Nothing But Blackened Teeth

By Cassandra Khaw

A USA TODAY BESTSELLER • A Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Award Finalist! • An Indie Next Pick! • An October LibraryReads Pick! • 2022 RUSA Reading List: Horror Winner!

Cassandra Khaw's Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a gorgeously creepy haunted house tale, steeped in Japanese folklore and full of devastating twists.

A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company.

It’s the perfect venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends, brought back together to celebrate a wedding.

A night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare as secrets get dragged out and relationships are tested.

But the house has secrets too. Lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.

And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.

Effortlessly turning the classic haunted house story on its head, Nothing but Blackened Teeth is a sharp and devastating exploration of grief, the parasitic nature of relationships, and the consequences of our actions.

Also by Cassandra Khaw:
The Salt Grows Heavy
A Song for Quiet
Hammers on Bone
The Dead Take the A Train (co-written with Richard Kadrey)

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Oct 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781250759429

Cassandra Khaw

Cassandra Khaw is a scriptwriter at Ubisoft Montreal. Her fiction has been nominated for the Locus Award and the British Fantasy Award, and her game writing has won a German Game Award. You can find her short stories in places like F&SF, Lightspeed, and Tor.com. Her novella Nothing But Blackened Teeth is coming out from Nightfire, the new Tor horror imprint in 2021.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

How the fuck are you this rich? I took in the old vestibule, the wood ceiling that domed our heads. Time etched itself into the shape and stretch of the Heian mansion, its presence apparent in even the texture of the crumbling dark. It felt profane to see the place like this: without curators to chaperone us, no one to say do not touch and be careful, this was old before the word for such things existed.

That Phillip could finance its desecration—lock, stock, no question—and do so without self-reproach was symptomatic of our fundamental differences. He shrugged, smile cocked like the sure thing that was his whole life.

I’m— Come on, it’s a wedding gift. They’re supposed to be extravagant.

Extravagant is matching Rolex watches. Extravagant—I slowed down for effect, taking time between each syllable—"is a honeymoon trip to Hawaii. This, on the other hand, is … This is beyond absurd, dude. You flew us all to Japan. First class. And then rented the fucking imperial palace or—"

It’s not a palace! It’s just a mansion. And I didn’t rent the building, per se. Just got us permits to spend a few nights here.

Oh. Like that makes this any less ridiculous.

Ssh. Stop, stop, stop. Don’t finish. I get it, I get it. Phillip dropped his suitcases at the door and palmed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. His varsity jacket, still perfectly fitted to his broad quarterback frame, blazed indigo and yellow where it caught the sun. In the dusk, the letters of his name were gilt and glory and good stitching. Poster-boy perfect: every one craved him like a vice. Seriously, though. It’s no big deal.

No big deal, he says. Freaking billionaires.

Caaaaat.

Have you ever cannonballed into a cold lake? The shock of an old memory is kind of like that; every neuron singing a bright hosanna: here we are. You forgot about us, but we didn’t forget about you.

Only one other person had ever said my name that way.

Is Lin coming? I licked the corner of a tooth.

No comment.

You could just about smell the cream on the lip of Phillip’s grin, though. I tried not to cringe, to wince, beset by a zoetrope of sudden emotions. I hadn’t spoken to Lin since before I checked myself into the hospital for terminal ennui, exhaustion so acute it couldn’t be sanitized with sleep, couldn’t be remedied by anything but a twist of rope tugged tight. The doctors kept me for six days and then sent me home, pockets stuffed with pills and appointments and placards advocating the commandments of safer living. I spent six months doing the work, a shut-in committed to the betterment of self, university and my study of Japanese literature, both formal and otherwise, shelved, temporarily.

When I came out, there was a wedding and a world so seamlessly closed up around the space where I stood, you’d think I was never there in the first place.

A door thumped shut and we both jumped, turned like cogs. All my grief rilled somewhere else. I swear, if that moment wasn’t magic, wasn’t everything that is right and good, nothing else in the world is allowed to call itself beautiful. It was perfect. A Hallmark commercial in freeze-frame: autumn leaves, swirling against a backdrop of beech and white cedar; god rays dripping between the boughs; Faiz and Talia emerging, arms looped together, eyes only for each other, smiling so hard that all I wanted to do was promise them that forever will always, eternally, unchangingly be just like this.

