Faolan Kelly is portrayed as smart, a bit uncanny, and in a vulnerable position as the book begins. There are several aspects I truly enjoyed about this story—the setting in a vague western locale, the escalating sense of foreboding, the fundamental decency of many characters, the diversity, and the unexpected twists. I appreciated how Faolan navigates with apparent compliance while getting away with a lot. The evolving alliances were compelling, and I found the conclusion satisfying, particularly the depictions of partnerships and romances. While I have complex feelings about the Rovers, I'm setting them aside given the Western-esque fantasy setting, which doesn't directly correlate to Romani or Indigenous peoples of the Americas but approaches borrowing respectfully. Overall, a highly enjoyable read.

The setting is wonderful but the plot confused me. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

"Red in Tooth and Claw" by Lish McBride is a dark and gripping young adult Western fantasy that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Faolan Kelly’s struggle for survival in a remote settlement full of secrets and monsters is both thrilling and heart-wrenching. McBride creates a vivid, eerie atmosphere that perfectly complements the story's suspense and danger. Faolan is a compelling and resourceful protagonist who you can’t help but root for. The plot twists and chilling mysteries kept me hooked until the very end. If you're a fan of dark fantasy with a Western twist, this book is a must-read.

It all started so well…

Cover hinting at sending-shivers-down-the-back horror — check!

An eerie look at life in the Frontier — check!

Awesome voice — double check!

And it got better from there (at least for a while), as Red on Tooth and Claw opens strongly with young Mr. Faolan Kelly being dispossessed of his land, his home and everything he has known since birth by a greedy Major just moments after the funeral of senior Mr. Kelly, Faolan’s grandfather.

Faolan is the legitimate holder of the land, and he has a title to prove it. Regardless, the Major is using Faolan’s age, a few months short of eighteen, as an excuse to take possession of the homestead and exploit it for his own benefit. To do so, the Major is sending Faolan away. Under the vigilant eye of a for-hire gunslinger, Faolan is traveling to The Fort, a settlement too far from home but too close to the edge of the untamed wilderness.

The Fort has a terrible reputation. Violence, famine, death…. Every past attempt at making it a sustainable settlement had failed. But, under the wise eye of His Benevolence Gideon Dillard, things seem to be changing. The change is so incredibly positive, residents of the Fort are now taking in orphans and other people in need, feeding them, clothing them, and teaching them, without asking for anything in return. Now, if those orphans just so happen to own some gold, a lovely piece of jewelry, or some land… Well, aren’t those some happy coincidences?

To make things harder, Faolan has a life-changing secret to keep. He’s not a young man as everyone has always thought, but a young woman, whose grandfather disguised since toddlerhood in an effort to keep her safe from people’s prejudices and greed—the best way to get someone’s granddaughter’s rightful inheritance? Marry her to whoever you need to. The sooner, the better.

Much against Faolan’s natural tendencies, surviving in the Fort without revealing her true identity to everyone will require her to trust some of the people around. Worse, it would mean making friends, something Faolan has zero experience with.

Add a wild supernatural beast eating Fort residents at will every other night and you’ll soon see that escaping is Faolan’s only choice.

And this is the moment when the story took a turn that puzzled me. When Faolan is assigned to collect prey from snares along one of the many deer trails, she comes in contact with the Rovers. At first, I thought the Rovers were McBride's interpretation of Native Americans, wanting to create a fictional tribe to make things easier on herself. The problem with my assumption was that many of the descriptions from the musical instruments used by the Rovers, passing by the very peculiar plant recipes used for healing, to their ways of transportation, felt too reminiscent of a Romany life-style. I may have been reading too much into the descriptions or the descriptions may be ambiguous on purpose, but after the excellent job McBride did recreating everything else, this part felt incongruent. Thus, my disbelief was shattered and enjoying the rest of the story became a chore.

I think that, putting in the fewer words possible, this story would have benefited from having no magic at all, turning it into a pure historical fiction mystery, or of having way more magic, making it clear from the start that this was to be mostly a fantasy book set in a Frontier-like world. As it is, it falls uncomfortable in between the two, which makes the resolution of the story feel a bit Deux-Ex-Machina and quite unsatisfactory.

All that said, the balance is a positive one. I did like the book, and once I was able to put aside my puzzlement at the aforementioned incongruence aside, I enjoyed the story even if the end was not as interesting as it could’ve been.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for a honest review!

The biggest success for me with this story was conceptually. Anytime you throw horror in with suspicious religious people and put it anywhere in the south it’s a perfect setup. The southern vibe to the story was great, the dialogue between characters was written well as was the narration style throughout, it really fit the setting and helped to build the atmosphere.

