Review: To The Teeth by Erin Hayes

Posted July 25, 2017 by Lola in Coyer, Fantasy, Review, Romance / 20 Comments

LolaReview

To the TeethTo the Teeth (The Complex)
by Erin Hayes

Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Paranormal Romance/ Science Fiction

Blurb:
The Complex Book Series.
A Lone Planet. One Complex.
Unlimited Chaos.

Serena can’t think of anything worse than being stuck inside a dome for two years while she helps her mother run her restaurant and take care of her eleven young siblings.

Yet, as a kitsune, she has to take every opportunity to get ahead in life, including the 100,000 S-Co payment she’ll get at the end of this boring stint at the Complex.

Then he shows up. A shtrigu—a vampire that feasts on life force—at her restaurant of all places.

Serena knows he can’t be up to any good. And when her little brother Ken disappears, she chases down the shtrigu to get him back. What she uncovers is an even bigger conspiracy between the Humans and the Metas. And it’ll come together in a clash of teeth and fur.

If she doesn’t fall into the arms of the shtrigu first.

My Review:
I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

This was a great read! I really like Erin Hayes’s writing style and this was another great book by this author. This was the first book I read in the Complex series, but all the books can be read as standalone as I understand it. They just all take place in the same place, namely the Complex. I was easily able to follow this story without no trouble at all. There is a bit of information about the complex and the war, but mostly how it affects the main character. To The Teeth follows kitsune Serena. One night her little brother Ken disappears and she’ll do everything to get him back.

This story is about 100 pages long, but I like how it didn’t feel rushed and tells a complete story. I am really impressed how well this author can write short stories as well as longer ones. The pacing is well done and it all nicely gets wrapped and has a great epilogue at the end. Although I wouldn’t have minded a few extra scenes between Serena and Kaleb as I liked the two of them together. Their romance did develop a bit quickly, but I didn’t mind that as much as I really felt their connection. They are great together and I liked their banter.

The concept for this was quite fun, I liked the idea of a dome where humans and meta’s (basically all kinds of supernatural creatures) have to live together in hopes of finding a way for them to live together. People who live in the complex get paid at the end, which is why a Serena her mom joined. While Serena’s story only gives us a small piece of the Complex, I liked what we got and it made me curious about the other complex books. The book does give a nice feel of more going on, the history of this world and a bit about the complex. It also touches upon some topics like how the meta’s and humans will learn to live together and go along, there’s a bit of prejudice and some heard feelings on both sides. It has some sad scenes with horrible things that happen which suggest that these two species might never go along and the species are too different, but also some very encouraging scenes which make me believe there might be a peaceful future for these two species.

It was a quick read that kept my attention the whole time. I liked the story and the characters and it was a fun read. The plot was solid and I liked seeing how things played out and learning more about the complex, humans and meta’s along the way. There is a nice twist later on in the book. And it has a satisfying ending with a hopeful note and a great epilogue.

It was fun to see so many different paranormal creatures in one place and seeing how they live together, although the focus is on the ones close to the main character. I did think the shtrigu’s powers were a bit creepy, but Kaleb seemed like a great character even with his creepy power. Serena was a great main character, she was loyal and fierce. And while she would be rather anywhere but in the complex, she does find her place and she cares a lot about her family.

To summarize: another great read by author Erin Hayes. I quickly read through this book and it kept my attention the whole time. The Complex series seems a group of novels all set in the same universe and location, but can easily be read as standalone. I had no trouble at all following the story in this book and the necessary background information gets explained. I liked the set-up for this world and the idea of the complex. I liked seeing how the humans and meta’s (supernatural creatures) lived together and how they struggled with that. It touches upon some topics like prejudice and being different. There are some horrible things that happen, but also some touching and encouraging scenes. I liked Serena as a main character and the romance was great too. While the romance develops quickly I did feel their connection and I liked reading about them. I did think Kaleb’s species powers were a bit creepy though. All in all it was a great read and I am planning to check out some other complex books in the future.

4 Stars

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.

Have you read any books in the complex series or other books that are part of a shared world?

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20 responses to “Review: To The Teeth by Erin Hayes

  1. I love the sound of these. I may have to try some of it. Just wondering one thing-were the vampires allowed to feed off the humans? Because no amount of money at the end if two years would be enough! 🤗

    • The concept was fun and this story was great! I think the vampires are allowed to feed off the humans as long as the humans give their consent for it. So they need to find someone who is okay with them feeding off them.

    • There’s a whole series of books set in this world, it’s a sort of shared world type of series form what I understand. I can really recommend this author, I read a lot of her books so far and enjoyed them all :). And it was fun to read about kitsune here, you don’t see those too often.

    • It’s interesting how al the books in this series share the same world and set-up. This book was really good and it sure has me curious about the other stories and I already picked up one of the other books in this series as well.

    • It’s not as much a series as a shared universe/ world, does that make sense? I think all books do work as standalone :). This was a good one!

    • I would definitely recommend this author’s works. I read quite some of her books by now and enjoyed all the ones I read 🙂

    • It’s more paranormal romance actually, but with a sci-fi setting :). But I do get how not every book will be for everyone.

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