Memento Mori. Dedesco Mori

I recently finished reading Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell.

This signed edition features a stunning redesigned cover by @eldrtchmn ⁠and @lichen_and_limestone and stenciled edges by  @eldrtchmn. Turn over the cover for the reversible with gorgeous artwork by @sophithil. On the hardback, we have a printed hardcover case design by @the_strangeforest. Inside, you’ll find gorgeous end pages done by @anna_helme. Finally, an author letter and bonus content from Jenni Howell have been bound into the book for subscribers!

~POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT~

  Rating: 3/5 stars

"Seventeen-year-old Marin James has always lived in the shadow of the exclusive Huntsworth Academy. And when her cousin is found dead on school property, Marin knows exactly who’s to blame: Adrian Hargraves and Henry Wu, the enigmatic yet dangerously alluring leaders of the school’s social elite.

Seeking justice, Marin poses as a student and infiltrates Huntsworth, only to find herself drawn to her new life—and to the two broken boys she once vowed to destroy.

When Marin uncovers an otherworldly secret the boys are hiding within Huntsworth’s ivied gates, the lines between right and wrong, love and hate, and nightmare and reality begin to crumble—and nothing is as it seems.

Welcome to Huntsworth Academy."

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To get to the good stuff you have to be willing to overlook the lack of realism quite a bit. I’m not going to lie, for about the first fifty pages, I wasn’t sure I was going to like this because it required a suspension of disbelief I wasn’t sure I was capable of — and this coming from someone who can normally look the other way when things are “for the plot.” I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me that Marin was SO easily able to infiltrate an elite boarding school with nothing more than a forged signature and fake printed test scores, no sort of background checks or anything. She’s also got a life she ran away from, and no one reported her missing for the weeks she was gone. Oh, and perhaps the most realistic of all, boys and girls share suites in this school. Realistically speaking, parents who are paying $23,000 in tuition aren’t doing it because they want to see their daughters come home pregnant. And again, realistically speaking, no boarding school where guys and girls share rooms wouldn’t be considered “elite” to begin with — even the worst college campuses usually have separate dorms.

There were also a few basic details in terms of establishing the setting that I think could have been added to make things easier for the reader to visualize. It’s established that Henry lives on the same floor as Marin, and she shares a room with Adrian, while Henry shares a room with Baz. Somehow, Henry and Marin can see each other from their rooms, though, and she can tell when the lights are on in there. The thing is, there’s probably a clear explanation for how this is — we just aren’t given one. Even just a couple of sentences describing the layout would have cleared things up completely. There were a couple of smaller instances, too, where it’s so hard to imagine the room the characters are in that also could have been cleared up with a few small details.

The writing may have had an issue with a lack a clarification at times, but the style was gorgeous, especially considering this is a debut. It immediately sucks you into the story, creating a gorgeous atmosphere that persists throughout. There were multiple times that I was so engrossed in the story that I had no clue what was going on around me. In the end, it has this fever dream quality to it, which is something I love.

I also really liked that this leaned into the more mature side of YA. I was a little worried that the story’s potential would be hindered by juvenile storytelling. It was just the right balance of the YA themes while still having mature topics and storytelling.

When it comes to the ending, there were some minor flaws again in terms of believability. I’m pretty sure there’s no way people were looking for her but never found her when all she did was dye her hair. Otherwise, though I thought it was pretty fitting, even though it didn’t work out for everyone.

Overall, despite some flaws with descriptive details and realism, this was still an enjoyable debut. The characters, dynamics, plot, and writing were all interesting, so I would definitely recommend people give this a try. I would also definitely be interested in checking out any of this author's future work.

Check out Boys With Sharp Teeth and discover what happens when you have the sharpest teeth.