There was another small thing that I really liked, and that was the way the main character’s grief over her grandfather’s death was portrayed. So many books often use a loved ones death as simply a catalyst for the plot to start, and don’t give the character much reaction at all. With this however it wound up feeling very authentic just because of the way a bunch of small things would always remind her of her grandfather and it really allowed us to be able to feel how important he was to her.

Where this book really didn’t live up to its potential for me was in terms of the actual horror. The first 20% or so percent is almost completely devoid of any moments that serve to build the tension for the upcoming events and there were so many missed opportunities where this could have been achieved. The only suspenseful moments we got during this time was the main character hearing strange noises outside her window, and those scenes were over as quick as they started. Had those scenes been more drawn out, and maybe some additional ones been added, it would have been so much stronger. I will say things manage to pick up in the second half, but I still feel like this winds up more mystery than horror due to all the missed opportunities to make things truly scary.

Speaking of missed opportunities, the characters left something to be desired. For me, when a story is filled with characters who are flat more often than not the whole book itself ends up falling flat as a result. In this case, as individuals they felt somewhat bland, but it was their relationships with each other that really fell short for me. With this I primarily mean the romance, I don’t necessarily mind that it was there it just suffered due to severe underdevelopment. The characters have feelings for each other after meeting only three times, which in rare cases can work, but here it didn’t feel believable because all their previous interactions were short and surface level. So again, this felt like it was another case of needing to either expand the existing moments or add new ones.

On a more technical note, there were a few small grammatical errors here and there and a couple sentences that didn’t read right because of how they were worded. For example there’s a part at about 31% where the word could is used when it should be couldn’t - this didn’t hinder my enjoyment at all or make me like the book any less, but it was distracting since it took me a minute to figure out what was trying to be said.

Overall, while this had its entertaining moments, primarily in the second half, the biggest shortcomings stemmed from failure to deliver any truly horrific elements. There’s a few things that could use polishing, but regardless, as long as you know what you’re signing up for, I would still recommend people give this a try.

Well, I simply loved this.

This is a horror western that features simply wonderful characters! I adored Faolan and her friends, simply hated our baddies and need a Chirp of my own.

The story feels epic in scope and has some hope hidden in the darkness.

It’s highly entertaining and one of those reads I simply didn’t want to put down.

5 happy stars!

• ARC via Publisher

I absolutely loved this book and the main female character. The story is set in an apocalyptic world with an old-fashioned western edge. The female lead, Faolan Kelly, was forced by circumstances to dress and live as a male throughout her entire life. When her grandfather died, several powerful town leaders joined forces and told her that, as a 16-year-old male, she was too young to be a landowner. Their goal was to steal her newly inherited land and homesite. However, the deed was missing. Because she was too young to claim her inheritance, the town leaders forced her to travel to and live in an isolated religious settlement against her will. They hired a gunslinger to accompany her to make sure that she did not run. Both she and the gunslinger chose to live in the community for different reasons. Once there, they quickly realized there was a mystery to solve and that this was a town with many hidden secrets, one being that residents were being killed by an unknown creature. The rules in the community were very rigid and the consequences of not following them severe. Each resident had chores and she was assigned the task of hunting for food for the community. While out hunting, she met a traveling tribe called the rover clan where the members were close-knit and free to be themselves. This clan was feared and hated by the residents in her settlement. She was secretly attracted to one of the tribe members, Tallis, but hid her feelings-possibly even from herself. I adored the main female lead and her wry, dry sense of humor. She was a rebel, adventuresome, independent, smart and seemed attached to the freedoms that came with her male role and identity. She was not easy to read to her peers and avoided emotional expressions and display of feelings. She was always hiding her true inner self. The male lead, Tallis, came from a warm, close tribe that seemed to operate out of a collective wisdom. He came from an environment where free expression of thoughts and feelings were encouraged. The interaction between the stalwart, emotionally closed female and the easily expressive male was fascinating. I loved watching Faolan grow and change while still remaining true to her inner self. This was an imaginative book that had me inwardly cheering for the characters as well as chuckling out loud at some of the scenes. It was refreshing to have a female lead with well-honed, practical common sense that contrasted beautifully with a male lead who had strong family connections and great spiritual wisdom which helped him easily see beneath the surface of others. I loved watching Faolan build her new "family" from the various individuals that she met and form the attachments that she had no idea that she desired. I definitely recommend this author and book.

Horror is far from my favorite genre, but the premise of this book was intriguing, and I’m glad it gave it a chance.

The Western vibes were refreshing. It’s a slow-burn of a story, and the world is kept vague. All of the characters were interesting, and the main character also feels quite unique. Don’t fear the horror tag; this is, in the end, a heartwarming tale of found family and letting down your guard.

