River of Teeth

This book is so much fun, just the best kind of pulp. I love it and I need more! Fortunately for me, the sequel just came out.

There's a whole troupe of interesting characters and a very nice romance between a bisexual man and a nonbinary person, as well as lots of action, actually funny humor, and a good plot. The ending is sort of a cliffhanger, but not in a truly frustrating way. Also, I love pretty much anything that has human/animal bonding as a strong plot element, and here all the animal companions are hippos.

This is the Wild South instead of the Wild West; the timeline at the end of the book places it in the 1890s (I think) and explains everything that has put this region in its current (somewhat lawless) state. Other than the hippos, there are some other world-building changes, too. There is no overt anti-lgbt sentiment; all the characters, even the villainous types, use the nonbinary character's pronouns automatically, and no one raises an eyebrow at the two (maybe more) bisexual characters.

In summary, I want to marry this book.

I was handed this book by someone who wanted to know what all the fuss was about. He had seen the nominations and blurbs it got, but when he read it he was unimpressed, and wanted to get my thoughts. I have to admit my reaction is similar, though maybe not quite as harsh. Novellas, to me, often feel like abridged versions of what should be longer, richer books. With the exception of [b:The Ballad of Black Tom 26883558 The Ballad of Black Tom Victor LaValle https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1447086249s/26883558.jpg 46932536] most underwhelm me, and leave me itching for the book that could have been.River of Teeth was no different, but at the same time I feel like its what its supposed to be. The writing is quick and immersive, the characters are distinct though not particularly rich, of course. I liked that it was simple. I liked that there was a straight forward romance between the swaggering bisexual leading man and the nonbinary demolitions expert. There's minimal fuss about having a nonbinary character, no one gets hung up on pronouns. It's refreshing, it's not really realistic and I don't care. I like that Houndstooth gets nervous every time Hero even looks at him, and I wish I got to see them kiss and stuff more. Emphasis on “and stuff.”That said, I found the story a little lackluster. A Mississippi River full of feral man-eating hippos is a pretty dope concept, but the heist (I'm sorry, “operation”) never really grabbed my interest, and even Houndstooth's revenge subplot felt less like a story arc and more like the arc of a fish flopping down a set of stairs. I liked the atmosphere, but I was kind of glad this was as short as it was because I found myself getting bored. I'm giving this book three stars by a hair, and in a more perfect work it would be 2.5. Overall, a fun little venture into an America that could have been with some good character dynamics, but not a whole lot of substance beyond that.

I had fun with this book. My difficulty was the end. I loved the inclusivity in this story. It doesn't feel forced and no one is a token character by any means.

Just that last quarter of the book I really struggled. I'm still going to read the sequel and I am interested in seeing what else Gailey writes.

I somehow missed that this was a novella, every time I looked at it online. It wasn't until I checked it out from the library and was shocked at how small it was that I made that discovery. It was a welcome one, since I checked out seven other books that day, and finding something short was a relief!

And I AM SO GLAD I finally read this, because it's AMAZING. It opens on Winslow seducing a federal agent, and quickly moves to him gathering up a crew to drive feral hippos out of a marsh in Louisiana. I was expected a fun hippo-cowboy romp, and I got that - what I wasn't expected was strong, deadly women, a bisexual male hero, a nonbinary love interest, and hippo steeds. I don't know why hippo steeds didn't occur to me - it's not like they could wrangle hippos from atop horses! There is so much goodness packed into this little volume.

Taste of Marrow, the sequel, is slightly longer, at 192 pages. Still not full book length. I've put a hold on it, because I need to know more about these characters!

River of Teeth: short and sweet, action-packed with amazing characters and a fascinating, bizarre, but historical premise.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.