Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill
Rating: 
Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.
Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.
This is one of the books of this year for me (even if I read it last year).
If you like T. Kingfisher, or similar chaotic fantasy, then this is a great book.
Let’s start with the narrator, Jenny Greenteeth. She is your average swamp monster living in her lake with sharp teeth, a love for fish and a healthy lake. So when the villagers suddenly decide to throw in a witch instead of useful things that Jenny can enjoy, she does not expect to end up in a huge adventure.
Temperance knows the old ways and has been helpful to her village, until the new pastor starts poisoning the minds of the villagers against her and claiming she is a bad influence and a witch. So when she gets thrown in the lake, she can’t do much, except maybe convince the Jenny that rescued her to help her make things right.
Now, without spoiling this, I will say that in the first few chapters I thought “oh this is going to be x” and that guess was indeed true, even if, by the time you get to it, it doesn’t spoil or make it worse, it was actually satisfying to think “oh hell yeah, I was right”.
The story is well done, partly monstrous tale, partly a fairy tale, huge adventure and a lot of chaos with not the normal trope of characters. You get Jenny who is a lake monster, and you get Temperance who despite being thrown in the lake just wants to get back to how her village used to be and her husband and family, and you also get a few other monstrous creatures in the mix to aid in the adventure including even a bit of Fae in it.
It grabs all that myth and legend from Britain, from old school stories, from Fae and gives you a wonderful monster of an adventure that will leave you wanting more, and also, extremely satisfied with the ending and the overall adventure. It comes packed with interesting characters, a horrible evil that will be ending the world (or as close as possible), impossible quests that are yet somehow possible, a lot of fun and a heap of old magic just for good measure.
The perfect recipe (and maybe Jenny will share her fish recipe with you).
Highly recommended if you love old magic and chaos and a fresh new take on myths, legends and magic.
10/10 would happily join Jenny and Temperance in the lake and their adventure.