This book was absolutely amazing.
I'd heard of the author before, and had been wanting to read Lish's work for a while now, so naturally I had to request to become an ARC for Red in Tooth and Claw when I saw it available on NetGalley. This was no mistake, and I can say that this book is easily in my top five of things I've read in 2024. I devoured it in only a few days.

I'm a bit unsure about this one. The setting was incredibly intriguing, and I loved the focus on the Western aspects, but I was bit confused about the main character hiding the fact she was a girl. At some points, it seemed as if she was trans, but then it switched to the fact that she had to hide the fact of her gender for safety, and I just felt like there wasn't enough explanation for this plot point. I also was a bit a disappointed that the book wasn't trans, but that's just me.

This novel was an interesting hodge-podge of elements. We have a western, gun slinger, outlaws kind of atmosphere. Coupled with the tension of disguising one’s identity and the fear of being found out. Then there’s a little rushed, awkward, almost forced feeling romance thrown in? All together, this novel was alright. I feel like it could have been much MORE had the horror aspect really been leaned into.

Absolutely eerie and stunning novel. I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys young adult horror or thrillers.

A dark and witty fantasy novel that explores themes of family, survival, and the nature of humanity through a supernatural lens. The story is set in a world where magical and monstrous creatures live hidden among humans. In this tale, our main character, Dale, is a were-wolf who finds himself in a precarious situation after his pack is attacked by a group of hunters. Left to fend for himself, Dale struggles with his dual nature and the responsibilities that come with his newfound independence. Navigating this dangerous world, he forms unlikely alliances with other supernatural beings, each with their own unique abilities and challenges, to include vampires, witches and ghosts. Together, they face off against a common enemy that threatens their existence. Throughout the book, McBride infuses humor and heart into the narrative, creating a balance between the darker elements of the plot and the personal growth of her characters. The book combines action-packed sequences with emotional depth, exploring what it means to be a monster and what it means to be human. Dale's journey is not just about survival, but also about finding a place in a world that is, more often than not, hostile to his kind.

Horror in the old west frontier. Death and redemption collide into a tale that brings to life the lesson that family doesn't have to be of the same blood.

Loved the eerie horror vibes, the world building was good and kept me intrigued! Thank you penguin teen for the arc!

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I really loved Red in Tooth and Claw, and I must admit, I think part of that is because it was so ambiguous that it left a lot open to interpretation. I will admit that it didn't really read to me as a horror, so I wouldn't go into this one expecting that, but I went in with an open mind and loved every second!

An odd story I enjoyed even if I’m not quite sure I understood it.

When tragedy strikes Faolan Kelly begrudgingly follows a gunslinger to a new home where punishment and penance are one in the same and with a few heavy secrets and a creature in the woods she has to keep her wits about her before she ends up buried beneath the blood soaked dirt at her feet.

Like another reviewer I too expected a horror/monster story with a old west backdrop but that was not the case. It wasn’t a bad choice because I think overall it was a strong story I just think some of the marketing or maybe my own judgement on the cover made me expect one thing but end up pleasantly surprised by the other.

The strongest aspect of the story is the characters, Faolan is up there as one of my favorites as she manages this disguise and does her best to do what is needed until she can escape but at the same time have this level of sass both in internal monologues and outward speech that I couldn’t get enough of. Every relationship formed here felt so genuine and sweet and I felt very much like a kindred spirit to her which definitely carried throughout the book.

As for the plot I think I get it to an extent I do however wish we had gotten a bit more of the why and how. Yes it is explained and I can make my own connections to other things to round out bits that were left rather hazy but with so many strong elements it was a bit underwhelming when answers were revealed.

I really did enjoy this in a way I did not anticipate when I began so now I’ll have to spend my time learning just what else this author has written to add more favorites to my reading list.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review!**

This book was kind of a mystery to me. What I mean by that is that I loved it in some sections, while being ambivalent toward it in other sections.

I loved:

-The characters of Tallis and Will
-The underlying message of being true to yourself
-The cats!

I liked:

-The folksy way that Faolan talked

I disliked:

-That the religion wasn’t really explained at all. I wanted to know more, so that I could have hated HisBen even more.
-The fact that this was called a Western Horror but it wasn’t scary or horrific at all. Neither did it cause me to feel dread. Like, at all. The story was good, but calling it a horror book is more than a stretch—and I usually don’t like it when people say that books aren’t horror. But this really wasn’t horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

What a FUN read!!! Perfect pitch for a Western/horror story; the main characters were well developed and each blended into the story seamlessly. Just enough sexy tension to keep it lively without getting"erotic". Highly recommend.

This book checked every box I didn't even know I had when I picked it up!

Fast-paced with intricate world-building and a wonderful host of characters, McBride has created an unputdownable story that left me hooked until the very end. If you're a fan of Western books / films and enjoy the supernatural, this is the book for you!