Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV episodes with Prime Video
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Buy new:
$12.29$12.29
FREE delivery: Monday, Jan 29 on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon.
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
Buy used: $9.90
Other Sellers on Amazon
FREE Shipping
100% positive over last 12 months
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- To view this video download Flash Player
Nothing But Blackened Teeth Hardcover – October 19, 2021
Purchase options and add-ons
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER • A Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Award Finalist! • An Indie Next Pick! • An October LibraryReads Pick! • 2022 RUSA Reading List: Horror Winner!
Cassandra Khaw's Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a gorgeously creepy haunted house tale, steeped in Japanese folklore and full of devastating twists.
A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company.
It’s the perfect venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends, brought back together to celebrate a wedding.
A night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare as secrets get dragged out and relationships are tested.
But the house has secrets too. Lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.
And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.
Effortlessly turning the classic haunted house story on its head, Nothing but Blackened Teeth is a sharp and devastating exploration of grief, the parasitic nature of relationships, and the consequences of our actions.
Also by Cassandra Khaw:
The Salt Grows Heavy
A Song for Quiet
Hammers on Bone
The Dead Take the A Train (co-written with Richard Kadrey)
- Print length128 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherTor Nightfire
- Publication dateOctober 19, 2021
- Dimensions5.4 x 0.7 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-101250759412
- ISBN-13978-1250759412
Frequently bought together

Similar items that may ship from close to you
It wasn’t charitable but apologies didn’t exonerate the sinner, only compelled graciousness from its recipient.Highlighted by 477 Kindle readers
Media’s all about the gospel of the lone wolf, but the truth is we’re all just sheep.Highlighted by 176 Kindle readers
One girl each year. Two hundred and six bones times a thousand years. More than enough calcium to keep this house standing until the stars ate themselves clean, picked the sinew from their own shining bones.Highlighted by 148 Kindle readers
From the Publisher
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews
Review
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER • A Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Award Finalist! • An Indie Next Pick! • An October LibraryReads Pick! • 2022 RUSA Reading List: Horror Winner!
“Brutally delicious! Khaw is a master of teasing your senses, and then terrorizing them!” ―N.K. Jemisin, New York Times bestselling author of The Fifth Season
“A creepy, meticulously-crafted tragedy and frankly, one of the most beautifully written haunted stories I've ever read. As in the best ghost stories, the house is full of ghosts, but it's the people who are the houses….Nothing But Blackened Teeth will linger with you.” ―NPR
“This is a glorious poem, a slow-motion collapse leading to the inevitable haunting. It is beautiful and it is brutal and it is heartbroken. Absolutely recommended.” ―Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Every Heart a Doorway
“Imagine chucking House on Haunted Hill, Japanese folklore, Clive Barker, and Kathy Acker into a literary blender. Nothing But Blackened Teeth reads like the ghost-punk noir you never knew you needed. It's sharp, playful, and nasty as hell.” ―Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Survivor Song
“Khaw’s prose oozes dread....Horror readers and folklore fans will find this tale of terror to be brutally satisfying.” ―Publishers Weekly
“Khaw’s tale seems to come at you straight, setting up your story expectations, but then twists the knife at the last minute, leaving you reeling, but wanting more.” ―Richard Kadrey, New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim series
“Khaw's got a sterling premise, enduring lore, and the fresh talent to voice it.” ―Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box
“Delicate and disgusting...Each page holds an image more finely drawn and disturbing than the last.” ―T. Kingfisher, author of The Twisted Ones
“This book burns and crackles and slithers, its prose as beautiful and deadly as its horror. Cassandra Khaw is a master of the terrifying tale.” ―Sam J. Miller, Nebula-Award-winning author of Blackfish City
“Reading Cassandra Khaw is akin to watching a nightmare ballet, full of beauty and elegance, pain and fragility, and breathless terror. Nothing but Blackened Teeth is mesmerizing. Don’t miss it!” ―Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Ararat and Red Hands
“Intensely atmospheric and unsettling.” ―The Toronto Star
“Khaw is a prose wizard who has quickly become an auto-buy for me. This story of a wedding at a malevolent manor is as unexpected and delightful as their poetic approach to horror, and I loved every sharp, delicious twist of it.” ―Kevin Hearne, New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Druid Chronicles
