After reading Hell Followed With Us, I was really looking forward to Andrew White's next book, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth and was very excited to receive my first ever Netgalley ARC despite never reading ebooks! 
I really appreciated the trigger warnings- I'm kind of sensitive to medical gore (though not in such a way that prevented me from reading the book) and appreciate the headsup. 
What I liked: Silas had a very strong voice and I connected with his viewpoint. I loved his relationships with all of the female characters. I loved this book's depiction of all of the characters, but especially the female characters- all of them had very well-developed distinct personalities, flaws, and challenges. I liked the pacing and the plot, as well as the ending. 
What I didn't like: honestly, nothing. I kind of wish we'd had more time with the other characters' back stories, but this wasn't a book about that.

Read For:
Ghosts
Hurt/Comfort
T4T (ftm x mtf)
Dark Queer Rage
Gothic Victorian Vibes

Absolutely beautiful in a dark and vicious way. It was heavy and uncomfortable but in a way that made you want to fight for the characters in the pages. Drawing you in with each chapter.

The trans representation in this book might not have been the happiest I’ve ever read but even though all the angst and hurt there were moments of comfort, of happiness and hope.

Silas was such a lovable main character. I liked his passion for being a surgeon, trying and fighting for what he wanted even when nearly everyone failed him, time and time again. Daphne was such a light in his life and to this book I couldn’t imagine it without her. Again a very lovable character.

This book was not soft or lighthearted and I definitely suggest reading the content warnings beforehand; but this book was written so well. The setting, the plot, the characters, even the cover of this book was amazing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(First Person POV)
Spice: 🌶️ (lightly mentioned)

Rep: Trans MC (ftm), Autistic MC, Trans LI (mtf), LGBTQIA+ MC/SCs


⚠️Content Warnings:
Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Torture, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Cursing, Abandonment, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Dysphoria, Medical content, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Misogyny, Violence, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Blood, Death, and Confinement
Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Suicide, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Animal death, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Vomit, Rape, and Animal cruelty

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth tells the story of Silas Bell, a young boy who can speak to spirits, a Speaker. Much to his dismay, Silas was born a woman. Instead of being able to pursue his dream of being a surgeon, he is destined to become someone’s obedient wife and incubator. But that does not stop him. When his scheme to escape an arranged marriage goes wrong, he is diagnosed with “veil-sickness” and forcibly put into the cold and ruthless Braxton’s Sanatorium and Finishing School. When students start to go missing and ghosts call out to Silas for help, he begins to unravel the school’s mysteries.

Reading The Spirit Bares Its Teeth was an absolute pleasure. I was desperately in need of a book to take me out of the literary hangover Samantha Shannon had given me and oh boy did I find it. Silas was a strangely relatable protagonist. We have very few things in common, given that he is a trans man and autistic (I am neither). In spite of all our differences, I felt every single one of Silas’ emotions throughout these 400 pages. I also enjoyed the way the author portrayed Silas’ inner critic / voice of unreason, though it did take some getting used to.
The writing in this book is not hugely complex. It is my fault for expecting something different. When I read the content warnings I assumed this would be an adult book, but it’s actually categories as young adult. After altering my expectations, I actually quite enjoyed the writing. It was really easy to read and I got through the book quickly. The plot is fast-paced and there is not a single chapter that I would consider filler. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth was also extremely atmospheric and genuinely gave me chills at certain parts. Certainly he is not going to do that, right? Certainly it can’t get any worse. Right…? And then it does get worse.
The only complaint I have in regards to this book is that I wish we’d seen more of the side characters. A lot of chapters were simply Silas and his love interest interacting and developing their relationship. I think it would’ve been interesting to see more the different ways in which women can be wronged or the ways in which they can be complicit in Victorian society. Personally, I think they deserved their own, complete chapters with unique points of view. Instead, we get single-page passages written from the POV of the school’s ghosts. Nonetheless, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth was extremely enjoyable.

I highly recommend this to readers who loved AHS: Asylum and who are big fans of medical horror and boarding schools that seem at least a little bit off. I received an E-ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for this opportunity and I will definitely keep an eye on the works of Andrew Joseph White.

I was a big fan of Hell Followed With Us and this book was an amazing follow up!

