DNF Audiobook Review – House of Teeth by Dan Jolley, Narrated by Josh Hurley (2/5 stars)
Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 7 hours 15 minutes
Publisher: Audible Original
Release Date: December 05, 2019
ASIN: B07XB2Y8HZ
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Free Audible Original with Audible Membership
Rating: 2/5 stars
“There’s more to the swamplands than meets the teeth. In this supernatural tale of magic and mysticism, Henry Lemarchand grew up in Philadelphia knowing very little of his family-his father disappeared when he was young, leaving behind only a strange pouch of animal teeth. When he is sent to the Louisiana bayou to spend the summer with his eccentric uncle and cousin in their decaying ancestral mansion, Henry learns about his family’s supernatural legacy-he is part of a long line of rootcrafters, folks who can absorb the powers and memories of anyone whose teeth they touch. In delving into his family’s strange legends, Henry soon discovers that some secrets bite back, especially in the swamplands. This tale of identity awareness and the need for belonging, is set in a world where everything is not as it seems.”
Series Info/Source: Stand Alone. I got this as a free Audible Original through my Audible Membership
Audiobook Quality (3/5): This was a decently done audiobook; I didn’t love it but it was okay.
Story (2/5): I ended up stopping listening to this about 50% of the way though. It was just flatout boring. I found myself dreading having to listen to it every time I got into the car. The idea behind it is kind of neat but the story just wasn’t going anywhere, the plot was messy and the pacing was bad. Not much had happened halfway through the book and I decided I just didn’t care anymore.
Characters (3/5): The characters in here were very over-characterized and hard to engage with. I didn’t really like either Henry or his cousin.
Setting (2/5): While I actually liked the bayou setting in this book, it remained a bit hard to picture. The setting is never described all that well and the author never really delves into the interesting parts of living in a bayou/swamp area in the south.
Writing Style (2/5): This was generally sloppy and poorly written. As mentioned above, pacing was very slow and the story was poorly put together.
Summary (2/5): Overall while this was technically readable it was poorly put together. Characters are poorly characterized and very vanilla, pacing is awful and not much happens, the story is sloppy as well. Not recommended and not worth your time.
