The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White returns with the transgressive gothic horror of our time! A blood-soaked and nauseating triumph that cuts like a scalpel and reads like your darkest nightmare. 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.

Can I be fair and objective with this book? Probably not because I want White's literary voice to have existed in my life 20 years ago when I was a teenager who desperately needed a voice like his even though I didn't know it at the time and I'm so glad that it exists now that I have no words. When I tell you that I literally squealed with delight when my ARC request was approved...

Alright, on with the review. White captures the small daily horrors of the autistic experience as well as the sweeping systemic ones and blends them masterfully with the supernatural, the result is raw, honest, and refreshing. While this book takes place in something akin to the Victorian era its commentary regarding ableism is shockingly and devastatingly timely. The pacing is a rather slow and steady one where the horror deepens through accumulation rather than outright shock. Silas is endearing as all effs and it makes the whole thing even harder to read because you just don't want bad things to be happening to him!

I loved every minute I spent with this book and I'm about to be as annoying with it as I was with Hell Followed With Us, I'd apologize in advance but I'm not actually sorry about it.

Thank you to Peachtree Teen and Netgalley for granting me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Review edited to add: I rarely reread books but after hearing much good about the narration for the audiobook I decided to give it a go. The narrator was great but I really struggled to associate the voice with a teenager.

I picked this book up for r/fantasy bingo challenge, but it's not worth forcing myself to finish it since I'm just not vibing with it.
There are a lot of degrading thoughts of the main character about their body that just made my reading experience with this book challenging. At moments I found them more disturbing than the graphic gory scenes, which definitely was the point but I just personally didn't enjoy reading about it.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Andrew Joseph White did it again. The Spirit Bares It's Teeth is an incredibly heart wrenching book while somehow also heart warming. It held the balance of being very hard to read due to graphic gorey scenes and then intimate scenes around friendship and identity and love.

I'm not going to lie, my two gore topics I avoid are eyes and pregnancy and this book hit both of them and yet I didn't ever want to stop reading. Andrew's writing is so captivating and poetic it's hard to put down. Even though this took me almost a month to read, it wasn't ever because I got bored or didn't want to be reading it. It was constantly on my mind and I already wish I could keep reading it.

The characters really embedded themselves in my heart. I was so deeply invested in their stories and what would happen to them. Silas felt very special to me as a person both in the trans community and neurodivergent. I related to the struggles he faced and how his mind worked. All the girls were also so well written and I wanted to know more about all of them, just like Silas. I was also so attached to the groundskeeper even if he wasn't in a ton of scenes. The element of spirits and the veil were both scary and intriguing at the same time. I really enjoyed that.

I am still fairly new to the horror genre but this is the first book that I've physically felt my heart pounding and my eyes trying to skip ahead to find out what happens and if the characters are okay. I was in such a state of anxiety but for once, it was enjoyable. It was a really intense reading experience.

This book has made me much more interested in looking into the history of forced institutionalizations of women / minorities. Horror based in history and real life hits so much harder and really opens my eyes to things I didn't put much thought into previously. Even if it isn't a completely accurate representation.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book!! I would especially recommend it to my fellow queer and neurodivergent readers because this just felt so special and I want more people to experience that! Thank you Andrew Joseph White for writing such incredible books and I can't wait for more!

CWs : graphic violence, sexual assault (both implied and on page), medical gore, on page c-section, abortion, transphobia, ableism, medical / psychiatric abuse, gaslighting, physical / emotional / verbal abuse, forced institutionalizations, body horror, dysphoria, torture, confinement, death of parent, murder, adult/minor relationship, self harm