AJW did a wonderful job of blending historical fiction and fantasy with this supernatural version of 19th century London. The world-building is both fascinating and compelling, and I was particularly drawn to the way the British patriarchy essentially "colonized" spirit-work and used it to control and conquer, to empower rich men at the expense of everyone else.

This was an emotional read with a lot of really upsetting material, but I think it was handled very well. Just be sure to heed the content warnings at the beginning of the book.

I also loved the ending. It wrapped everything up neatly enough that this book could be a standalone, but frankly I would LOVE to see a sequel that wraps up some of those dramatic loose ends.

I don’t even know how to put into words the experience of reading this book. AJW has such a masterful way of storytelling, it’s just incredible.

The story follows a young trans boy who is autistic and has violet-eyes. These violet-eyed people can open veils between the living and the dead for communication. After being told he has veil sickness, he’s sent to a sanatorium to be cured into an “obedient wife.” It’s there he uncovers heinous treatment people deemed unfit for society are enduring.

The writing is poetic and emotional. It feels like it’s written from such a honest, raw place. It is brutal in its criticism of society and the oppression of minority populations. This book expertly depicts the torturous methods and ideologies inflicted upon minority populations as a means of oppression and conformity. This is not an enjoyable read by any means, but I think it was a fantastic story with important messages. I loved the sun-romance plot between him and a trans girl. It helped give hope and allowed some room to breathe amidst the heaviness. The side characters in this were so important to the sorry as well and I felt connected to every single one of them. I really adored this book, even though it was difficult to read at times. It’s loaded with trigger warnings, some that I typically stay away from, but I’m very glad I read it.

I had really high expectations given how much I loved Hell Followed With Us, and I can safely say they were all exceedingly met.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for the eARC. Opinions are my own and freely given.

Thank you netgalley and Peachtree Teen. Absolutely stomach churning and heart wrenching in all the ways it needed to be. The only other thing I could want is even more about all the girls Silas meets at Braxton. I will try to gather my thoughts better for a more thorough review.

Edit (more thoughts):
I have not stopped thinking about AJW's debut, Hell Followed With Us, since I read it last year, I had been holding out hope to get access to an ARC of his latest work. I went into this book with massively high expectations, which frequently is a bad idea, but in this case it was not. I may love this book even more than Hell Followed With Us. The way AJW set this in a time that didn't really have words for autism or transness was so fascinating. It creates an added layer of otherness to Silas, which gave being in his mind an even more isolated feeling. As someone who has been wondering if my ADHD is actually ADHD and autism, being in the head of an autistic character was absolutely validating. The way he points to how AFAB people are trained to be a certain way that forces the masking of autistic traits hit close to home. The intersection of neurodivergence and transness was also just fantastic, the moments where Silas cannot determine if his transness is "true" or just another aspect of his neurodivergence is such a painfully relatable experience. This book made me feel seen in a way I have never been seen by a piece of media before. I finished this book weeks ago but wanted to post a more coherent review than this, so I sat on it for awhile, but my feelings about this books are too big.

"Do you really think you're getting out of here in anything other than a wedding dress or a casket?"

This book cut me open, left me to bleed, and I would willingly let it happen all over again. I read the author’s content warnings (which I love! Let's normalize them!) and was ready for gore, pain, cruelty, but I didn't imagine it’d feel so close to healing.

Don't get me wrong, this book is brutal. The world of "The Spirit Bares Its Teeth," weighed down so heavily by its own mistakes that reality has begun to shatter, is a haunting mirror of our own, past and present. The violence inflicted on the children (literal children!) at Braxton's was borderline hard to read. Though, at the same time, putting this book down felt impossible. (I wanted to devour it.) Even the few good moments, with Daphne, The Groundskeeper, Isabel, are laced with a sense of impending doom. This is horror and suspense at its finest! Dread followed me until the very last page.

It is also a surprisingly hopeful story. I loved seeing Silas grow into himself. This is a gothic, visceral Coming-of-age. This book is a ouija board through which the spirit of the Young Adult genre flows freely.

This was my first introduction to Andrew Joseph White, but I will never look back. I am excited to dive into "Hell Followed With Us!" I am equally excited for this book’s publication, it’s not for everyone, but to those who need it? I pray they find it.

Andrew, Joseph why is and will always be an author that I will immediately read his books.

