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Title: Greenteeth
Author: Molly O’Neill
Narrator: Catrin Walker-Booth
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Audience: Adult
Format: Audiobook
My Review:
What an absolute delight!
I just texted my sister to recommend Greenteeth to her. I wrote, “It’s an old school fantasy/fairy tale. It felt a little retro in a time when fantasies are either urban fantasies or sprawling epics with 50,000 characters and entire magic/religion/political systems.”
To be clear, I do enjoy other types of fantasy books, but as a child of the ’80s, this felt like a return to the books that made me fall in love with the genre in the first place. There are quests (three to be exact, because how could there be more or less?), danger, high stakes, and characters who genuinely care about each other while at the same time disagreeing and having their own, differing opinions. I loved it.
I would almost describe it as a cozy fantasy but the stakes are a bit too high for that and there are strains of genuine loss and sorrow woven through the novel. It’s close though.
It is definitely a novel of found family and that is a trope I always enjoy. Jenny Greenteeth is a complicated character who doesn’t always understand her own motivations. She makes some questionable decisions but she eventually learns important lessons. Temperance is a witch with an enormous mother’s heart. She is the definition of a mother bear. And poor Brackus is the dandyish peacemaker who somehow holds them all together. None of them are perfect except in their love for each other.
Catrin Walker-Booth beautifully narrates the audiobook. I felt as if she were reading me a fairy tale before bed, which is the perfect vibe for this book.
I highly, highly recommend this debut novel. I’ll be keeping an eye out for Ms. O’Neill’s future work.
Synopsis from GoodReads:
Beneath the still surface of a lake lurks a monster with needle-sharp teeth. Hungry and ready to pounce. Jenny Greenteeth has never spoken to a human before, but when a witch is thrown into her lake, something makes Jenny decide she’s worth saving.
Temperance doesn’t know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor. Though they have nothing in common, these two must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Jenny’s lake and Temperance’s family – as well as the very soul of Britain.
Similar Books:
If you liked Greenteeth, you might also like my reviews of
- Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
- Legends and Lattes (Legends & Lattes #1) by Travis Baldree
- Stardust by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Charles Vess
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