Suenomatsuyama nami mo koenamu.

My head jackknifed up. There it was. The stutter of a girl’s voice, sweet despite its coarseness, like a square of fabric worn ragged, like a sound carried on the last ragged breath of a failing record player. A hallucination. It had to be. It needed to be.

You heard something spooky? said Phillip.

I strong-armed a smile into place. Yeah. There’s a headless lady in the air right there who says that she killed herself because you never called. You shouldn’t ghost people, dude. It’s bad manners.

His joviality wicked away, his own expression tripping over old memories. Hey. Look. If you’re still mad about—

It’s old news. I shook my head. Old and buried.

I’m still sorry.

I stiffened. You said that already.

I know. But that shit that I did, that wasn’t cool. You and me—I should have found a better way of ending things, and— His hands fluttered up and fell in time with the backbeat of his confession, Phillip’s expression cragged with the guilt he’d held for years like a reliquary. This wasn’t the first time we’d had this conversation. This wasn’t even the tenth, the thirtieth.

Truth was, I hated that he still felt guilty. It wasn’t charitable but apologies didn’t exonerate the sinner, only compelled graciousness from its recipient. The words, each time they came, so repetitive that I could tune a clock to their angst, sawed through me. You can’t move forward when someone keeps dragging you back. I trapped the tip of my tongue between my teeth, bit down, and exhaled through the sting.

Old news, I said.

I’m still sorry.

Your punishment, I guess, is dealing with bad puns forever.

I’d take it. Phillip made a bassoon noise deep in his lungs, a kind of laugh, and traded his Timberlands for the pair of slippers he’d bought at a souvenir shop at the airport. It’d cost him too much, but the attendant, her lipstick game sharp as a paper cut, had thrown in her number, and Phillip always folds for wolves in girl-skin clothing. Long as you promise you don’t spook the ghosts.

In another life, I had been brave. Growing up where we did, back in melting-pot Malaysia, down in the tropics where the mangroves spread dense as myths, you knew to look for ghosts. Superstition was a compass: it steered your attention through thin alleys, led your eyes to crosswalks filthy with makeshift shrines, offerings and appeasements scattered by traffic. The five of us spent years in restless pilgrimage, searching for the holy dead in Kuala Lumpur. Every haunted house, every abandoned hospital, every storm drain to have clasped a body like a girl’s final prayer, we sieved through them all.

And I was always in the vanguard, torchlight in hand, eager to show the way.

Things change.

A breeze slouched through the decaying shoji screens: lavender, mildew, sandalwood, and rotting incense. Some of the paper panels were peeling in strips, others gnawed to the still vividly lacquered wood, but the tatami mantling the

Reviews for Nothing But Blackened Teeth

[birdo82 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It doesn't condescend by spoon-feeding Japanese folklore, and it waltzes between whimsy and tension; overall, this is a simple and eerie ghost story.

[amanda4242_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A group of "friends" go to a haunted house to celebrate a wedding. They are all assholes who actually hate each other and I was rooting for the ghost the entire time (sadly, only one of them dies.).This probably isn't the worst book I've ever read, but it's certainly in the running.Received via NetGalley.

[thewallflower-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I think this is short enough to be called a novella, so I’d like to know how this got a publisher, because I’ve got some novellas I’d like to submit.There’s some beautifully written prose in here, but at the cost of narrative flow. The dialogue keeps getting interrupted with some observation, facial tic, or other analysis of the narrative.That means the story gets no chance to flow. Barry Lyga says “Small, insignificant actions like ‘looking’ or ‘blinking’ or ‘swallowing’ or ‘narrowing eyes’ distract to the reader and make the story unnecessarily longer.” This is coupled with there being too much telling about the characters, not showing, because the narrative is told through a single POV. This means I forgot who they were half the time, even though there are only five.The more horror I read, the less I like it as a genre/medium. It gets too metafictional. Too self-aware. I guess it’s hard not to have the characters realize they’re in a horror movie when there are so many tropes. But it all comes off like a repeat of Scream. Plus you lose all the timing of the scare and the visuality of the horror.

[kittycunningh-815148 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I don't like these people and choose not to spend more time with them. Not poorly written. Just not my flavor.