This is a stunning follow up to his debut novel. Hell followed with us. This character grabbed my emotions from the first to the last page. White writes the most compelling and interesting characters. They are beyond realistic and he tackles such amazing real world issues and makes them relatable.

The main character in this novel is both trans and autistic. Set an a Victorian world. This is absolutely vital for young people to read to get an understanding of all of these issues. The way that white is able to depict the rage and unfairness of an already troubled world to people with these issues is absolutely mind-boggling. His writing is always above par.

I honestly did not think I could read a book better than Health followed with us. But this book was just as good as that book and I cannot wait to read more.

This is a book about misogyny, transphobia, and ableism from the perspective of an autistic transgender boy. It has a thematic focus on the violent enforcement of gender roles and Victorian-era psychiatry as tools of oppression. The book means more to me than I can articulate, but be aware that it is not a fun or easy read.
To see a trans main character, with a brain like mine, who gets overwhelmed and cries and apologises over and over, who doesn't really get people or what they try to say, who moves through the world so similar to the way I do is something I am going to hold close. To read a book so darkly horrific, so brutally brilliant, and to point to the main character and go "Hey, that's me", to deeply understand their reactions and actions, is so incredibly special to find.

Andrew Joseph White has done it again with another stomach-turning YA horror novel, “The Spirit Bares Its Teeth.” TSBIT is set in London in the late Victorian Era, in an alternate version of the world where the Veil between the living and the dead has thinned. Silas is one of a few people who can speak and interact with the dead—signified by his purple eyes—but all he wants to do is become a doctor like his big brother.

Silas struggles as an autistic trans boy in a world that refuses to understand him, and from the sexism he faces from those that perceive him as a girl. When Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness (essentially “female hysteria” brought on by speaking to ghosts), he is shipped off to Braxton, a finishing school/sanitorium intent on making him the perfect wife for a Speaker man who wants the chance at having purple-eyed, medium sons.

Like “Hell Followed With Us,” body horror is highly utilized in this book, though in TSBIT it focuses more on medical and birthing horrors. I was plenty grossed out in the best of ways, though TSBIT felt a little tamer than HFWU in its descriptions. A lot of the horror also comes from the abuse the students face—naturally, Silas soon discovers that Braxton is a cruel and dangerous place.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the relationships between Silas and the girls at the school, and the girls’ relationships with each other. It was easy to get invested in them and the students’ plight. There is also a romance between Silas and the person his parents have arranged for him to marry, which was sweet, but underdeveloped. The characters simply don’t spend a lot of time together, but they form an instant bond due to both being trans.

All in all, this is an excellent queer horror novel and a great follow up to White’s first major success of a book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who liked HFWU or fantasy horror in general. Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an easy 4 star read for me, the pacing was great and at no time did I find myself wishing the story would just hurry up. Instead I devoured this book and the story of Silas. Because of the quick pace I read the book I found the story developed in a way that kept me entertained and surprised except in 2 instances but I still found myself enjoying the way the author unfolded the story.

They writing was great and the story was one that we can all find pieces that will resonate with us. Bravo to the author, you told a beautiful story that will stay with me for some time.

— "I hold no hatred for the shape it takes. Not for the breasts that overflow my cupped hands, nor for thighs and hips drawn with red lines where they have grown faster than the skin could handle. It is only when I step back to see it all through another’s eyes that I want to unravel it and carve the meat into a new, different, more acceptable shape."

I don't even know where to begin with this review. I'm in awe honestly, this was a fantastic read and I'm so mad at myself for not having read anything from White sooner. I've had a copy of Hell Followed With Us since release but just never got around to it, but after this I definitely want to try and read it before the month is out.

I'll start by saying this book hurt me in many way, there were moments where I felt like screaming, crying, punching something. As someone who has a bit of a difficult relationship with gender this book just ruined me. They're not particularly sad scenes but any moment where Silas and Daphne are together destroyed me in the best and worst of ways, how they understand each other, love each other, everything they have to go through. Just wonderful. There's not many books out there that have made me feel this way.

But on the other side there were so many parts where I felt giddy with excitment and just love for these characters. When we first get introduced to Daphne as Daphne I was honestly squealing. I ADORE her!! I know Silas was the main character and they weren't together the majority of the time but GOD, I'd have loved to see more of her. Another favourite, surprisingly, was Mary. She came across initially as this horrible character I thought I'd hate but by the end I honestly think she was my favourite. I always love the vicious, sneaky ones. Silas was a great protagonist, his narration throughout was great and I truly related to a lot of what he was going through.

