I want it now!”

Obviously, this is one of my most-anticipated releases this year, and holy hot damn it didn’t disappoint. If I could give this book more than five stars I totally would. This book hits really close to home for me in more than one way. My ex-spouse is both trans and autistic, my older child is gender fluid and autistic, and my younger child is autistic enough that he’s been declared permanently disabled. I myself am bisexual and mildly autistic, besides also being bipolar and having a host of other psychological issues. In the 1880’s (the time period this book takes place in) I’d likely have been placed in an asylum when I was in my early teens and left there to rot. For that matter, any of my family members might have met that unfortunate fate, if not worse.

AJW deserves not only all the accolades but also all the admiration for writing a book with a main protagonist that’s both trans and autistic. It couldn’t have been easy to write, and it couldn’t have been easy to convince agents and editors to publish it. But I’m so ecstatic that this book got written and made it onto book shelves because it’s brilliant and it’s beautiful in its own savage way.

When writing historical fantasy, you need to be just as careful with the “historical” portion of the book as you would be when writing historical fiction so as to not only keep your world building framework steady and make sure your atmosphere is correct, but also to avoid anachronisms where you can. AJW acknowledges in the back of the book that the queer historian he consulted to help him with the research for this book pointed out that such things as the constant chaperoning of unmarried females in Victorian times were definite obstacles to fiction. Therein lies the joys of historical fantasy, where all of a sudden the fantastical parts of the plot can create opportunities to circumvent what would otherwise be seen as an anachronism.

The world AJW created in this book is cold, cruel, grey, dreary, hateful, and wretched. There is no beauty to it except for the ties between the women at Braxton’s, which start out as tenuous and loose as a hasty basting stitch when Silas arrives but steadily tighten and grow stronger like corset laces as the book goes on and the abuses they endure grow with every day that passes.

There is precious little sweetness in this book, but when it is there it’s worth slowing down for, just to sink into a little and revel in it. It’s intimate and soft and a little unraveling. It’s an oasis, a pit stop in the midst of desperate chaos as Silas and the girls try to figure out where the spirits are and how they can escape a place that is sure to only serve up their deaths in the near future.

The climax of this book is manic, horrific, and grotesque. No one escapes without trauma. And even as the book ends, the trauma lingers and the business isn’t quite done.

I can’t recommend this book enough. To all ages. To all readers.

(AJW does include a list of possible CW/TWs inside the book for those who need them.)

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. Any thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Body Horror/Ghost Story/Historical Fantasy/Historical Fiction/Horror/LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Romance/Occult Horror/Own Voices/Paranormal Fantasy/Paranormal Horror/Secret Society

This book is just as beautiful as it is haunting. There were times when I felt a need to close the book because of its gory details, but it also made me want to keep reading. Andrew Joseph White’s prose is SO addicting! He really knows how to captivate his audience with scene-building and character depictions and developments.

The autism representation is phenomenal, probably the best I’ve ever read. So many of Silas’ internal thoughts hit close to home but in a good way. I felt so seen in ways I haven't before in literature.

This is a masterpiece that deserves all of the praise!!

This book was amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like this. As an autisic person myself I could relate to Silas in some ways. I do recommend people to read the trigger warnings because some things can be big triggers to people. The book started a little slow for me but I’m glad I kept reading. If you like horror, supernatural and the victorian age vibe this book will be right up your alley.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this early in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for this e-ARC.

This was my first book by Andrew Joseph White and I was immediately impressed by his writing!! The characters (specifically Silas, Daphne and the girls at the school) were so engaging and dynamic. I really loved seeing the growth that they went through. My heart soared a little when Silas felt so viscerally seen by Daphne, it was a wonderful moment between all the horror (and there is plenty of that!). And on that note their chemistry was really adorable.

The final few chapters took quite a turn and for a second I thought it was going to a place that would have made it..... well stereotypical but I'm so glad it didnt. It was quite the pageturner and I was very satisfied with how it was all resolved.

I loved the solidarity Silas felt with the girls at the school and I also loved the way their feminine rage was utilized in this book.

I do have to warn everyone to please read the cw before starting this book because there is a lot of body horror among other possible triggering subjects. Caveat: none of these moment felt gratuitous to me but of course YMMV.

I thought there was absolutely no way White could beat his debut, but goddamn did he prove me wrong. This book chewed me up and spat me out and I still would have gladly accepted more at the end. This may be the first book I've ever read that's so unapologetically neurodivergent and queer and I am absolutely begging for more of this to hit shelves.

This story is dark and twisted and just closely enough rooted in reality that it is physically uncomfortable at times, yet it also has some of the most tender and genuine moments of raw humanity that I've ever read in a YA novel. I spent so much of this book in my feels while also being unbearably anxious for whatever horror was going to happen next. It's the kind of book that makes you ache and want to fight at the same time.