[sharonmariabidwell · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Beautifully written. Seriously, Khaw’s narrative captures the imagination, especially for anyone with a love of true literature. However, this isn’t a novel. It’s a novella at best, so though it’s available in a hardback book, don’t think you’re getting hours of reading material. Not that it isn’t worthwhile. The narrative richly played in my head as though I were watching a film, and I can well imagine this would make an entertaining hour and a half movie. I didn’t find it all that scary, though as a horror fan, I loved what I was reading. Part of the trouble I believe is anyone not versed in Japanese mythology will find the references washing over them unless they take the time to look them up, which breaks into their enjoyment of the story. EG: Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox and references foxes in Japanese folklore which possess paranormal abilities. I honestly think an addendum related to all the various folklore in the book would have helped for trying to translate these appearances to the mind’s eye is difficult, though it’s no fault of the author, and the work still carries an underlying sense of menace and there’s no denying the fabulous elegance of this story, the wonderful choice of each word. As sublime as it is cruel.

[needmoreshelves · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have come to appreciate the talent that is required to write a good novella, and I think genre fiction authors do it better than most. This horror tale is another example of just how much can be packed into 120 pages. It's a haunted house story, but the ghosts are not just residents of the 1,000-year-old Japanese mansion, and the real-life spirits might be more dangerous. All of the relationships in the story are fraught, and the characters are just on the wrong side of likable, which would be easy to cross into irritating in a full-length novel but felt like just enough here. This was a lot of fun to read on a fall afternoon, and if you enjoy something spooky this might really hit the spot.

[irenecole · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A group of friends go to a haunted mansion for a wedding. The run down, abandoned house is the final resting place of a former would be bride and holds the remains of girls who were buried alive to keep her company.

The cover and synopsis is what pulled me in. The characters and purple prose is what nearly stopped me from finishing. I could not really connect with the writing style. Just because someone knows a lot of words doesn't mean they all need to be crammed in. It reminds me of the way middle grade kids will go back and add as many words as possible to pad out a school report to the required number of paragraphs. I didn't connect with any of the characters. I didn't like any of them and they didn't like each other much either. This was not the terrifying ghost story I was hoping for. You may enjoy it more than I did. I seem to be in the minority of disappointed readers.
I received an advance copy.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Five friends take an expensive trip to a haunted mansion in Japan to hold a surprise wedding and ghost hunt. I have read a lot of haunted house stories over the years, and this one unfortunately did not do a lot for me. I agree with several other reviewers that it seemed overwritten, yet at the same time, not meaty enough. I would have appreciated a deeper dive into the Japanese folklore underlying the plot; at times, I felt I was floating in a sea of Japanese words without any context. More problematic for me were the characters. There was such an air of simmering animosity among them that it was hard for me to accept that they had agreed to take this trip together. More back story was needed to explain why they felt the way they did and help me care more about them. I also felt that the ending was a bit too on the nose, a self-congratulatory and all-too-obvious twist on a horror trope that one of the characters had helpfully just explained to the readers. Overall, I didn't think this was bad, just meh, but unfortunately, it has gotten so much buzz at this point that it can't possibly measure up.

[clrichm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Probably my fault for being so psyched up over the concept of Japanese horror without looking a little more closely to see that it wasn’t Japanese, just based on Japanese mythology. It was disturbing, yes, but more in the realm of graphic violence and “people are the worst monsters” than because it raised goosebumps on my nape. Yeah, there was a ghost and demons, but…what did they do? Just take someone and do…something that had the victim in the hospital recovering for a while, but we don’t know what. All the horror came from the rest of the people there. Not what I was expecting or hoping to read, but good nevertheless.

[whitewavedarling · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Khaw's Nothing but Blackened Teeth celebrates horror's ability to drop readers into a voice and situation, and compel them forward from what seems like reality into something far more dangerous and surreal. And...I loved it.The style of the novel keeps a fast pace, and if a reader can allow themselves to sink into the voice of the MC and run with her through the experience of the book, Nothing but Blackened Teeth becomes an experience just so much as a story. Highlighted by some gorgeous language, too-real characters and drama, and an immersion in Japanese folklore, the book begs to be read and then re-read. There's an argument to be made that it could have been longer, and there are also moments when 'big word syndrome' gets out of hand and obscures Khaw's meaning, but those small flaws are nothing in comparison to the experience of the book.I'm sure I'll be re-reading it, and I'll absolutely be diving into more of Khaw's work.