The overall plot was exciting, there was never a dull moment. Even in the calmer scenes there's always some introspection going on, some character building. It was so easy to get sucked in and I can't believe how quickly I got through it. There's some really gnarly scenes, a lot of gory descriptions throughout, which were great! Honestly wasn't expecting it to be so descriptive and bloody. There's some really difficult topics covered too which I think were really well done, a lot of gut wrenching moments.

The imagery was immaculate, the descriptions of the most gory scenes I honestly felt quite difficult to get through, but in a good way! I've read a lot of horror and nothing has ever made me cringe like that bathtub scene (iykyk).

Unfortunately the last quarter of the book I would say felt, I don't know, lacking in some way? Maybe I was just expecting something a bit more dark and angsty. I mean it was a great end, nearly everything wrapped up, lots of loose ends tied. But I still had questions, and it felt like the ending was just sort of rounded off too quickly. I get the ending to a book like this is probably either going to be this or unbearably upsetting, and I can't say exactly how I'd prefer it to end, but it just felt off, too clean. I'd also say most of the "plot twists" were pretty obvious, not that that detracts from the book exactly, but there weren't many real shocks as far as the plot was concerned.

Overall this was a beautifully written, incredibly impactful story and I honestly can't wait to see what else White comes out with. Phenomenal!

Thank you to @netgalley + @peachtreeteen for the ARC!

“‘i think the entire world depends on people pretending they don’t know they’re doing terrible things.’”

here’s the thing violence may not be THE answer but it is AN answer and holy holy fuck is it THE answer in Andrew Joseph White’s upcoming release

i would honestly, genuinely, describe The Spirit Bares Its Teeth as satisfyingly violent

absolutely horrific, like it is not for the squeamish at all, but jesus fuck it was SO GOOD

and VERY different from Hell Followed With Us, but similar in the way they are both VERY entrenched in trauma

also it was SO autistic and SO trans!

HIGHLY recommend for horror fans, but PLEASE proceed with caution if you’re trans and/or autistic—the content warnings are listed in the author’s note at the very beginning with a reminder that this book is NOT a necessary procedure!

you are allowed to check it out from your library to support a trans author or buy it and display that sick cover face out cause it’s fucking incredible without actually reading it if the content is too much!

be safe in your reading!

Silas is an autistic trans boy living in Victorian London who wants nothing more than to be a surgeon like his brother, George, and his idol James Barry. Unfortunately for Silas, the world still sees him as a young girl with violet eyes.

In White’s alternative history people born with violet eyes are Speakers, those who can open the Veil that separates the living and dead to communicate with ghosts. But only violet-eyed men are permitted to be mediums. It is believed that women who tamper with the Veil will become unstable and a threat to themselves and others. Veil sickness is said to be the result of violet-eyed women coming into contact with the Veil and is blamed for a wide range of symptoms from promiscuity to anger, but is really just the result of women who don’t obediently follow social norms. Thus, England has made it strictly illegal for women to engage in spirit work. After Silas’ failed attempt to run away and live as a man, he is diagnosed with Veil sickness and carted off to Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium to be transformed into an obedient wife. Braxton’s is your typical gothic school filled with sad waifs and dangerous secrets, namely that girls keep disappearing. The headmaster is a creep and his methods for curing young girls are abusive. Despite the danger, Silas is determined to get to the bottom of the mysterious disappearances and find justice for the missing girls.
Violet-eyed women are highly valued as wives who can produce violet-eyed sons and are in high demand among the elite. Silas is no different, and his parents are eager to marry him off to any man with money. If being made to live as a girl weren’t bad enough, the idea of being forced to bear children is even more horrific to Silas. As someone who struggles with Tokophobia myself, I found White’s descriptions of forced pregnancy to be a terrifying and especially disturbing form of body horror. Because of Silas’ obsession with medicine, the entire book is filled with medical body horror. There are detailed descriptions of injuries and surgeries, medical torture, and an at-home c-section/abortion. Personally, I loved all the grossness and the detailed descriptions of anatomy and medical procedures. But The Spirit Bares its Teeth is most definitely not for the squeamish or easily grossed-out. I appreciated that in the afterword White made a point of mentioning that in the real world, it was usually racial minorities who were the subject of medical experimentation (rather than wealthy White women), and then recommended the books Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington and Medical Bondage by Deirdre Cooper Owens for readers to learn more.

