Jaelyn reviewed The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
You're trapped in there with him
5 stars
In an alternate 1883, The Veil between the living and the dead thinned and purple-eyed mediums speak with the dead under the auspices of the Royal Speaker Society. That is, male purple-eyed mediums; women born with those spiritual eyes are barred from spirit work and are treated as nothing more than breeding stock for the Speakers regardless of their age.
Enter 16yo Silas, to be married off by the end of the year. Despite having those valuable purple eyes, Silas isn't a perfect daughter, or even a daughter. A lifetime of being bullied into masking his autism, his transness and his proficiency in surgery has left him desperate to escape. But when his attempt to flee is uncovered, he is thrown into a brutal asylum for women suffering from a vague "Veil sickness". There, the spirits of women murdered within its walls beg for help, and for Silas to run …
In an alternate 1883, The Veil between the living and the dead thinned and purple-eyed mediums speak with the dead under the auspices of the Royal Speaker Society. That is, male purple-eyed mediums; women born with those spiritual eyes are barred from spirit work and are treated as nothing more than breeding stock for the Speakers regardless of their age.
Enter 16yo Silas, to be married off by the end of the year. Despite having those valuable purple eyes, Silas isn't a perfect daughter, or even a daughter. A lifetime of being bullied into masking his autism, his transness and his proficiency in surgery has left him desperate to escape. But when his attempt to flee is uncovered, he is thrown into a brutal asylum for women suffering from a vague "Veil sickness". There, the spirits of women murdered within its walls beg for help, and for Silas to run before it is too late.
Despite the fantastical elements, all of this tracks very closely to the brutal Victorian practices on surgery and mental health. Despite a lot of horror around beatings and vivisection, I felt most chilled by the constant thread of helplessness. The helplessness that comes from never being believed simply for who you are, of having everyone you could turn to being complicit in your horror, and being constantly weighed down by a lifetime of abuse for who you are.
I felt deeply for Silas and the women imprisoned there and the book expertly conveys Silas' internal doubts and fears. I felt trapped alongside him which perhaps also shows how deeply personal some of these themes can be.