[pardamustang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nothing But Blackened Teeth, a novella by Cassandra Khaw, is a chilling and atmospheric horror story that will leave readers with goosebumps. The setting is a decaying Japanese Heian-era mansion, which is described in visceral detail, and adds a haunting backdrop to the tale. Khaw's prose is sparse, yet evocative, making for a chilling and engrossing reading experience.The characters are a motley crew of old friends with long-standing grudges and unresolved issues. Khaw masterfully captures the tension between them, which adds to the sense of unease permeating the story. As things start to go awry, the characters' personalities begin to unravel, and Khaw unveils their dark sides with gruesome delight.The horror in Nothing But Blackened Teeth is not just in the acts of violence that occur, but also in the psychological terror that the characters experience. Khaw presents a bleak view of human nature that is both thought-provoking and terrifying. The ending is deeply unsettling, leaving readers with a feeling of unease long after they've finished reading. Overall, Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a haunting and chilling horror tale that is not to be missed.*******Many thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Tor/Forge for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

As part of a destination wedding, four friends with tangled sexual relationships travel to Japan to look for ghosts in an old mansion. The result is a thin haunted house story with even thinner characters padded out with a lot of verbiage, e.g., (opening up to a random page and picking the start of the first complete paragraph) "Enclosed in Talia's ribs was an entire vocabulary of sighs, each one layered with delicate subtleties, every laboured exhalation unique in its etymology."The narrator does lay out a legitimate gripe: "After all, isn't that the foremost commandment in the scripture of horror? They who are queer, deviant, tattooed, tongue-pierced Other must always die first." But the book doesn't really do much with that except the most obvious before calling it a day.It took me way too long to get myself to trudge through a book this short.

[mstrust · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A group of friends rent a dilapidated Heian-era mansion in Japan. Their purpose is to flush out ghosts, as the thousand year old ruins come with the tale of young women being buried alive in the foundation.This story is so Gen Z that it should have "A Gen Z Story" as its sub-title. A group of tightly-wound, multi-ethnic twenty-somethings who all have a tangle of sexual history and jealousy with each other travel from England to an isolated haunted house in Japan to seek ghosts, but also to hold a wedding because one character has always dreamed of being married in a haunted house. Really. As the bride becomes possessed by a ghost right in front of the group, they argue about their ethnicity while one character also gets meta and talks about who will survive and who will die, a la Jamie Kennedy's character in Scream. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be funny. The real drag is that the story is so laden with detail about little gestures and facial expressions and each sentence of dialogue is followed with three more sentences that explain why the character said that. Very creepy cover though.

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Short story / novella horror genre about friends that travel to Japan to attend the wedding of one of their friends. The setting is a haunted property, where the ghost of a bride is haunting the home in search of a sacrifice. Naturally, something horrific happens and the friends must work together to escape.Very strange. Glad it was quick.

[jnmegan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There are so many innovative novels that take place outside of English-speaking settings. These works can be smoothly adapted to accommodate the English reader, but often lose their unique voice in the process. Others may take a bit more effort for the reader, but are able to retain attributes of the original culture in which they were written. Nothing but Blackened Teeth by Cassanda Khaw is a quirky horror novel that strikes a nice balance. Paranormal aficionados, Faiz and Nadia want their wedding to take place in a verified haunted house, and a wealthy friend arranges the use of a Heian mansion for their nuptials. He flies the intimate group to Japan to officiate and explore the eerie house they have reserved. All the invitees are college friends hailing from various backgrounds and ethnicities who all study Japanese language and culture. The narrator is Cat, a young woman who had been recently released from a mental health facility. Through her eyes, the reader is given a knowledgeable, if unreliable, description of the events. The party begins with festivity, but resentments and enmeshed connections emerge that tests their loyalty as a ghost starts taking victims. Khaw supplies the reader with a Japanese folklore primer and a vocabulary that reflects their surroundings. Nothing But Blackened Teeth evinces a true sense of creeping confusion and dread, but with an undercurrent of disarming wit that provides a fleeting reprieve.Thanks to the author, Tor/Nightfire and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