I was also happy to see an autistic character written by an autistic author. Stories about Autistic individuals often are told by neurotypical people who characterize autism as “tragic” or as an illness that needs to be cured. In The Spirit Bares its Teeth, neurodiversity is humanized and we see how harmful a lack of acceptance and understanding of autism is. Silas is forced to mask by society, and we see how difficult and harmful masking is to him. He is taught by his tutors to ignore his own needs in favor of acting the way others want. They reinforce the idea that acting “normal” (i.e. neurotypical) is the only way anyone will tolerate him. Silas’ tutors use methods similar to the highly controversial Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to force him to behave in a manner they deem appropriate. He is not allowed to flap his hands, pace or cover his ears at loud noises, and is forced into uncomfortable clothing that hurts his skin and to eat food that makes him sick. He is mocked for taking things literally and punished if he can’t sit still and keep quiet. It’s horrible and heartbreaking.

Although I’m not autistic, I do have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), a condition which has many overlapping symptoms with autism, including being easily overstimulated by sensory input. I have texture issues and White’s description of the uncomfortable clothing Silas is forced into made my skin itch in sympathy. It sounded like pure hell, and poor Silas can’t even distract himself with stimming so he just has to sit there and endure it. After meeting a non-verbal indentured servant whose autistic traits are much more noticeable, he also acknowledges that his ability to mask gains him certain privileges as he can “pass” as neurotypical (even though he should never have to pass in the first place and doing so is extremely harmful to his wellbeing).

In addition to its positive autism representation, White also does an excellent job portraying the struggles of being a trans person forced to live as their assigned gender. Interestingly, this is the first book with a transgender main character I’ve read where said character isn’t fully out or living as their true gender. Part of the horror of the story is that Silas can’t transition as he’s in an unsupportive and abusive environment. I also found it interesting that Silas is both trans and autistic as there’s an overlap between autism and gender identity/diversity.
The Spirit Bares its Teeth is a suspenseful and deeply disturbing gothic horror story about misogyny, ableism, and how society tries and controls women. I was absolutely glued to this story and could not put it down, no easy feat when my ADD demands constant distraction. Each revelation was more horrifying than the last and by the end I was terrified of what secrets Silas would uncover next.

Silas Bell doesn’t want to be a Speakers wife. Born with violet eyes, society will do anything to force him into the image of a perfect wife, to have perfect violet eyed boys for the Speaker’s society. It doesn’t matter how much he wants to be a surgeon, how much he wants society to see him as a man. When he is diagnosed with Veil sickness - the mysterious disease affecting violet eyed girls, Silas is sent to Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium to recover. But girls are going missing and it’s up to Silas to uncover what’s happening behind the walls of the school.

Summations can’t even touch how good this book was. Narrated through the eyes of an autistic trans protagonist, this book tackles the spiritualist movement in Victorian England while also touching on the trans experience and Eugenics. Andrew Joseph White totally nailed his second novel. I went in with high hopes after reading Hell Followed with Us and I was not disappointed.

I loved everything about this book, start to finish. The book has a really strong concept that falls in line with historical reality. You can tell that this book was researched, though there are certainly creative liberties taken. The premise of a trans man in Victorian England is such a unique take on a plot and I was here for it. This book is gory and deep, and I loved the listed content warnings at the beginning so I knew what to expect. This book is incredibly triggering, so proceed with caution. I was equally horrified as I was vested.

The characters are all well established within the story and all play their own roles. I found them easy to relate to and I loved how their storylines meld together. They are well written, dimensional and felt incredibly real. Silas is such a dynamic character, I loved seeing him evolve and live the life he wanted. His relationship with Daphne was sweet, but vaguely rushed and convenient. I was enthralled with the full experience of the book.

I HIGHLY recommend this book. The writing was incredible, the plot was unique and I loved every minute of it. I read it in a day and can’t wait for a reread already.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for thr ARC!
This story is a wonderful adventure where you have a great insight of the protagonist's struggles and dreams. It makes you feel invested in the journey and you can't help but root for our hero.
A great adventure with occult and scary thematics that keeps the readers on edge!

