Review – Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

Posted October 20, 2021 by Carole in Reviews / 10 Comments

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review – Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra KhawNothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
Published by Tor Nightfire on October 19, 2021
Genres: Fiction / Horror
Pages: 128
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
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three-stars

An Indie Next Pick!
An October LibraryReads Pick!
A Most Anticipated Read on Goodreads, Tor.com, Crime Reads, BookRiot, and The Nerd Daily

Cassandra Khaw's Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a gorgeously creepy haunted house tale, steeped in Japanese folklore and full of devastating twists.

A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company.

It’s the perfect venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends, brought back together to celebrate a wedding.

A night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare as secrets get dragged out and relationships are tested.

But the house has secrets too. Lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.

And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.

Effortlessly turning the classic haunted house story on its head, Nothing but Blackened Teeth is a sharp and devastating exploration of grief, the parasitic nature of relationships, and the consequences of our actions.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

I thought that this novella was okay. In other words, I liked it but I didn’t love it. Before I get too far into the review can we take a moment to talk about this cover? Isn’t it awesome? I was excited to dive into this story and I did enjoy it but feel that it was ultimately quite forgettable.

The premise of 5 friends coming together to have a wedding inside a haunted house was interesting. The fact that it is a Japanese haunted house where years ago a bride-to-be was buried in the foundation was even more so. It doesn’t take long for some strange things to happen and just when you think things can’t get weirder they do. I loved the sense of unease that ran throughout the story.

The 5 friends are barely that and the issues between some of the group made me wonder who thought it would be a good idea for these 5 people to take a trip together. Of course, the tension between many of the characters added to the unease of the story. Our narrator, Cat, has had some issues in the past and I wish that we learned a bit more about what really happened and a little more backstory about all of the characters that made an appearance in the story.

I found this to be a worthwhile shorter read. There were parts of the story that were rather confusing but nothing that I would call scary. I found this to be an entertaining enough story even if it didn’t blow me away. I wouldn’t hesitate to read more of this author’s work in the future.

I received an advanced review copy of this book from Tor Nightfire.

10 responses to “Review – Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

  1. I’m sorry it wasn’t scary enough, I was hoping it would make for quite the thrilling read considering that creepy cover!

  2. When you had this in your haul, I was curious after seeing the cover. Cool that it has a Japanese backdrop to the haunted house setting.