The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is a wonderfully written and deeply moving paranormal horror centering compelling main character and wonderful world building.

1. Dialogue was handled expertly
2. The Main Character is a trans individual and somewhere on the autism spectrum. Both facts matter to the plot without either being treated like a spectacle.
3. There is an element of mystery to the story as a whole.
4. Sexism is portrayed realistically

Readers who enjoyed the author's earlier offering of Hell follows with us will find themselves sucked into this new story and new fans will find this story an excellent entry point for paranormal horror.

Losing my MIND over this visceral, heartbreaking horror novel featuring a trans autistic protagonist in 1800s England. I adored Hell Followed With Us, so I had high hopes for this, and it delivered. I love that White writes marginalized protagonists who bite back and are ready to fight ugly to get what they deserve. Besides Silas and Daphne, who I loved, Mary stood out to me as a supporting character and I'll be thinking about all of them for a long time.

Trigger Warnings:
Blood
Body Gore
Transphobia
Homophobia
Conversion Therapy


Andrew Joseph White is a master at creating a immersive, yet terrifying world that is based in history that is not told enough.

Silas is an engaging main character, the world complex. highly recommend reading this but but you need to be very aware of the trigger warnings and the content.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the earc !

The spirit bares it's teeth is gothic horror medical mystery novel. It's brutal and hinges on the female hysteria related treatments in the late 1800s. I found myself unable to vibe with any of the characters. I might not be the right audience for the book. I hope you give it a try despite my review. Thank you for the copy !

Beautiful, haunting , heavy read , handling a lot of vulnerable identities with incredible care and grace. This one took me a while to read, but Andrew Joseph White is once again cemented as one of my favorite authors

I feel like it bears mentioning that I first read Andrew Joseph White's The Spirit Bares Its Teeth immediately following the completion of a queer horror fiction course I taught at university. So, I came to this book with all of the tropes, criticisms, and "perverse" forms of rebellion swirling in my head.

Truth be told, I think that made me love this book even more.

In my opinion, the key to successful, critical, and intriguing horror fiction is the author's ability to use traditional "scare tactics" to show the reader that what they've been told is grotesque and horrifying is not the root of what they should truly be afraid of. White does this masterfully.

Between the vivid moments of gore and the constant interweaving of the lands of the living and the dead, there are countless moments of traditionally "gross" and "creepy" things within this book. But those aren't what should scare us.

What should horrify us is the treatment of the main character, Silas, and the other "othered" characters he meets along his journey. The rampant and truly life-threatening transphobia, misogyny, ableism, and mistreatment of any and all characters who do not fit within the perfect box society has set forth—that is the horror underlying this novel and that makes the thought of ripping out your own eyes feel tame.

Andrew Joseph White gives us that horror—he gives us every layer of horror—in this novel in a way that manages to be somewhat gentle to the reader (a choice I imagine is tied to the YA audience this book has) without shying away from being truthful within the context of the world he's built.

Regardless of if the audience was the driving reason behind these choices, I do think any reader will appreciate the sense of community and the feelings of "home" that White does eventually allow Silas to find. Though narrative style of the novel can make the reader feel insulated and alone—as Silas himself often feels—the broader picture drives home that finding and building a community is one way to endure the horrors of the world.

Speaking of community, I do admit there was one point in the novel that did give me pause. I can't talk about it too much without giving away an element of the ending, but to be brief, I did feel like the other students that Silas meets at Braxton occasionally feel more like plot devices than characters with their own agency. Now, we could dig into the idea of agency, specifically as it relates to the position of students/patients but I think that would be a bit outside of the scope of this review. Instead, I'll just say that there was really only one instance/character that gave me pause in this regard but, that aside, I think White handled each character and the relationships built between them exceptionally well.

Though this is not an element of the novel's plot/story, I will say that I did appreciate the addition of the historical note at the end of the book. In this note, White points the reader towards other sources on real life historical events that impacted other marginalized communities in unspeakably horrific ways. This note is needed, and appreciated, as the horrors that he refers to are neither new nor so far past that their pain is not felt still today.