AJW is the only white man I promise I will read any book he writes. He is a true genuis. I honestly did not think any book could come close to the greatness that was Hell Followed With Us (his debut last year) but i was wrong. Second book, just as amazing. How he got me to relate to and care about a british trans boy from the 1800s, WOW.

He also has introduced me to body horror in a way that makes sense to me (maybe cuz I am also trans so I understand the deep desire to rip apart what others want from your body) Silas is a true gem of a human being and I love him. Protect him at all costs.

(3.5*) Probably the creepiest book I've ever read, Andrew Joseph White absolutely nails the atmosphere of constant threat in The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, which follows autistic trans boy Silas through incarceration in a Finishing School for Girls and Sanitorium for magical beings afflicted by "Veil-sickness". I probably don't need to say more when it comes to guessing the horrors that lie in store for Silas and the young girls under the care of the sadistic doctors and surgeons in this Victorian Era hellscape.

rep: autistic trans MC; trans LI; t4t romance; Sapphic secondary and tertiary characters; autistic tertiary character.
cw: extreme medical gore; sexual assault; child pregnancy; child rape; forced incarceration; transphobia; homophobia; queerphobia; trauma; historically-appropriate ableist language; blood; violence; dysmorphia; dissociation; suicide ideation; references to abortion and miscarriage (further content warnings provided by the author).

As a reading experience, I found The Spirit Bares Its Teeth to have a very spiky profile. The atmosphere is excellent, as is the trans and autistic rep. Silas, the MC, has a strong voice and is haunted every step of the way by a "rabbit" inner critic that does a really good job of representing the hypervigilance of the traumatised. What held the novel back for me, as with Hell Followed With Us, is that I felt the wider cast were under-developed and largely pointless figures orbiting around an interesting main character in Silas, or Benji in the case of HFWU. Part of me wonders if this was purposeful, as a way of showing Silas' perspective on social interaction, but even if this is the case, I'm a reader who needs to care about characters to enjoy a book, so this is why my admiration for the novel ended up being somewhat limited.

I am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of The Spirit Bares Its Teeth in exchange for an honest review.

I don't want to say this book was bad. This book was not bad! But I simply did not like it at all.

The biggest strength here is the concept. Spiritualism and eugenics lend themselves well to horror and pair well together, and White has done an admirable job of integrating those concepts into a believable world, though the supernatural elements are underused. But like a lot of historical fiction, there's a pervasive sense of moral pedantry that impedes that believability. White insists we know that our narrator Silas is improbably aware and critical of everything from British imperialism to Victorian medical hygiene practices, as if we the audience would hold it against him if he held any opinions that would be remotely plausible for a child of the 1880s British upper class. Maybe that's something that other people enjoy, but to me it felt like a shallow reckoning with historical injustice, and it left me rolling my eyes.

Also eye-roll worthy: most of the characters. I'll credit White that every member of the (unnecessarily large, IMO) ensemble cast is distinct and memorable. But they're all so one-dimensional that it's hard to feel any attachment to them, and the relationships between them feel strangely unreal, like children's toys that are now fighting, now in love, now fighting again. The only character I found remotely compelling was Mary, who floats around being vaguely antagonistic (which I enjoyed) before suddenly lurching towards plot relevance in the last act.

Overall, this was a quick and easy read with a cool concept and very uneven execution. Reminded me (not necessarily unfavorably) of other books I've enjoyed, like Molly Tanzer's Diabolist series and Libba Bray's Diviners.

PS thnx netgalley! Sorry I keep picking books that I don't like!

Thank you to NetGalley and PeachTree for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this! I devoured Hell Followed With Us in a couple of hours, and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth was no exception. You truly feel a sense of horror and dread throughout the book as it progresses. I think my only issue was that the world building of the world wasn’t explained as well as I would like. I got the impression that the AJW had a very clear idea of it in his head, but perhaps forgot that the readers don’t have the same information, and just forgot to add some of it to the story. However, this didn’t detract from my experience too much, and I was still able to understand and enjoy the book quite well. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys a good boarding school horror, along with those looking for a trans and neurodivergent read.