[krau0098 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book that I borrowed from the library. I actually didn’t realize this was the same author that wrote “Hammers on Bone” (which I also just read) until after I read this.Thoughts: This felt pretty hollow overall. The characters were unlikable and waayy too much time was spent on their personal issues given how unengaging they are. This is a pretty classic haunted house type of story. I did enjoy all of the Japanese mythology that is in here.I guess I really don’t have a lot to say about this. It wasn’t scary, it wasn’t interesting, it was however, a very short read so it wasn’t a huge time investment.The writing felt both sparse and a bit ambiguous again, this is the second novella I have read by Khaw and I now realize this is just her writing style. I can solidly say I am not really a fan of Khaw’s writing style. My Summary (3/5): Overall I feel pretty neutral about this book. It was a quick, basic, haunted house read. The inclusion of Japanese mythology was interesting. However, the plot was predictable and boring and the characters were incredibly unlikable and hard to engage with. I was kind of disappointed they didn’t all get taken by the house...but whatever. I don’t plan on reading anything else by Khaw in the future. She has some interesting ideas and elements in her novellas but her writing style just isn’t for me.

[whiskeyinthejar-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 starsI received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. A long year spent making acquaintances with the demons inside you, each new day a fresh covenant. It does things to you. More specifically, it undoes things inside you.Cat and her four friends are staying at a Heian-era mansion in Japan. Nadia wanted to get married in a haunted house and this mansion is rumored to be resting on the bones of a bride who died waiting for her husband-to-be. The story goes, every year a young girl is freshly buried in the walls, or at least until the husband-to-be ghost finally comes home to reunite with his ghost bride. While the house seems to come alive, some of the true horror comes from the twisted relationships inside the friend circle. Suenomatsuyama nami mo koenamu.Told in first person pov from Cat, the first half sets the scene with shivering descriptions of the mansion and the emotional strife in the group. Cat is recovering from depression, Phillip seems to think it is because he broke up with her but readers privy to her internal thoughts, know there is more to it. Cat and Faiz used to date and this causes tension between Faiz's fiancee Nadia and Cat, especially since Cat told Faiz to just breakup with Nadia when they were going through a tough spell. Phillip, the rich all-American guy, had a fling with Nadia, that Faiz doesn't know about but senses, and the late-comer Lin, seems to only truly be friends with Cat. The passive-aggressiveness in the group flies fast and furious and I was left wondering why they were all still friends at all. Even if it was a house with rotting bones and a heart made out of a dead girl’s ghost, I’d give it everything it wanted just for scraps. Some unabridged attention, some love. Even if it was from a corpse with blackened teeth. At the mid-point, the group settles in to share ghost stories and with our characters and setting laid out, the spooky factor starts to ramp up. There's some House on Haunted Hill-ness with the question of is it the house making/influencing the characters or is it simply the ticking time bomb relationships that pushes them. There's a little more of a definite showing from the supernatural aspects in this story but I still thought the group's relationships played a part in actions. The ohaguro-bettari began to laugh before any of us could think to scream.The writing is stylistic, has more of a poetry flow with shorter sentences, and some of the language used and horror descriptions give it almost a guttural contemporary Poe feel. This was a novella and with the less page count, we miss some depth to the characters, especially Lin. Everything kind of flashes by too quickly before you can sink in or absorb characters, relationships, or the horror elements. As the leader, we get more of Cat and I liked the touching on how, in connection with her depression, she feeds off the attention, she perceived, she was getting from the house, even though it was negative; any attention is good attention thinking. I thought the epilogue was more of a puttering out than shoring up the story and gave this more of a small quick slice of life feel. This was perfect for an October night read and if you're looking for a quick, delivers on the spookiness and intriguing setting horror novella, this would be one to pick up.

[hubblegal-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Though I was very turned off by the constant unnecessary foul language, this novella was a chilling one. I couldn't resist that cover and the book left me with some haunting images.

