One of the most creative and entertaining books I've read in a very long time. Picture something by Ovid or Homer that infused with years of Monster Movie Matinees and you'll have an idea of what this is like.

The free verse works and works so well that you stop noticing it very quickly. The characters leap from the page (thankfully not for real: they bite) and teh story just gallops along at full speed. Incredible ( )

DNF after p116.

There are things I really like about this book, I love the fact that when I picked it up I thought I was getting a gritty slice of life, only to find out it was a supernatural thriller.

However, 100 pages in I'm finding it difficult to get through, even though I want to know what happens next. It might be because it's not so much poetry as broken prose, if you took out all the line breaks it would just read like a normal novel. It lacks the rhythm and beat that poetry needs.

I plan to come back to this book and give it another shot, but for now it's just not what I'm looking for. ( )

Pretty good fantasy about an L.A. dogcatcher caught up with otherworldly beings. ( )

fiction (crime werewolves/lycanthropes in modern Los Angeles). This is written in verse, but a reasonable, flowing type of verse rather than that forced,
"I'm going to arrange
words awkwardly on the page
and then call it:
poetry."
Which I have seen way too many times in books. Not to worry, this one does a decent job of it.

This increases the appeal for reluctant readers/teens (Alex Award winner!), though the action-packed supernatural plot should be enough. It's not super graphically violent compared to say, Jo Nesbo, but there are definitely violent acts in here that aren't dwelled upon overmuch, as well as references to "adult relations" and not infrequent swearing, and some drug activity. ( )

This is definitely one of the stranger books that I've picked up. Sharp Teeth is a werewolf novel, told in verse form. Imagine the old epic poetry of the Greeks, or even the ballads told in medieval times - you'll get a good idea of how this novel is told.

The epic nature, and the sheer length and subject matter of the book, had me doubting whether or not Barlow could make it work. He did. The story is worthy of the way it is told.

In the dead of night in southern California, the different packs of lycanthropes plan their games and their attacks. He details the society in a way that is surprisingly close to how wolves tend to operate; he brings werewolves into the twenty first century, and more than that, keeps them true to the old myths as well. It's a fascinating story, well told, and with wholly believable characters. In particular, I liked the way he handled female werewolves - a topic rarely touched upon well in modern horror literature. ( )