Nothing But Blackened Teeth - Delightfully Unusual
Nothing But Blackened Teeth, the newest addition to Cassandra Khaw’s (she/they) ever-growing repertoire, is a novella very much centered within the tradition of the ‘haunted house’ narrative. It’s got the labyrinthine, Belasco-style dwelling, the sinister, Jackson-esque shadows that lurk just beyond the point of perception, and a knife-edge tension almost too palpable to bear. But this slim volume is anything but a run-of-the-mill residential horror.
Set in modern-day Japan, the story’s premise follows a group of thrill-seeking young adults who, having travelled together for a destination wedding of a lifetime, find themselves plunged into a Gothic nightmare where they are forced to navigate the horrors of a Heian-era mansion haunted by a living-dead bride seeking human sacrifices. The storyline unfolds to reveal a cast of conflicting characters, each of whom are, in turn, isolated, cornered, and put to the test by the malevolent spirit that wants them dead. Khaw even manages to work in a deeply unsettling portrayal of demonic possession which, in many ways, feeds into a much larger discussion around Western colonialism, and the physical and psychological boundaries that are often compromised in toxic relationships.
Though Khaw’s tale is, at times, warped by the overuse of senseless similes and ill-placed humor that doesn’t quite hit the mark, the Malaysian-born writer still manages to achieve something truly wonderful with their intelligent use of rich, descriptive imagery and a plotline convincingly fused with Japanese legends and folklore. The novel capitalizes on a veritable parade of ghostly apparitions called yōkai. These mischievous and often hostile creatures are given many forms, from the brush-painted, fish-like ningyo who crawl from the mansion’s towering ceilings, to the amphibious kappa murals who ominously sift through the walls of its ancient, abandoned ruins. The faceless figure of the Ohaguro-Betarri also features to harrowing effect. Dressed in a white bridal kimono, this shape-shifting female yōkai (recognizable from the book’s stunning front cover) permeates each page with a poetic musicality. Her presence is articulate, multidimensional, and firmly reflects Khaw’s background in video game development, most specifically their position as senior scriptwriter for Ubisoft, the French video game studio responsible for successful franchises like Far Cry, Watch Dogs, and Assassin’s Creed. Sentences are gun-fire quick, and across nine highly cinematic and viciously bite-sized chapters, Khaw’s blunted style delivers an unputdownable, fast-paced chiller with survival horror vibes similar to Keiichiro Toyama’s claustrophobic Siren (PlayStation 2, 2003) and Tecmo’s original installment of the Fatal Frame series.
Nothing But Blackened Teeth is, to say the least, a delightfully unusual novel. It’s dark, it’s gritty, it’s addictive, and somehow it manages to linger on, quite threateningly, in the subconscious long after you’ve turned out the lights. A solid five-star read.
A word of thanks to the author, and the team over at Tor Nightfire, for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of this title in exchange for an open and honest review. This book will be on shelves October 19th!
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