Review: “Sharp Teeth” by Toby Barlow

I read a lot, mostly sci-fi, fantasy, fiction, comics, and graphic novels, with the occasional self-help book thrown in here or there when I’m in crisis. I read a lot of wonderful stuff this past year, but every now and then there’s a book that I start recommending to my friends before I even finish it. “Sharp Teeth” by Toby Barlow fits this category. It’s a gritty, urban, violent, sexy, beautiful werewolf love story, and if you haven’t read it, you should!

“There’s blood everywhere,
but it’s the creatures at the edge,
licking the corner of the ruby pool,
that hold your curiosity.
So get this straight
it’s not the full moon.
That’s as ancient and ignorant as any myth.
The blood just quickens with a thought
a discipline develops
so that one can self-ignite
reshaping form, becoming something rather more canine
still conscious, a little hungrier.
It’s a raw muscular power,
a rich sexual energy
and the food tastes a whole lot better.”
Sharp Teeth. Copyright © by Toby Barlow

The entire book, 320+ pages, is written in free verse, and so you could call “Sharp Teeth” an epic poem rather than a novel, but don’t let that turn you off. What matters is that the form gives Barlow the opportunity to really show us his mastery of language and storytelling. The man knows how to write, and the overall effect is that the book reads like a graphic novel without pictures.

There was some really arousing sex scenes scattered throughout, but it’s the undercurrents of sexual tension, hunger, and sense of longing and loss that ran throughout the story that really set the pace and got me going. The characters were fascinating and real, and so when they came together to fight or fuck, or both, I really felt it emotionally.

Just writing this review makes me want to read it all over again, but I gave my copy away to friend. Oh yeah, and it also made me want to get a dog (preferably from the pound). Hmmm.

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