This book was incredible. Going into this knowing it was a horror and there was gore, I was nervous-- BUT this book was written so well. Yes, there was medical horror and graphic descriptions but nothing felt gratuitous or unnecessary. I loved our main character's POV, and I thought the world was really interesting.

I loved all of the characters, but especially Silas and Daphne. They all felt really fleshed out, and I especially loved reading the POV of Silas and his journey throughout this book.

The pacing was great, it felt really suspenseful and I constant underlying feeling of dread while reading this book. At times, I thought I knew where the story was going and then it would surprise me.

I'd definitely read more by Andrew Joseph White, and based on this book I trust the way he writes horror (if that makes sense).

Thank you to Netgalley and Peachtree Teen for this ARC!

CW: (taken from the author's site) graphic violence, sexual assault (implied, attempted, and on-page), medical gore (including an on page cesarean section), transphobia (explicit misgendering, dead-naming, transphobic violence/conversion therapy), anti-autistic ableism, medical/psychiatric abuse (including dubious diagnosis and treatment), gaslighting, abuse, minor discussions of miscarriage

I absolutely devoured Andrew Joseph White’s debut Hell Followed With Us, so I went into this with sky high expectations and he knocked it out of the park. Based off these two books, I can confidently say I will read everything he writes.

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is a historical horror fantasy full of autistic trans rage. Silas tries to escape an arranged marriage and is diagnosed with Veil sickness and sent to a sanatorium to be “cured” only to have the ghosts of missing students start haunting him.

I adored Silas. He is autistic and anxious and the people around him see those as faults and use it as examples of how he isn’t trying hard enough or he isn’t good enough, and when he finds any sort of acceptance he latches on to it while also worrying about it’s authenticity. I don’t want to say much more about the story because it is truly best experienced, but I loved everything about this book.

Another amazing book by Andrew Joseph White. I'll just never get over White's ability to write the most gruesome lines and take the grossest words and turn them into the most hauntingly beautiful sentences. I actually liked this even more than Hell Followed With Us, which I initially LOVED. I thought the story was even better here and things like pacing and setting up the scene that I felt were sometimes confusing in HFWU, had shown significant growth in this one. I gave that book a 4.5 and am giving this one 5 big stars. Andrew Joseph White is officially an auto-buy author for me!

After not being a fan of Hell Followed With Us, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this one! The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is full of horrors--medical gore, convening with the dead, and most of all, the violences of patriarchy. My main problem with Hell Followed With Us is I felt that it dragged a lot, and I loved how plot-forward this one was while maintaining great character work. The mystery here was so propelling, I didn't want to stop reading! It completely knocked me out of my reading slump and had me thinking about the book between reading sessions, wondering what would happen next.

Though I won't spoil anything that goes down here, I'll say that there are a lot of great characters and relationships that made this book keep an air of hopefulness, and our main character, Silas, continues to have hope and fight for his future despite his circumstances. In terms of the setting, I also really loved the historical setting coupled with the magic system. I think White's craft has certainly improved when it's come to constructing magical worlds and I loved the way this one mirrored our own history while adding a twist.

Most of all, I loved Silas and the many discussions taking place in this novel--the intricacies of patriarchy and gender, the relationship between transness and neurodivergency, the discussions around the autism spectrum and masking, and the privilege and trauma around doing so...there was so much seamlessly packed into the novel, especially for a historical horror novel. I loved it so much and will be recommending it to everyone because I want others to discuss it with!

In a lot of ways, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth felt much stronger than White's debut (which is in itself a showstopper) - for me, it filled a lot of the gaps I felt were missing from Hell Followed With Us. The historical setting and its gothic trappings really heightened White's writing style and the subject matter - the rage here is palpable.
My heart was in my throat for a lot of this book, particularly the last quarter - I read through dinner and gave myself indigestion, but it was completely worth it. The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is such a dark book, and yet remains quietly (and at times, joyfully) hopeful - I got a real sense of vindication from the conclusion.
I eagerly anticipate whatever White writes next, but I also know it won't always be an easy read!
4.5 rounded up to 5

I was so excited to receive a copy of this book as I absolutely loved the previous book. Hell followed with us is an absolutely fantastic book and I am so glad to see that his next book is just as amazing. He really is a master at crafting tales that really stripe the reader with their depth and aura of horror. Definitely check out the tags as there are some very heavy topics! This book follows heavy themes of identity and combining that with the history of asylums ended up working fantastically.
I really cannot stress how unbelievably fantastic the author is at creating a very compellingly thematic book that shows in detail how the characters are thinking. Can't wait to read more from this author.

That was a creepy wild ride! Andre Joseph White has improved so much from Hell Followed With Us, the whole structure of the book is way more solid, and it really made me very happy, because i saw a lot of potential in the previous book. it just needed an extra bit of something and here it is..
That said, The spirit bares its teeth is is a book about misogyny, transphobia, and ableism from the perspective of an autistic transgender boy, packed with creepiness, horror, heartbreaks, graphic scenes. gore, mind games and so much more. It's a tragical and haunting journey through endurance and the starkness of life. It was brilliant, and meaningful, and very well executed.