“This is Hill House for this century, this is Belasco House with people we’ve known since third grade, and it’s got a smile so wicked you might just have to grin along with it. I know I did.” ―Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians
“Khaw is always compulsively readable. This was a wonderful haunted-house story, modern characterizations in compelling tension with a lyrically beautiful ancient Japanese residence." ―Kij Johnson, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards
“Readers looking for bite-size horror on a stormy night will appreciate Khaw’s twisted tale.” ―BookPage
“What with poisonous relationships, parasite houses, and ghost brides, Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a really bad idea for a wedding, and a really great idea for a nightmare-on-the-page. This book is so magnificently rotten it writhes with literary maggots, and deserves a place of honor among its peers in horror.” ―C. S. E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Bone Swans: Stories
“A deft and creepy haunted house story, written in a lyrical style that heightens the disorienting, phantasmagoric nature of the tale. Nothing But Blackened Teeth is the kind of story you lose sleep over." ―Brian Evenson, author of Song for the Unraveling of the World
“If Guillermo del Toro directed The Ring, it might play out something like this engaging thriller. Japanese mythological creatures come to life in this dynamic, unique tale that will satisfy horror readers eager for fresh blood.” ―Booklist
“A feast for the senses. Deeply enriching, twisted, and deliciously dark, the upcoming novella is a definite must-read.” ―The Nerd Daily
“Engrossing and methodically paced….Recommend to those who love tales of haunted houses with menacing and dangerous histories that reach out from beyond the grave to entrap the living, such as Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic or David Mitchell’s Slade House.” ―Library Journal
Praise for The Salt Grows Heavy
“Khaw’s poetic prose and stylish approach to gore make it a blood-soaked, unforgettable gem.” ―The New York Times
“Devastatingly effective…a folklore-infused world that feels wholly unique. Expertly blending a gothic atmosphere with elements of splatterpunk, this brilliant novella is not to be missed.” ―Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
“With this brilliantly constructed tale that consciously takes on a well-known story and violently breaks it open to reveal a heartfelt core, Khaw cements their status as a must-read author.” ―Library Journal, STARRED review
“A feverishly gory, grotesquely beautiful and baroque fairy-tale-meets-love-sonnet. Khaw’s imagination is limitless.” ―Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts
“The bones of a fairy tale sunk deep in a charnel house of descriptive prose, an elegant confection with a blood-soaked core. I devoured it in one sitting.” ―T. Kingfisher, multi-award winning author of What Moves the Dead and Nettle & Bone
“Short but action-packed, unctuous, and deliciously creepy.” ―Booklist
“Khaw uses poetically beautiful words to tear open your chest and gnaw on your ribs in this needle-sharp novella.” ―Kaaron Warren, author of Slights and The Grief Hole
“Khaw’s writing is immaculate. The Salt Grows Heavy is a truly mesmerizing story and one of the finest works of horror and dark fantasy I have ever read, dripping with a gruesome and disquieting passion.” ―Grimdark Magazine
“Khaw’s steely prose is matched only by the inventiveness of their imagination. The Salt Grows Heavy demonstrates their continuing mastery of the novella form.” ―John Langan, author of Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies
“A brutal and deadly romp whose language is as sharp and glittery as a scalpel made of ice. The Salt Grows Heavy is unlike anything else out there, a dark spell with needle-like teeth.” ―Brian Evenson, author of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell and Song for the Unraveling of the World
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Tor Nightfire (October 19, 2021)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 128 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250759412
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250759412
- Item Weight : 10.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.4 x 0.7 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #266,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #540 in Asian Myth & Legend
- #2,582 in Folklore (Books)
- #3,295 in Dark Fantasy
- Customer Reviews:
Important information
To report an issue with this product or seller, click here.
About the author

CASSANDRA KHAW (they/them) is an award-winning game writer and former scriptwriter at Ubisoft Montreal. Khaw's work can be found in places like The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and Tor.com. Khaw’s first original novella, Hammers on Bone, was a British Fantasy Award and Locus Award finalist, and their recent novella Nothing But Blackened Teeth was a USA Today bestseller, Bram Stoker Award nominee, and Indie Next Pick.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images

-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Don't get me wrong... I had my issues with this one as much as anyone else.