[allison_krajewski-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Superstition was a compass: it steered your attention through thin alleys, led your eyes to crosswalks filthy with makeshift shrines, offerings and appeasements scattered by traffic."A group of friends reunite for a wedding in a Heian-era mansion that just so happens to be haunted by the ghost of a dead bride, if the stories are to be believed. What starts as a night of celebration, awkward tensions, and social dysfunction/drama between the group quickly turns into a nightmare as they come face-to-face with the ghost.The story definitely has a spooky vibe -- creepy haunted house, ghostly possession, blood and death, darkness, and some creepy dolls there to watch it all -- which is perfect for Halloween. It's also short, so it can be read in an afternoon. It wasn't as scary as I expected it to be, but what do I know, I'm a desensitized millennial.I will say: the author's writing style definitely takes your full concentration, as the prose is very smart whilst also packing a punch. They have a very distinct writing style that can hit deep. "Bitch is the kind of word that reads like a gunshot, rings like a punch."I also really liked the author's inclusion of breaking the fourth wall (several times) to interject about common horror tropes; for example: "After all, isn't that the foremost commandment in the scripture of horror? They who are queer, deviant, tattooed, tongue-pierced Other must always die first." "This is the problem with horror movies: Everyone knows what's coming next but actions have momentum, every decision an equal and justified reaction. Just because you know you should, doesn't mean that you can, stop."All-in-all, I enjoyed this novella...and I will be staying far away from haunted houses with lonely ghost brides that want me to join them, thank you very much.Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. Quotes are from the eARC and might not reflect the text in the final published version.3.5 stars, rounded up

[carolesrandomlife · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I thought that this novella was okay. In other words, I liked it but I didn’t love it. Before I get too far into the review can we take a moment to talk about this cover? Isn’t it awesome? I was excited to dive into this story and I did enjoy it but feel that it was ultimately quite forgettable.The premise of 5 friends coming together to have a wedding inside a haunted house was interesting. The fact that it is a Japanese haunted house where years ago a bride-to-be was buried in the foundation was even more so. It doesn’t take long for some strange things to happen and just when you think things can’t get weirder they do. I loved the sense of unease that ran throughout the story.The 5 friends are barely that and the issues between some of the group made me wonder who thought it would be a good idea for these 5 people to take a trip together. Of course, the tension between many of the characters added to the unease of the story. Our narrator, Cat, has had some issues in the past and I wish that we learned a bit more about what really happened and a little more backstory about all of the characters that made an appearance in the story.I found this to be a worthwhile shorter read. There were parts of the story that were rather confusing but nothing that I would call scary. I found this to be an entertaining enough story even if it didn’t blow me away. I wouldn’t hesitate to read more of this author’s work in the future.I received an advanced review copy of this book from Tor Nightfire.

[librarianryan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a tale of a haunted house In Japan. This house eats peoplebecause it’s fed people. Mainly young women who’ve lost their love. In modern times a group of young adults decide to have a haunted wedding. Oh yeah and the wedding is a spur of the moment surprise. Well they’re all going to be really surprised when not everybody survives to the “I do”. This was a short Gothic read for the holidays that was quite interesting but not really long enough to build the story. Personally I think the cover is better than the story. I enjoyed the story but didn’t find it spooky or haunting or scary. Maybe for newcomers or people who don’t need horror very often this would be a great jumping in novel. A book for people who like the haunting of hill house. But if you are a horror lover you might find this book lacking. But for something short to pass the time away it works.

[tottman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A haunted Japanese mansion whose foundation literally rests on the bones of a long-abandoned bride is the setting for Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw. Faiz and Talia decide to get married in this mansion, which is available thanks to their very wealthy friend Phillip. Cat and Lin complete the party of old friends. Buried resentments bubble to the surface, exacerbated by the restless spirits of the mansion, and a bride who’s been waiting a very long time for her groom to show up. There’s a price for using this mansion, but who will pay it?This story is filled with drama, chills, and fascinating Japanese folklore. Khaw writes beautiful characters who are all broken to varying degrees and in different ways. The setting acts as a forge that shatters the fragile parts of this group of friends but also exposes their strength. The story is atmospheric, frightening, unique, and compelling. Cassandra Khaw is very talented and Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a great read! It will leave you unsettled and jumping at shadows!I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.

[tapestry100 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really, really wanted to like this more. The premise sounds fantastic, the buzz was hot, and the cover was worth the price of admission alone. Unfortunately, while Khaw achieves a healthy balance of minimalist description and creepy vibes, it all becomes bogged down in far too much purple prose (or in this case, violent violet prose). I don’t think there is a single sentence in this slim novella that doesn’t have some sort of metaphor or allegory, and in a story that is already short, it becomes just too much. If all of that flowery description were to be removed, we’d have been left with a decent story, but a very short one at that. Overall, rather disappointing. Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for a free digital review copy.

