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A review by stewie
Teeth by Kelli Owen
5.0
The book follows a variety of characters, both human and lamian, as they do their day-to-day activities. The society of Owen's universe in Teeth is almost a mirror image of the United States right now. The vampires (lamians) are a minority, and there is a political divide on how to treat them. On one side, you have a group demanding they be monitored because they are dangerous, where on the other you have people saying lamians deserve equality. This is all so very familiar.
To add to the matter, there's someone killing humans and drinking their blood, adding more fear and paranoia to many in the town Teeth takes place in. Lines are drawn, fingers are pointed, assumptions are made, and people say awful, disgusting things to the vampires whose only crime is being born. Again, this is all so very familiar.
The characters in Teeth are where Owen really delivers. They are three dimensional and believable. For example, one such character is disgustingly racist towards the lamians, and normally it would be easy to write her off as ignorant trash. But Owen crafts her as someone deeply troubled, and while you do hate the woman, you also feel sorry for her on some level. The way she acts cannot be excused, but you can understand the reasoning behind it. It's not unlike Kevin Bacon's character in The Woodsman. You want him to burn alive, but at the same time you kind of feel sorry for him and you hate yourself for doing so. That's great writing.
You can read my full review here at Horror DNA.
To add to the matter, there's someone killing humans and drinking their blood, adding more fear and paranoia to many in the town Teeth takes place in. Lines are drawn, fingers are pointed, assumptions are made, and people say awful, disgusting things to the vampires whose only crime is being born. Again, this is all so very familiar.
The characters in Teeth are where Owen really delivers. They are three dimensional and believable. For example, one such character is disgustingly racist towards the lamians, and normally it would be easy to write her off as ignorant trash. But Owen crafts her as someone deeply troubled, and while you do hate the woman, you also feel sorry for her on some level. The way she acts cannot be excused, but you can understand the reasoning behind it. It's not unlike Kevin Bacon's character in The Woodsman. You want him to burn alive, but at the same time you kind of feel sorry for him and you hate yourself for doing so. That's great writing.
You can read my full review here at Horror DNA.