If I had to pick a word to describe THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH it would be ‘fierce’.
It’s as much a historical novel as it is a horror, and gives a paranormal take on the sort of medical practices and experimentation that were once used against women (and, as THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH points out, trans men) to ‘cure’ them of various ‘ills’. This isn’t an easy book – there’s vivisection, transphobia, mutilation, and gore throughout.
Medical and/or body horror is usually on my ‘absolutely not’ list of book/film topics, but for some reason it worked for me in THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH (I was going to say ‘it didn’t bother me’ but that’s completely missing the point) – it’s horrific, as it should be, used to hammer home points about patriarchy, medical abuse (the author’s note at the back provides further NF reading, especially relating to people of colour) and body dysmorphia.
I loved Silas’ character. His kindness and inner strength – endurance – is contrasted throughout by an inner voice – a rabbit – that taunts and snipes and hammers home all his deepest fears and insecurities. I loved that Andrew Joseph White allowed Silas (and the girls at Braxton’s) to be angry and messy and complicated. There’s an urgency to all of the characters, a frantic press for survival, as well as acceptance, that doesn’t compromise or flinch from what has to be done.
I did find the beginning of the story a touch on the slow side, and the world-building a little difficult to get my head around at the start, but by the time I was a few chapters in, I was utterly hooked.

AJW has written two books and is already and auto read author for me. His works deal with trans and LGBTQ+ identities, as well as neurodivergent individuals who exist in a time and place that are antithetical to their exist. Seeing his characters having to grow in these harsh environments is both educational for those who don't know about the history of asylums, as well as what certain traits look like in individuals who don't have the words for their living experiences.

The body horror that fits right in with this type of identity struggle is necessary to read, and makes one think about their own relationship with their body, whether or not they are comfortable with their gender identity. Lots of introspection took place for me while I read this book, and it is a very important read for those who are also struggling with the words to describe their lived experiences.

4.5 Stars

Now that I’ve read two books from Andrew, I can confidently say that his fiction is always going to perfectly walk the line between gruesomeness and profound catharsis. I think both this book and “Hell Followed With Us” are deeply, deeply horrific in very different ways but also very effective ways.

Like I said in my Anticipated Releases video, if “Hell Followed With Us” was Andrew’s trans rage book, then “The Spirit Bares Its Teeth” is his disabled trans rage book. This grisly manifesto railing against systemic ableism is so incredibly needed, and it makes all too much sense that Silas’ struggle against those ideologies is a violent one.

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart, but I love it for that. And I think one way that the story keeps you immersed in the morbid atmosphere and grounded in this horrific sense of urgency is in the use of language. Silas is an aspiring surgeon. He has studied Victorian medicine and surgical procedures from his older brother. So he sees the world through that lens, often likening things that he observes to medical procedures, which are all extremely violent and crude during this time period. So that continuity of language is extremely effective. It gives us a strong insight into how Silas’ mind works, and thematically it’s powerful, because it echoes the story’s thesis statement.

To me, that metaphor of crude medical practices and Silas’ obsession with them represents the idea that even though the process itself may be gruesome or seemingly impossible to bear, healing and recovery and having a better chance of life are possible, even considering that cost. And I think it makes all the sense in the world that Silas wants to not only be on the other end of that as someone who’s been forcibly repressed and denied his entire life, but to be the person who is in *control* of those processes, especially when so many medical professional—even now—abuse that kind of power.

But most importantly, there is incredible nuance on display in this story, specifically in the way it distinguishes between the act of seeking validation and becoming in the arbiter of your *own* validation. On the surface, it might seem like this story is about Silas wanting to prove himself—as a man, as a surgeon, as a disabled person with autonomy—and, on some level, he is. But the truth of the matter is that he *is* all of those things from the very first page and it’s just the world that fails to see it. So in all actuality, it’s not about Silas seeking these pathways towards legibility, but rather realizing that he is the only one who can decide who he is. He is not broken, he does not need to be changed, he does not need to be fixed. The world needs to catch up to where he is.

I don’t know if I’m doing this book justice, but I loved it. It’s disturbing, it's gross, it’s unsettling, but it’s incredibly powerful and undeniable in its purpose. I could not tear my eyes away from it every time I picked it up, and it's easily one of my favorite reads of the year so far.

CONTENT WARNING: transphobia, ableism, graphic violence, sexual assault, discussions of forced pregnancy and miscarriage, mentions of suicidal ideation, extensive medical gore

After having read White’s first book, I had an inkling of what to expect from this one—a great story, fiercely angry characters, and a whole lot of gore. I was not let down. It’s a combination of horror, historical fiction, mystery, and romance, and somehow the mixture works beautifully.

