Nothing But Blackened Teeth

I waited a while for this from my library, I was so excited because I quite enjoyed her short story “These Deathless Bones” and I love Japanese culture.
I thought the characterizations and descriptions were fantastic BUT it was hard to read in that the transitions were few and poor. I often had to go back and reread, usually without gaining any additional clarity. I often thought where am I, how did I get here?
So the setting was talked about in gorgeous detail and I thought the characters were rich, but it felt awkward in that these story elements seems disjointed. I was so confused about how the characters moved through the space/story.

I enjoyed the part when Cat and Lin discussed how they needed to be careful because Cat was bisexual and Lin was the ‘comic relief' or something like that and that's who usually dies first in horror stories. I tried to go back and find it, but couldn't because that's how muddled the book is for me. I'm also a bit disappointed and annoyed. Cat is bisexual, but we are only told of her experiences with men; she speaks favorably, admiringly of female bodies, but that's it. It felt disingenuous.

Final thoughts from notes:
Rating: 2.5

While the cultural aspects (how the inside of the manor was laid out, inclusion of yokais and other Japanese folklore) were rich and made it compelling, the story fell flat. The ending felt rushed and I didn't really care about the characters. I enjoyed the drama between them but I found myself not really caring and getting tired of it after a while.

The focus of the story around Japanese folklore and environment gives the rating an extra .5 bc I felt those were the best and most compelling parts of the novel.

I also didn't care for the commentary on horror tropes — I felt like it added nothing to the story, especially after the story would still follow some of those tropes. I get that it's supposed to be ironic, but I didn't find it too amusing; it came across as annoying to me.

And the worst part is that they could have left at any point during the story because the doors were unlocked.

Also, the epilogue?? You're telling me Faiz literally guts Phillip and gets away scotch free? I'm all for make believe, but c'mon.

I feel sad - this is the only 1-star book I've read this year. I suppose it did have two key virtues: the premise (reinforced by that cover!) is irresistible, and it was so short I could still finish it despite not liking it.

I picked this up with high hopes. A group of friends who once styled themselves ghost hunters rent a venerable Japanese mansion steeped in ghostly legend? Sounds both right up my alley and refreshingly different from standard Western haunting tales.

However, beyond that general idea, this fails on every element of storytelling.

Atmosphere is weirdly lacking. Perhaps because the setting isn't well established (is this supposed to be a crumbling pile, a preserved historical landmark, something in between? If it's explained at the outset, I quickly lost the thread as petty arguments and weird vocabulary choices distracted me!). This isn't scary, creepy, or even unsettling. And the elements of Japanese folklore needed a lot more explanation and description to sustain the focus placed on them.

Plot barely exists. It could be summarized in 2-3 sentences.

The insistence on obscure words and the constant, strained metaphors make me think Khaw forgot the primary purpose of language is communication! The ostentatious prose was distracting and pulled me out of the story. For example:

I wanted badly to tell her again that the past was so sepulchered in poor choices, you couldn't get Faiz and me back together for bourbon enough to brine New Orleans.

boring

This book was one of my most anticipated releases of this year, but it turned out to be not what I expected. It wasn't creepy or surprising. I didn't care about the characters, and the supernatural entities didn't have the main role I was hoping for. I really wanted to enjoy this one, but I felt like it felt short in some parts. All in all, others seemed to have enjoyed it, so I guess it's still worth a try.

A Heian era mansion sits alone and haunted. Buried beneath its creepy floorboards is a blushing bride's bones and her human sacrifices.

Talia's getting married. She always adored exploring haunted houses, so the mansion is the perfect wedding venue. Talia and her friends head to the mansion for a night of celebration, hoping to catch a glimpse of the ghost bride that inhabits it's walls.

The cover of this novella is gorgeous

1 star ⭐️
Highly disappointed. I was looking forward to this novela since I heard Jordaline talk about it in July. Even preordered it in July. I just feel like I had such high hopes and it met none of them.

The writing did feel pretentious with the whole thing being metaphors and similes that left me wondering wtf was going on. None of the characters were likable at all. I wondered why they were all there together celebrating a wedding if they didn't seem to like each other at all.

I was bothered at how nonchalant they acted as this haunted house was coming alive. Bickering and fighting about nothing while there are ghosts and monsters around. The library with the books came out of left field and was super convenient.

Overall, let down and disappointed.

I don't know what this is. It's not good enough for three stars because there was so much that bothered me, but I read books I rated two stars that were worse.
The idea/concept of the story is great, however it laked something... What bothered me most was the attempt at a japanese atmosphere that didn't work for me but confused me. Though with a degree in japanese studies I'm probably more critical (especially in the use and presentation of Japanese language and culture) than a common reader without this background.

I believe this might make a good movie IF it would focus even more on the stereotypes of horror movies, but the ending too abrupt...

Rating: 3.6 leaves out of 5
Characters: 3.5/5
Cover: 5/5
Story: 2.5/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Genre: Paranormal/Horror/Short Story
Type: Audiobook
Worth?: Meh

The only thing that saved this book from being a 2 was the cover. It fell flat for a horror book. The music for the audio was scarier than the actual story. I will admit though that some pieces were scary. For example, the fact that one friend just straight up murdered his friend for his trash of a bride. The bride of this story is crap. Nothing redeemed her for all that went down. I had high hopes for it.

