TL;DR
Overall rating: 4/5
Genre: Horror & suspense
Length: 399 pages in print; 10 hours, 45 minutes in audio format
One-sentence summary: In 1883 London, Silas Bell--a transgender, autistic teenager at a sinister boarding school--confronts ghosts and the patriarchy.
Tough topics: Graphic violence; implied, attempted, and on-page sexual assault; 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 and abuse; minor discussions of miscarriage. A more general list of content warnings also exists in the author's note at the front of the book.
Read-alikes: Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas; Wilder Girls, by Rory Power; The Weight of Blood, by Tiffany D. Jackson
Available formats: Print, in the library; electronic and audio on the Sora app and SoraApp.com
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 transgender, autistic Silas Bell would rather tear 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, an institution that teaches women how to be perfect, obedient wives. Students are either forced to comply or mysteriously disappear. So when the ghosts of missing students beg Silas to interfere, he decides to rip Braxton apart and expose its rotten innards to the world—if he can avoid the school and its administrators doing the same to him first.
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth is a horror story, but not because of its ghosts. It's a horror story because its female, LGBTQ+, and neurodivergent characters are not just trapped in oppressive systems designed to benefit society's wealthy white mean, but totally consumed by them. It's a horror story because vestiges of these systems persist today. The pain Silas' body dysmorphia causes him is viscerally described, and the anguish he feels about being forced into a mold his neurodivergence resists is heartbreaking. Explicit scenes of assault, torture, and medical gore aren't gratuitous; they illustrate how gender norms and the medical establishment have long been--and can still be--tools of oppression.
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth isn't entirely steeped in dread, though. The tender romance between Silas and his promised partner, Daphne, offers a break from the horror; and witnessing Silas' increasing rage propel him to not just save himself, but the other trapped souls around him, is exhilarating. As someone who understands the challenges of being neurodivergent, this book authentically portrays the experience of living beyond societal norms. It's a compelling and chilling read that should encourage empathy and understanding for LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent individuals.
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