Yes, the characters were constantly bickering and it made you wonder why they were even friends to begin with—but this is also a VERY popular trope in horror, so I wasn't too irritated about it.
Yes, for a haunted house story, there weren't a lot of jump scares—but I think NBBT was more about the horrific relationships between the characters, and it did a good job of setting that up right from the start.
But when I read a book, I'm looking to be transported. I want to feel like I'm standing alongside the characters in whatever scenario they find themselves in. I want to feel the tension. I want to be able to imagine the scenery, the people, as if they were right in front of my eyes. And NBBT did that, and then some! This is the first book I've read from Cassandra Khaw, but she is clearly a skillful writer with a passion for storytelling! I can't wait to check out more of her work!
Giving this one 5 stars, even though it was more of a 4-star read for me, but I'm mad that it's ratings are so low so I'm upping it a star 😅Fight me 😝
Sadly, the story itself just didn't live up to the cover. The author spends more time adding metaphors and similes to every other sentence when she could have been building a terrifying story. You get slivers of info about the characters, but not enough to make you like them, understand them or even just care if they survive the night. At one point, I was actively hoping the ghost bride would kill them all just so we could get a break from their constant bickering. The use of the ghost bride is almost nonexistent until the end. 2 whispers and one sighting aren't enough to make me unnerved by the time she really makes herself known. Where is the buildup? I understand this is a novella, so there's limited amount of time to get there. But if the author had spent half as much time making us aware of the ghost bride's presence as she did heaping prose on top of prose, this would have been a truly terrifying read. I also would have loved it if the author had taken a few sentences here and there to give explanation to at least SOME of the different Japanese folklore and cultural references. Putting the book down once every few pages to Google a random word and then spending 5 minutes reading a Wikipedia article really took me out of the story. Which sucks. Because these things were quite fascinating and would have served so well to add to the overall ambience this story lacks.
This book took only a few hours to read. And honestly, if it had been longer, with this style of writing, I wouldn't have finished it. Because it was so short, I was willing to keep reading in hopes that the finale would really wow me. Will I read it again or recommend it to others? Probably not. But it was an alright way to occupy myself for a few hours after work.
Overall, this book had so much potential. The main plot, along with the history of the house and the ghost bride SHOULD have left the reader feeling, at the very least, unease. Instead, all I felt was disappointment at the waste of a perfectly creepy idea.
Top reviews from other countries
Or more like, there are a lot of things that I liked, like the potential of the concept, yet I disliked all the characters so much that I couldn't enjoy anything from the plot.
They are all so annoying and so dumb, the only reason they are all together in one room is just because. I don't know if that was the purpose of the story, but I just didn't like it at all.
On the other side, the book has such good quality! Absolutely loved the illustration on the cover, it fits so well. The hard cover is a lovevly black and the pages feel so good when you turn them. Even though I disliked the story so much, I can't help but to sit down sometimes and pass the pages. So lovely!
From the very beginning, with the introductions of the friends, it became very obvious that they had some serious issues and were clearly not that great of friends at all. There was a lot of tension between them all, particularly between Cat and Talia. There was also clearly something more to Phillip and Thalia’s relationship too. There was a lot of drama between them, and I love a bit of friendship drama. The whole group seems to be one big confused love triangle, well more like a love pentagon than a triangle! Although I did enjoy reading this, it wasn’t what I wanted from this book. The focus of the story seemed to be more on who was arguing, who was jealous of who, and who was sleeping with who, rather than the actual horror elements of the story.
Of course there were creepy moments along the way, but I just wanted more of them. The imagery of the bride was so well written that I could visualise her so clearly, and the author was brilliant at creating an eerie, tense atmosphere in the lead up to her appearances. I think that this book could have actually benefitted from being a little longer, so that there was more explanation and context to some of the things going on, but also more time for action. It did ramp up a little towards the end of the book, and there were some very unexpected moments that I thought were great. If there had been more of this throughout the story, I definitely would have enjoyed it a lot more.
If you’re looking for a proper horror, that’s really going to get under your skin, then this isn’t it. However, if you have been wanting to read it, I would still say to give it a try, because it’s not a bad book, and lots of people loved it, maybe the problem was that I had just set my expectations way too high.
I give Nothing But Blackened Teeth a 3 star rating.























