River of Teeth - Review

Author: Sarah Gailey

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: e-Book

Pages: 114

How did I miss anything about this series?!

Actually better question. Why did it take me a whole year to pick them up after discovering them?
Because this was fantastic. I adore so many things about this book that I'm not really sure where to begin. I know I've raved about it for weeks as I read it between the holiday fun at work, and if I hadn't been so busy I'd have definitely finished it sooner. In fact, I've already pushed this book on a handful of friends who read. Actually, I also pushed it my brother who doesn't read because I know he'd enjoy it.

I feel the best place to start is by saying thank you. Because no one deserved what they got as much Cal did. From the get-go I knew he was trouble, but at first I thought it was going to be for other reasons. Then I started to realize the tension between Houndstooth and Cal was real deep. Then out of the blue, I realized why. Which didn't help at all when admitted to it, just made me enjoy the moment more. So thank you for his ending. It was one of the best moments.

Also, Ruby is adorable for an apex predator and no one can convince me otherwise.

Another really great thing about River of Teeth is the diverse cast of characters. Of course we have our token Western villain in Travers which I loved. He was so easy to picture in mind after growing up watching Westerns with my dad and granddad. However, the other characters weren't so niche. Houndstooth was bisexual, Hero was non-binary, Adelia was a badass who did what she wanted, and Regina was Grifter who needed no man. It was great to see a wide spectrum of characters that you don't normally see in such, I hate to say it, normal type setting. The story didn't change because of who they are, just what they are. It's great to see this many diverse characters just a part of the story without the whole story being about how they aren't like everyone else. They were hired for this job based on skill and nothing else. Though some are terrible people that stab my favorite character just pages before the end, which rude!

Sidenote, if Houndstooth and Hero don't find each other in the next book I'll be bad. Because I ship that so hard. I want them both to get something like a happy ending. Even if it's retirement in the swamp cabin.

It would be amiss to not mention Sarah Gailey's writing style. Personally I think a story like River of Teeth could have easily wandered off a cliff with how ridiculous it could get. But, because of Gailey's solid writing it never became too much. Outside of hippos being a thing people ride like horses, the world hadn't really changed from the history we know. Not to mention the whole book is well researched and solid. There are moments when the crew talk about hippos that show Sarah Gailey probably now has a pub quiz amount of information on the hippos.

All-in-all it's a solid novel that is so much fun. The world itself might be a little ridiculous with the hippo farming, but the story itself is amazing. There wasn't a dull moment to be had. In fact, I really only had two issues with the book. Despite my feelings about Cal, I didn't get to see him use is guns. I would have liked to see the fast guns in America in action, and it always sucks when one of the characters you really like betrays everyone and stabs your favorite character. There's no coming back from that. Not even a little bit.

So, yeah, I really liked this book and I'm excited to move on to Taste of Marrow, which takes place not long after River of Teeth. I'm even really pumped for Sarah Gailey's new book, Magic for Liars, hitting shelves this summer I believe.

Buy, Borrow, Skip: I have to say buy this one. It's a book I could totally see myself re-reading. Plus, I love the book cover that combines both Novellas together, American Hippo.