Today’s review is about GREENTEETH by Molly O’Neill. The main character, Jenny Greenteeth, is a lake-dwelling monster content with routine. When a witch is thrown into her lake, Jenny finds herself thrown into a quest to save Britain from an ancient foe.

Author: Molly O’Neill
Series: None
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Orbit
Publish Date: February 25, 2025
Print Length: 320

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Greenteeth Synopsis

Greenteeth Review

I received a free advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher. My review is my own and reflects my honest opinion about this book.

GREENTEETH is fantasy quest with quirky creatures that abuts ancient myth and legend with that from King Arthur’s era. The main character is Jenny Greenteeth, a fastidious yet moody, millennium-aged lake monster whose joy in life is her routine. Imagine Jenny’s surprise when one day the villagers throw a witch into her lake. Curiosity trumps disgruntlement at this disturbance and Jenny saves Temperance from a watery doom. They strike a friendship and come to realize the pastor who instigated Temperance’s death is not what he seems. Thus, they embark on an old-fashioned quest with a wandering merchant goblin that takes them from faerie land to the edges of England, Wales, and Scotland.

GREENTEETH was an absolute pleasure to read. I loved that it’s from the POV of a monster who wants nothing to do except keep her lake clean, eat, and sometimes observe the world around her. Though outwardly a grump, she has a good heart. However, she’s not above playing the part of a grump to keep up the charade. This is particularly enjoyable to read when Jenny banters and barters with Brackus, the merchant goblin. Brackus also likes to put up a tough and sophisticated front, but he also has a kind soul.

The book is relatively fast paced. I sped through the first and last third while the middle slows a bit due to the traveling nature of the quest. The main impetus of the book is to vanquish the threat of the pastor to Jenny’s lake, Temperance’s family, and, ultimately, Britain. This leads the traveling trio to pay a visit to the Gwyn ap Nudd, the fairy king, in his fairy court in the hopes he can help. It was a nice change from the current elegant fae romantasy trend to instead read about fae as more originally portrayed. Here the fae are tricksters and cruel and not keen to help others. However, most of the book occurs outside of the fairy court. So readers who care less for fae elements have plenty of other settings to read about.

I also liked the incorporation of various creatures in GREENTEETH. I hadn’t heard of some of them, so I found their descriptions particularly interesting. There were a couple of plot elements that I either didn’t fully understand or wished had been incorporated earlier. With respect to the latter, said quest need not have happened if anyone had posted questions about a particular item. No spoilers here, but it’s pretty obvious from the beginning of the book what this item is. The big reveal of the pastor’s plan is run-of-the-mill villain stuff. But I liked the reveal of the legend of the setting. I wouldn’t call this a cozy fantasy as advertised, but it certainly has smirk-inducing elements as the characters interact.

Overall, GREENTEETH is a refreshing fantasy from the POV of a monster who never expected to go on a quest with a human and goblin. It focuses on their growing friendship and disagreements and, of course, saving the world.

Rating: 4.5
Content warnings: violence
Reading format: Paperback

For additional thoughts about GREENTEETH, check out reviews by Books, Bones & Buffy, Curiosity Killed the Bookworm, and Becky’s Book Blog. If you liked this book, you may also enjoy THORNHEDGE by T. Kingfisher.