...is a gorgeously creepy haunted house tale, steeped in Japanese folklore and full of devastating twists.

I was excited for this book's story, but found all of the characters insufferable, and didn't like the writing. It was trying really hard to be lyrical, poignant and creepy, but just felt incredibly pretentious. I don't understand why Lin was even there??? And I couldn't stand the author talking repeatedly about how hot the characters were - I GET IT. Up until near the end they are described in different ways as so good looking it hurts. I ended up finishing this in a day because I really didn't want to have to pick it up again

I liked it. Kind of disappointed that the most (if not only) somewhat likable character gets murked in the end, but it was definitely an interesting read.
None of the characters are especially likable - I felt like I didn't get to know the MC well enough to root for her. I loved the references to Japanese history, folklore, and art. I REALLY could not stand Talia and I almost felt sorry for Faiz (but not really). I appreciated how real the ending was and the kind of dumbness that followed. Overall, it just felt like I was bearing witness to a disaster - but it was an enjoyable one.

Okay listening on audiobook was a whole other experience. I really loved this this reading session. Loved the way japanese culture was looped in and the poem was haunting. I've read quite a few haunted house books recently but this one had a lot more creepiness to it like Diavola. Definitely recommend it was a really fast listen as well!

Everything on paper told me I would love this story. The cover and the synopsis of teens going to a haunted mansion and spooky things happen/ghost bride kills them off one by one, cliche, but really drew me in. I thought I was in store for a fun read but unfortunately this story really missed the mark with me and left me feeling disappointed.

The characters are not relatable and, frankly, just unlikable. They argue nonstop through the story which really kills the mood. I marked the book to notate the chapter when things start to really pick up and it seemed like the story was moving into the meat and potatoes but the flow is interrupted nearly instantly after beginning to set a creepy tone.

We don't get enough back story on these characters to really develop a relationship with them. We get hints to a troubled past with our main character but ultimately what triumphs is the incestuous relationship between the friend group and the drama that spawned from that. Each person has slept with each other and it is the source of all of the bickering. I'm not really sure why these characters are friends to begin with. What I think what causes it to suffer is just how little we know about them. They've all known each other since 16 years old but it doesn't feel like it. It made it hard to care when anything bad happened to any of them.

Khaw's writing style may also just not be for me. I was not a fan of the interrupting of dialouge and how much detail went into describing minor things. The yokai on the walls came up way too often and I wasn't sure if by bringing them up as often as they were meant they're actually doing what is being described or if it was the main characters imagination. It would have been fine if every once in a while it was used to really emphasize a room, or something in the room, but it's nearly every paragraph and I found it disruptive to the point I started skipping these descriptive paragraphs entirely near the end of the book. It wasn't used where it mattered, such as describing the bride.

The drops of Japanese terms also felt odd as they're mentioned but not described as if suggesting you should know those words.

spoilers

The bride really takes a backseat which was a shame. The friend group and their drama is ultimately the focus of the story. The only character death isn't by anything supernatural or scary, but by one of the friend group. There is a touch of atmosphere being built but it's instantly squashed by more drama. While the “book part” felt spooky the “ritual” and needing to do it felt shoehorned in and then rushed over once initiated. The story of the bride never once featured a ritual and being the book was blank I assumed it was the part of the one character's imagination/break down but it ends up working for some reason. I found this so odd as it was never previously established that any rituals happened in the past connected to the bride or her wedding. There is backstory about sacrifice where girls are buried alive, which does happen to a character, but this ritual to save that character just felt so out of place.

An underwhelming, annoying book. I love stylised prose with a wide vocabulary; I don't think a book having "windowpane" or "invisible" prose is praise. But this book ain't it. Lines like "the singsong timbre of his voice familiar, the sound of it like a coyote lying about where he’d left the sun" and "jaw sharp as a promise" are twaddle. Somewhere amid all the mixed metaphors is a fun ghost story starring an amusingly messed-up gaggle of exes, but Khaw fails to find it.

Some of this book's sentences are so nonsensical I wasn't sure if they actually contained typos or were just the author trying and failing to be clever. Shouldn't that "every one" be "everyone"? Shouldn't that "poured" be "pored"? Shouldn't "a loci for our celebrations" be "a locus..."? And what the hell is wrong with this first-person protagonist that has her thinking exclusively in tortured metaphors and similes, anyway?

For all the show-offy vocabulary, the author runs out of phrases and mannerisms pretty fast. Everything is sweet, ink, mildew, indigo, froth, rills, and breath. Everyone's mouths and lips are thinning, pinching, slimming, and pinning. Everyone's licking their lips and teeth and running their fingers through their hair. The amygdala, cerebrum, and medulla oblongata are namedropped, just so you know the author's looked at a diagram of the brain and was determined to shoehorn most of it in. The repetitions stick out all the more for how short the book is and how desperately the prose is contrived. A book that consists of around 22,000 words but still manages to make two of them "chiaroscuro" is trying way too hard.

I could forgive the prose's overreaching ambition if it felt earnest, but it's combined with characters who keep ironically lampshading the weakness of the plot. The result just feels like the reader is being held in contempt. If the plot's such a knowing hack job, maybe the author should've spent more time on it, and less consulting the thesaurus? Did they want anything in this story to be meaningful, or to evoke anything approaching real? Is it all supposed to be a big joke, and if so, on whom?

Ugh, whatever. It's short and the cover's cool.