Overall, White's The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is a vivid and horrifying portrayal of real life horrors interwoven with a sort of spectral fantasy. But rest assured, even when the bleeding makes the wound too difficult to see, White and his characters will be there to apply pressure, staunch the flow, and make sure everything is sewn up tight—with a running stitch, of course.

A brutal knife slash of a book that offers no false hope, no dreams of righteousness, just the knowledge that living one's truth is the best we can hope for. In Silas's world, violet eyed women exist to breed violet eyed men, who can be officially certified as mediums and work with the spirits permeating England and the world. Unfortunately for Silas, his parents think he is a girl, and his attempt to escape and build a life for himself gets him thrown into Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium, where through violence and cruelty he is supposed to become a good, obedient Speaker wife, no longer trans or autistic. Major trigger warnings for sexual violence, conversion therapy, and general horrors, but The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is absorbing and brilliant, a reminder that trans people have always existed, even in the most repressive of times, and the only thing denial will do is harm. Silas's interest in medicine and analytical mind keep him sane in the most horrific situations, and his connections with the other inmates at Braxton's are detailed and thoughtful. It feels odd to recommend a book that hurts so much to read, but it is worth it.

Andrew Joseph White does. Not. Miss. White is back with another smash hit full of Victorian queer angst, all the body horror a girl could want, and three dimensional trans characters. If White writes it, I will read it. I am already planning to reread for the spooky season.

I. Am. Obsessed. This is my first book by Andrew Joseph White and it certainly won't be my last. This is not my typical genre in any way, but I had a hard time putting this one down - even when the scenes were hard to stomach at times. I eagerly await more of White's work and will absolutely be picking up Hell Followed With Us in the near future.

This book was incredible and brutal and angry. It somehow felt like I was being ripped apart and put back together at the same time. I don't even know how to properly review this book and say anything other than a lot of screaming and incoherent babbling. Silas immediately captured my entire heart and the way he viewed and interacted with the world as an autistic person made me feel so seen. I am so full of love for him and for Daphne and so so angry at the world and the society who decided they needed to be fixed. I am so grateful and delighted the main characters (and the ghosts! yes there are ghosts!) were allowed to be ferocious and vengeful and angry.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that where this book truly shines is how incredibly it entwines misogyny, transphobia, and ableism. All of these things are something Silas contends with and it is impossible to separate them from each other, and I just really appreciated the way the author conveyed that and balanced them out. At no point did it feel like the characters were comparing their traumas and experiences with these things and acting like one of them had it worse than the others. The horror of the way they were all treated was very different but no less valid for their identities and who they were.

The medical horror and body horror in TSBIT is also so supremely well-written. I am not a squeamish person and there were still points where I had to just stop and process what I'd just read. Beyond just the medical horror though, the treatment of these women and Silas, and the way they're viewed in society and by the men in power, made me absolutely sick. It was just so real and uncomfortable and infuriating. This is by no means an easy or lighthearted read but my god, it is absolutely worth it.

I haven't had the chance to read Andrew White's other novel but I absolutely will be making it a priority to read soon. Queer trans kids deserve to be seen and heard and they deserve their rage.

Thank you so much to Holiday House for allowing me read and review this book before its release! The Spirit Bares Its Teeth was one wild turn after another with lots of gruesome and gory details. I particularly enjoyed all the medical jargon and history employed throughout the story.
Silas, the protagonist, has special abilities that allow him to open the Veil between the living and the dead, but unfortunately, the abilities do not come without cost. He attempts to flee an arranged marriage which lands him in a psychiatric facility. Now, he must learn who can be trusted, how to escape, and what secrets lie among the corridors of his new "home."
Read this book if you love gory horror, stories of trans people overcoming obstacles, and found family! I could seriously not recommend this book enough!

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.