White, Andrew Joseph. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth. New York: Peachtree Teen, 2023.
ISBN-13: 978-1682636114 | $19.99 USD | 400 pages | YA Historical Fantasy/Horror
Blurb
A blood-soaked and nauseating triumph that cuts like a scalpel and reads like your darkest nightmare.
New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White returns with the transgressive gothic horror of our time!
Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all.
London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old trans, autistic Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife.
After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness—a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness—and shipped away to Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium. When the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its guts to the world—so long as the school doesn’t break him first.
Featuring an autistic trans protagonist in a historical setting, Andrew Joseph White’s much-anticipated sophomore novel does not back down from exposing the violence of the patriarchy and the harm inflicted on trans youth who are forced into conformity.
Review
5 stars
I really enjoyed Andrew Joseph White’s debut, but The Spirit Bears Its Teeth has blown that out of the water. While this book also covers similar ground, in highlighting how trans (and neurodivergent) people are targeted, my interest immediately grew when I saw that the book was a historical fantasy-horror, and that it was inspired by the real-life medical experimentation on those deemed “unseemly” to society, from people of color to LGBTQ+ people to disabled people. As a disabled queer Asian woman who loves history, this is an aspect of the past that has always fascinated, yet terrified me, and I appreciate how White explored this dark side of history, and unpacking the intersections of the systemic bigotries at play, while also finding hope amidst all the horror and darkness. And as truly well-crafted horror with a focus on social commentary does, I love the balance between the more explicit gore and the more subtle horror of reality and how it quietly oppresses.
Silas is an immensely relatable protagonist, and I truly felt for him as he bristled with the ways society demanded he conform, from not acknowledging his true gender and being overwhelmed by the neurotypical world they inhabit, yet being made to feel like he’s the problem, simply because who he is doesn’t “fit” with what society expects.
I really enjoyed the stylistic choices here, with some parts of the book being small portions of text against a black box, isolated from the rest of the text. It contributed to the darker feel of the book, and these sections, along with the overall intensity of the book itself, made for an engrossing read that kept me turning pages. Like with White’s prior book, it is rather heavy on the gore (and in this case, medical gore), and as such, I would recommend proceeding with caution if you’re sensitive to that, or at least consult content warnings available on the author’s website, and also summarized briefly in the introductory note from White at the beginning of the book.
This was another engaging, thought-provoking read from Andrew Joseph White, and provided you’re informed about the sensitive content in the book, I’d recommend checking out this book, if you’re interested in historical fantasy/horror.
Author Bio
Andrew Joseph White is a queer, trans author from Virginia, where he grew up falling in love with monsters and wishing he could be one too. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University in 2022 and has a habit of cuddling random street cats. Andrew writes about trans kids with claws and fangs, and what happens when they bite back.
Buy links
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