Perhaps it was trying for horror comedy? In any case, it eliminated any real sense of dread or fear. It really took away from the fear factor. I don’t mind fraught relationships, but these characters were constantly bickering, even during the scariest moments of the story.

This is an adult novella, but the characters – all in their mid-20s – were rather immature, petty, and argumentative. First, the characters were oddly annoying. However, beyond all of that, there were some issues in Nothing But Blackened Teeth that I couldn’t get past.

Additionally, the friends bring some great, diverse representation: Besides one white guy, the other four are Chinese, half-Japanese, and part Bengali, part Telegu. The setup here is also good: five friends ready to have an unconventional, spooktacular wedding. Not being familiar with what they were, I did need to look them up in order to understand, but I didn’t mind that I love getting to learn about different cultures and histories and mythologies. I also loved the spooky figures from Japanese folklore. Let’s start with the good: I loved the setting of a haunted mansion built in Japan’s Heian period (794-1185). But I’m sad to report that I didn’t really enjoy it. This was one of my most anticipated books of the season. To be fair, I didn’t pre-order Nothing But Blackened Teeth *only* because of that terrifyingly beautiful cover I found the summary to be equally enthralling. While this can mean missing out on great books just because their covers didn’t catch your eye, it can also mean choosing a book because of its amazing cover… and then being disappointed. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I often do. For lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.Īnd she gets lonely down there in the dirt. It’s the perfect wedding venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends.īut a night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare. Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra KhawĬassandra Khaw’s Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a gorgeously creepy haunted house tale, steeped in Japanese folklore and full of devastating twists.Ī 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. Today, while everyone is celebrating Halloween, felt like the perfect time to read the whole story. The horrifying cover and description both captured my attention, and I pre-ordered the ebook, excited for October to arrive. Last spring I found out a new novella that was coming, Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw.

Nothing but blackened