Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill

I would like to thank Nazia from Orbit for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Orbit

Published – 25/2

Price – £9.99 paperback £5.49 ebook

Beneath the still surface of a lake lurks a monster with needle sharp teeth. Hungry and ready to pounce . . .

Jenny Greenteeth has never spoken to a human before, but when a witch is thrown into her lake by an angry mob, something makes Jenny decide she's worth saving. Temperance doesn't know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor. All she wants is to return to her husband and children, still trapped under his baleful influence.

Though they have nothing in common, these two unlikely companions must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Temperance's family, Jenny's lake, and possibly the very soul of Britain.

Worldbuilding is a funny old term and occasionally I think misused. I don’t think you need to tell me every geological, elemental and historical fact of a world to make me enjoy a story. For me it works when I get a feeling of depth solidity and past to the world we are exploring. A great storyteller can do this without explaining everything to the nth degree. That’s why I am so impressed by Molly O’Neill’s fantasy novel Greenteeth a tale of an unlikely duo becoming firm friends and having to battle an evil force that turns into something more epic and mythic than I was expecting but is also a love letter to the myths of Britain and manages to be incredibly inventive in its own right.

Jenny Greenteeth loves her lake. She has been there around a thousand years and there is plenty to eat, not humans so much as they get stuck in her teeth but it’s a place of pride for her with her underwater cave of interesting items. She is though surprised to find the nearby village throwing a woman who turns out to be a witch at the bottom of the pond. Jenny saves the woman she comes to know as Temperance who tells of the evil pastor who has turned her village against her and put her husband and children in danger. Jenny feels it’s the right time to help but then realises there is much more danger in the village of Chipping Appleby than anyone could have expected. This takes Temperance, Jenny and a Goblin trader named Brackus on a quest across Britain trading with fae powers but that may not be enough to save anybody.

What wins you over initially is Jenny’s voice which narrates the novel. She is absolutely charming, funny, inhuman, old and not fully understanding of the humans by her. It’s a voice we get quickly won over by. O’Neill has used the old myth of Jenny Greenteeth to create a race of ahem river hags (don’t call her that!) and it helps really set the first chapters up. We have a mild bit of drama and comedy as Temperance is at first afraid to find a tall green many teethed fae creature saving her, but they also form a great bond. Temperance is practical, knows magic and human minds and puts her family first. At this point I’m all comfortable that this is a nice small scale fantasy story about magical people taking on intolerance in the form of a priest who thinks witches should be killed on site. At this point O’Neill then massively pulls the rug out from under the reader’s feet.

Jenny finds out what and who is really at work and its many many levels worse than human religious zealots. Its also when revealed (no I’m not telling you) the first sign that we are actually in a world full of a lot more myths than a simple greenteeth and a witch. Tonally too this changes the reveal makes things darker, more serious and allows the story to shift into more of an epic quest than you’d ever expect in those first few chapters. At this point I was hooked!

Wha then follows is a trio of Jenny, Temperance and Jenny’s local trader/magical object provider Brackus who loves annoying Jenny going into a trip to the courts of the fae. To stop a powerful evil, you are going to need some powerful magic and that means higher fae. O’Neill then creates set pieces weaving various legends together from Wild Hunts, massive boars, unicorns and even dragons together to create a series of challenges but also remind us how big and old the world is. Each takes a source legend or myth and then O’Neill plays or subverts the story with our trio to really expand the world. Here fae are dangerous, not human and always to be treated with caution – the best kind of fae! There is danger and threat but also it explores the fractures in the group. Jenny and Temperance are indeed different species and how humans tend to react to Jennys and their teeth creates some points of tension. At the same time we as readers start to see Jenny far more than a cute comical helping magical character but a main character that hides a lot under a cheery disposition. These characters all feel a lot more real than I was originally expecting and I loved the interplay between two lower fae and one human witch that are becoming friends who can still annoy one another.

All of which leads to a really interesting finale where evil must be confronted and O’Neill outs Jenny right into the heart of that. The story is indeed bigger and plays with a lot more myths which Jenny becomes central to. Knowing what we then do about her it is a tale of temptation and Jenny can indeed still shock us but it’s a really good and intriguing endings that both ends a tale and could easily lead to more adventures. I’m fine with either

Greenteeth was a book I picked up and then could not put down, reading it in one sitting and that for me is always a sign of a great writer at work, Warm, dark, light and with a touch of the strange and mythical about it flows beautifully and for fans of myths and folklore there are lots of little touches to look out for and savour. I absolutely loved and will be very interested to watch out for what O’Neill does next. A fantasy story perfect for the dawn of spring and it is very strongly recommended!