Silas is 16 years old, and all he wants to do is be a surgeon. Which shouldn’t be an issue, expect that he’s got violet eyes and the rest of the world sees him as he appears on the outside—as a girl—and not how he actually is on the inside, a boy. In addition, he’s autistic, and has had extensive tutoring to hide any signs of it from the rest of the world, although he still struggles with certain things and resorts back to flapping his hands and other behaviors when he’s in stressful or upsetting situations. It’s hard not to empathize with Silas. He’s in an impossible situation, and it keeps going from bad to worse.

After a desperate attempt to avoid a forced marriage that he doesn’t want goes wrong, he finds himself forced into a finishing school for violet-eyed girls with Veil sickness. The girls at the school are trained to become magical Stepford wives, basically, and those who don’t cooperate disappear.

I found it so interesting to read about the magic system in this story—women with violet-colored eyes can access the Veil, the border between the living and the dead, and function as mediums, but men want to control them. Veil sickness seems to be a way that the Speakers explain away any behavior among their women that doesn’t conform to their expectations. The other girls at the school were equally intriguing to me, and I enjoyed watching Silas get to know them and develop bonds with some of them.

The treatment of people who were viewed as “different” in these times was incredibly difficult and frustrating to read about. While this book is fiction, things like this aren’t hard to imagine happening in the not-so-distant past, and they did in fact occur. This story brims with rage and pain and frustration, and every single bit of each of these emotions is well-deserved. I was sucked into this story immediately, and it took up space in my head until I finished reading, even while I was on vacation, and it still resides in a corner of my brain. Andrew Joseph White has become one of my favorite new authors, and he’s definitely one to watch, as long as you can handle the gore, which features prominently in his books, the stories are outstanding.

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is a gruesome look at patriarchy, and what women will do to survive.

DO NOT READ if medical gore is a trigger for you. Andrew Joseph White is a master.

Hell Followed With Us was my favorite read of 2022, so I had high hopes for Spirit Bares Its Teeth - and I was not disappointed! Hauntingly terrifying with nuanced explorations of transness, autism, and institutionalization.

Well,after reading this gorgeous piece of YA fiction I am now forced to move 'Hell Follows with Us' farther up my TBR. This book exceeded all of my expectations. The main character is just so incredibly lovable and relatable, and his experience is well-expressed. I was able to predict what was going to happen next, but by the time they came to fruition, I had convinced myself I was wrong.

This author created a tale so captivating I couldn't stop reading- I can't wait to force everyone around me to read. The only thing I would change is that I wish there was more lore. I was left wanting more information about the mysterious world; more world-building, and this would have easily been a five-star rating.

I can't wait for whatever comes next.

Andrew Joseph White is a genius. THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH is a horror that every teen, and every person, should read at least once in their lives. Everything about it is a masterpiece. 5 stars, no notes.

This book had my heart racing during multiple chapters. I have a very vivid imagination, and this story played like a film in my head. It’s written absolutely stunningly. I’m always overjoyed when I get to read prominent queer rep in a book, and this did just that. This was perfect for the Halloween season, I look forward to reading more by this author. I received this book as an eARC.

The spirit bares its teeth was a great read, perfect for when I was wishing it was fall but stuck inside on a hot summers day. I was able to pretend quite nicely!
I was initially attracted by the cover of this book; it’s so cute! The description really drew me in and i got through it slowly but surely. I did find it a little hard to get into at first, but around 1/4 way in it picked up some speed and i finished it in 2 sittings after that.
I liked the writing style and the world building, and overall would recommend this book!

Thanks so much for the ARC!

What a book. This was definitely an experience unlike any I’ve ever taken.

I appreciated the raw and real emotions the main transgender character goes through. Over and over, we as the reader gets to feel how much he’s a boy regardless of his body.

He’s thrown in an awful reform house that tries to retrain him to be the woman he’s “supposed” to be.

This is one of those slow burn, utterly horrifying experiences that was just so darn important.

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read this for my honest review. White is an author I’ll be watching for and picking up books from in the future.

It was highly uncomfortable to read. I wanted to stop reading it but I couldn’t. The letter at the beginning of the book should be fully read. Less than halfway through the book I understood the letter. There were a lot of times in the book when I needed to take a break. I loved each of the girls so much. I loved how the author wrote out how the “sickness” was affecting them. It was so realistic with how some people wanna get out or some people will get told things over and over and believe it is true after a while. I actually really liked the ending. I don’t know how I would’ve answered that either. From the point of view of me reading this book yeah I know my answer is yes but if I was him I don’t know how I would answer. He was very very brave all throughout this book. The plot twist towards the end was scary and sad. I loved this book so much. I am now going to read everything this author writes.
Thank you so much Andrew Joseph White and Netgalley for the Arc.

Another homerun for White, this book is smart and sharp and everything you could ever want from a horror novel. I will be making everyone I know read this book.