{"id":3350,"date":"2022-05-10T01:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T06:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/?p=3350"},"modified":"2026-09-18T00:34:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T04:34:00","slug":"book-nothing-but-blackened-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-nothing-but-blackened-teeth\/","title":{"rendered":"Nothing But Blackened Teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"book-376\" class=\"bdb-book-info\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_nothingbutblackenedteeth.png?fit=250%2C400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Nothing But Blackened Teeth\" class=\"alignright\"\/><strong>Title:<\/strong> Nothing But Blackened Teeth<br \/><strong>Author:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/author\/cassandra-khaw\/\">Cassandra Khaw<\/a><br \/><strong>First Published:<\/strong> <span content=\"2021-10-19\">October 19, 2021<\/span><br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/publisher\/tor-nightfire\/\">Tor Nightfire<\/a><br \/><strong>Pages:<\/strong> 114<br \/><strong>Genre:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/horror\/\">Horror<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/genre\/paranormal\/\">Paranormal<\/a><br \/><strong>Format:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/format\/earc\/\">eARC<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/format\/ebook\/\">Ebook<\/a><br \/><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/source\/humble-bundle\/\">Humble Bundle<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/source\/netgalley\/\">NetGalley<\/a><br \/><strong>Rating:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/book-database\/rating\/4\/\"><span class=\"bdb-font-awesome-star-wrap\"><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"fas fa-star\"><\/i><i class=\"far fa-star\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/53195923-nothing-but-blackened-teeth\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/addtogoodreads.png?ssl=1\" align=\"left\" border=\"0\"\/><\/a><br \/><br \/><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong> <p>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.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the perfect venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends, brought back together to celebrate a wedding.<\/p>\n<p>A night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare as secrets get dragged out and relationships are tested.<\/p>\n<p>But the house has secrets too. Lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.<\/p>\n<p>And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<strong>Get the Book:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4eDS4yb\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon<\/a>\r\n<hr \/><\/div>\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\/\",\n\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Review\",\n\t\t\t\t\"datePublished\": \"2022-05-10T06:00:57+00:00\",\n\t\t\t\t\"description\": \"Nothing But Blackened Teeth\",\n\t\t\t\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Radical Dreamer\"\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/book-nothing-but-blackened-teeth\\\/\",\n\t\t\t\t\"itemReviewed\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Book\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Nothing But Blackened Teeth\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"author\": [\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t{\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Cassandra Khaw\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/book-database\\\/author\\\/cassandra-khaw\\\/\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t],\n\t\t\t\t\t\"isbn\": \"\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"numberOfPages\": 114,\n\t\t\t\t\t\"publisher\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Tor Nightfire\"\t\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\t\"image\": \"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/book_nothingbutblackenedteeth.png?fit=250%2C400&ssl=1\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"datePublished\": \"2021-10-19T00:00:00+00:00\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.goodreads.com\\\/book\\\/show\\\/53195923-nothing-but-blackened-teeth\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"genre\": \"Horror\"\t\t\t\t},\n\t\t\t\t\"author\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"name\": \"Jamie\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"sameAs\": \"https:\\\/\\\/pastelgoth.net\\\/blog\\\/\"\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \"reviewRating\": {\n\t\t\t\t\t\"@type\": \"Rating\",\n\t\t\t\t\t\"ratingValue\": 4,\n\t\t\t\t\t\"bestRating\": 5\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<h2>Review<\/h2>\n<p>I knew I had to read this book the second that I laid eyes on it, the cover is nightmare fuel and the prospect of a haunted house in a Heian-era mansion complete with a tragic urban legend was too good to pass up. The Ohaguro-bettari, literally translating to <em>Nothing But Blackened Teeth<\/em> is a faceless yokai dressed in a wedding kimono that is known for luring in single men. What an incredible subject for a ghastly horror story, there is something inherently creepy about a faceless ghost with only one feature, a mockingly sinister smile.<\/p>\n<p>The story centers on a group of &#8220;friends&#8221; that travel to Japan for a marriage ceremony, the thrill-seekers rent a mansion in hopes of supernatural spooks over nuptials. To call any of the wedding attendees friends though is a stretch, the relational dynamics between every character oozed toxicity and the thinly veiled loathing between them just screams disaster. The Ohaguro-bettari was truly a terrifying entity, it was every bit a faithful adaptation of the malevolent trickster spirit. The setting is incredibly atmospheric, I blazed through this story in one sitting on the edge of my seat from start to finish.<\/p>\n<p>The story starts off well but it stumbles a few times in the middle of the book. While the petty drama of the group was intense, I also found the addition of humor to be disjointing, and it broke my immersion in the story. I was blown away by the major appearance of the spirit, only to sigh when one of the characters immediately cracks a joke about ghost fucking.<\/p>\n<p>I was thrown off when the story seemed to shift focus away from the yokai, and I had to take time to think about how I wanted to write about this book when I finished. My initial reaction was mixed, but the more I thought about it and made connections between the selection of this particular yokai and the character drama the more I appreciated it. While this story didn&#8217;t quite nail it for me, I really admire Khaw&#8217;s lush style of writing, it is so uniquely her own and I would love to read more of her work.<\/p>\n<h4>Quote<\/h4>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cNo artistry to the swoop of his arm but a knife is a knife is a knife is a sharp edge meant to split the seams of the skin, open up the torso and let in the light.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<h4>Content Warnings<\/h4>\n<span class=\"ubb-spoiler\"><a class=\"ubb-view-spoil\">View Spoiler &raquo;<\/a><span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"ubb-thespoil\">Gore, Violence <a class=\"ubb-hide-spoil\" style=\"cursor: hand; cursor: pointer;\">&laquo; Hide Spoiler<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<h2>About the Author<\/h2>\n<div class=\"ubb-about-author\">\n<h3>About Cassandra Khaw<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_cassandrakhaw.png?fit=200%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft ubb-about-author-photo\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_cassandrakhaw.png?w=200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_cassandrakhaw.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/author_cassandrakhaw.png?resize=75%2C75&amp;ssl=1 75w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Zoe Khaw Joo Ee, commonly known as Cassandra Khaw, is a Malaysian horror and science fiction writer. She also creates video games and tabletop games, and formerly wrote about them as a games and tech journalist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ubb-author-links\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cassandrakhaw.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/casskhaw\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/casskhaw\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/13994108.Cassandra_Khaw\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Goodreads<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3N29gBE\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cassandrakhaw\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review I knew I had to read this book the second that I laid eyes on it, the cover is nightmare fuel and the prospect of a haunted house in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[293,247,1761,4321,2060,1762],"book-author":[704],"book-illustrator":[],"book-series":[],"book-publisher":[],"book-genre":[],"book-source":[],"book-format":[],"class_list":["post-3350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","tag-asian-american-literature","tag-haunted-houses","tag-ohaguro-bettari","tag-set-in-japan","tag-toxic-friendships","tag-yokai","book-author-cassandra-khaw"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/book_nothingbutblackenedteeth-header.png?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3350"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34318,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350\/revisions\/34318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"book-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-author?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"book-illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-illustrator?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"book-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-series?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"book-publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-publisher?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"book-genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-genre?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"book-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-source?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"book-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastelgoth.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book-format?post=3350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}