Nothing But Blackened Teeth

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I did not like this. Thankfully, it is a mercifully short novella, but I disliked it so much, it took me way too long to finish it. The one pro was the Japanese folklore—always guaranteed to please Certified Weeb Trash like me. Everything else was terrible.

I suppose the characters were designed to be the most horrifying thing about the book. But it makes the book pointless and irredeemable. It is as if the author took note of the fact that a good story has dramatically flawed characters and responded with, "Well if I make everyone completely insufferable, that MUST make it the best thing ever written." Not. It is like five people who seem to hate each other come together randomly—under the guise of supposed history and improbable friendship—to see who can best play the role of human garbage. I felt no sympathy for a single one of them—including the annoyingly judgemental narrator.

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