Please do be mindful of the content warnings, if that is something that concerns you. There is A LOT going on in this book and White doesn't sugarcoat a single thing. These depictions are fully exposed and unflinching in all the best and worst ways.

Additional shoutout to the author for including notes about historical relevance and citing some of his source material for further reading. I always love when authors take the time to do this, especially for historical fiction.

A fantastic, heart-wrenching, stomach-turning read that I know I will be thinking about for a long time to come, while also eagerly awaiting whatever White announces next.

Special thanks to Peachtree Teen for an ARC in exchange for review.

I wanted to vibe with this book but just didn’t like it. It was just not for me I guess. Thank you netgalley and the publisher giving me this as an arc for exchange for an honest review.

The Spirit Bares it’s Teeth is a horror novel set in the 1800s following Silas, an autistic trans man who is forced to present as his biological gender after he tries to gain access to the world of mediums which is only dominated by men. He is shipped off to a “”boarding school”” for women who have medium abilities but is seen as something called “veil sickness” and he has to try to A. Escape and B. Not die like the rest of the girls who are slowly picked off one by one.

I really did enjoy the medical part of the story as Silas wants to be a surgeon and helps multiple people in the story. The medical horror was done very well and felt very much like what it had been back when surgery was first becoming a true profession.

I wish there had been more insight to the medium aspect of the story because that part fell flat for me. It didn’t really make sense and the world building there felt a little haphazard like the author needed to make things spooky just for the sake of making the book different. Some expansion on it would have been nice.

I was very impressed at how authentic the autistic experience was portrayed though. The main character even without having the term for it was very clearly autistic with outbursts and stimming and confusion about social norms. I can’t speak to the trans experience personally but that also felt authentic.

Overall a good horror book and I would recommend it to those that enjoy that genre!

Thank you to NetGalley and PeachTree Teen for the eARC! All opinions are my own.

Words cannot explain how I feel about this book. I started reading it at the beginning of last month, but didn't get around to finishing it due to personal events. After I realized that it comes out quite literally tomorrow, I knew I had to start reading it (and fast).

I realize that The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is not something you slowly read. It demands to be read as fast as possible because you get sucked into the world, starting from the first chapter. The world was eloquently designed; taking place in 19th(?) century, but there's a twist to it. People with violet eyes can tear open the Veil (also known as the other side) and speak with the dead and vise versa. The Speaker Society, whom control these people with the violet eyes, has a hold on what is appropriate for people who have these powers. Silas, our main protagonist, would rather do anything than become a Speaker's wife because Silas is a boy, not a girl that everyone insists he is. After being diagnosed with Veil sickness, Silas is sent to Braxton's, where he will be "cured" in order to be the perfect wife for a Speaker family. However, something isn't quite right when Silas arrives. Girls are going missing and no one is sure where they are.

White doesn't shy away about the pressures of a patriarchal society towards trans youth and women and it was done with the precision of a surgeon: clean, factual, informant. Throughout the novel, we see different people telling Silas that he doesn't actually feel that he should be a boy because of the Veil sickness. This mirrors society today due to numerous people in power wanting to erase the identities of trans youth *and* take away the bodily autonomy of numerous women. The girls and Silas all had their ways of surviving Braxton's Finishing School and it made me root for them so much harder (if that makes sense lol). I wanted most of them to survive and be free. When some didn't, it hit a lot harder than I expected it to.

I loved how White illustrated the medical horror in the book. There was something about it that I loved, though I can't quite put my finger on it. I guess the best way to put it was that it was tastefully done. It wasn't excessive in gore; rather, the details of it were meticulously done and perfected into the mind of a surgeon. I enjoyed reading how Silas' mind worked when faced with bodily injuries of himself and the girls. At the forefront of his mind was how he wanted to help the people, not cause them harm. The horror is not for the faint of heart as it goes into graphic detail of different animals being dissected and the bodily injuries that people throughout the novel faced. There's also an on-page Cesarean section that I was not expecting, but it was something I could stomach.

I loved Silas as our MMC. I loved being in his head and following his journey. I think he may top being one of my favorite MCs of all time. In fact, all these characters felt realistic in their own special way. They all wanted to survive and did anything they could to do so. I rooted hard for Silas and Daphne. It didn't feel very insta-love to me; it felt more of that they were two people who knew and understood what the other was going through. They felt like a flicker of hope and I was happy with the outcome.

I enjoyed the plot, as well. I loved the magical realism that this book set up with the Veil. It was well integrated into the plot and it kept me wanting more. And did it deliver. The winter atmosphere held a bite to the Gothic horror that it was. It kept me enticed and kept me wondering what was going on. I liked that all these characters felt realistic and had some depth to them, rather than just being two dimensional.

This novel touched something in me that made me feel understood, amiss a lot of confusion growing up. It's a reminder of the power that one can wield and push back against the expectations that society sets up. It reminds you that you are acceptable as you are and you have no need to conform to what society wants.