[jfe16 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Review of Uncorrected Digital GalleyNadia, her fiancé, Faiz, and friends Philip and Cat have flown to Japan. They’ve gathered in a Heian-era mansion where Lin will shortly join them. According to Japanese folklore, a jilted bride [whose groom died on the way to the wedding ceremony] haunts the mansion, waiting for her groom to arrive.And Nadia, it seems, has always dreamed of being married in a haunted house . . . .Cue the madness and mayhem.Will there be a wedding? Who will survive their night in the ghost-riddled mansion?“Nothing but Blackened Teeth” is most definitely creepy, definitely grim, gruesome, and gory, filled with horror movie tropes. The interplay between the characters often suggests some over-the-top drama that remains largely unexplained; this tension tends to overwhelm the telling of the tale, pushing the horror aspects of the narrative into a secondary position. Since the dynamic between the characters lies at the heart of this narrative, some more information on their histories might help to strengthen the reader/character relationship.The characters feel a bit like caricatures, none of them even remotely likable. To a person, they are mean-spirited and self-absorbed, the epitome of grandiloquent that may leave the reader rooting for the ohaguro-bettari. Perhaps with some backstory for each of the dysfunctional friends, their being here together might have made more sense.The Japanese folklore component of the narrative gives the story a unique, appealing perspective. However, although the flowery, flowing writing is lovely, the author has a tendency to be overly excessive in using descriptors, a writing style that often pulls the reader out of the telling of the tale. Nevertheless, the book would stand as a promising addition to the horror genre.However, the dialogue in this book, with its less-than-auspicious start, is extremely abhorrent. The use of an offensive, unnecessary expletive in the very first sentence is particularly off-putting . . . and this invective peppers a multitude of ordinary conversations throughout the narrative . . . seven times within four paragraphs on one page, six times in one paragraph on another page.It is the overuse of this objectionable expletive that becomes a deal-breaker and lowers the rating for this book.I received a free copy of this eBook from Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley#NothingButBlackenedTeeth #NetGalley

[jjbooklvr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am a sucker for haunted house stories and then throw in Japanese folklore plus such vivid descriptions and I was hooked!

[montzaleew · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Nothing But Blackened Teethby Cassandra KhawMacmillan-Tor/ForgeFirst, thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this book. I liked the Japanese folktale.Second, I am sure some people will really like this book, especially those that don't normally read horror.This was "friends", some hated each other, going to a Japanese mansion to have a wedding. They argued full time until they tangled with a ghost with teeth that were, you guessed it, black. The ghost was suppose to be there due to a Japanese myth.This was so predictable, corny, and so laughable at times that I started to believe it was satire. I really started to wonder. None of the characters were well fleshed out, pun intended. Dialogue unrealistic. Nothing even creepy. If you are a true horror fan you will probably be disappointed. The saving grace is it was short.

[charrlygirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not gonna lie, I know nothing about Japanese culture and I didn't even know what an "Heian" era was, (in Japanese culture, it's the period that runs from 795 to 1185),before I started this book. Now I know and I also have learned that Cassandra Khaw is a phenomenal writer!In a famous haunted mansion from the Heian era, a young couple, for whatever twisted reason, wants to get married. Only a few friends are invited as it's a long trip and let's face it-this kind of thing is not for everyone. All the people here have history with each other, which makes for some interesting dynamics-which takes a back seat when the supernatural action starts up. Will the happy couple be able to get married without a problem? Will any of them escape with their lives? You'll have to read this to find out!I've long said that the novella is a perfect vehicle for a horror story. It's just long enough to introduce the characters and create feelings towards them, while short enough to keep the tension high and the scares well...scary. All of the that is the case here, and more.The prose? The prose is purply beautiful at times, while at other times, sharp as a knife. The beauty of the mansion is hidden behind the rot and corruption that have taken over and the way that Khaw describes how that came to be is gorgeous. The imagery is vivid and bright, and I had no problems picturing any of the scenes, while at the same time the sharpness of the prose could be like a knife point. For example: "I hope the house eats you." It doesn't get much sharper than that!I think I'm going to leave this review at what I've already written. I don't want to give any part of the story away, but I will add that Cassandra Khaw is a force to be reckoned with. I can't wait to read more of her work!My highest recommendation!Available October, 2021.*Thank you to Nightfire and to NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*