Book Review: Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.5/5)

Molly O’Neill’s Greenteeth is a haunting, lyrical novel that lures you in like a dark fairytale whispered at the edge of a misty lake. Blending folklore and modern-day suspense, the story revolves around the sinister legend of Jenny Greenteeth — a water spirit said to drag the unwary to their doom — and the tense, eerie relationship between the two central characters, Jenny and Temperance.

Jenny, a woman forever linked to the folklore of her small, isolated village, is both a victim of rumor and a force of nature herself. Temperance, an outsider in many ways, finds herself caught in the tangled web of local myths, half-truths, and dark secrets. As the novel unfolds, their fates become more and more entwined, with the story expertly walking the line between supernatural horror and very human fear.

O’Neill’s writing is rich and atmospheric — you can almost feel the dampness of the water, hear the rustling reeds, and sense the silent weight of something watching beneath the surface. The novel’s strength lies not just in its chilling moments, but in how it explores grief, guilt, and the way small communities can turn both protective and hostile in the face of the unknown.

If there’s any slight flaw, it’s that the final confrontation felt a little abrupt, especially after such a slow, suspenseful build-up. I would have loved just a bit more time to let the climax breathe. Still, the emotional resonance and the way the novel blurs the lines between myth and reality are masterfully done.

Greenteeth is perfect for fans of dark, magical realism and unsettling small-town mysteries. It’s the kind of book that lingers with you long after the final page — like a whisper in the reeds or a ripple on the water’s surface. Highly recommended.

Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group/Orbit for the chance to read an eArc early.

3.5⭐ rounded up.

Greenteeth is a fun questing adventure with a simple set of characters set in the Arthurian era. I loved the different folklore/legends the author included. It was fun to read about the characters adventuring all over the UK encountering various different fae.

The pacing was a little on the slow side meaning indie myself not as gripped by the story as I wanted to be. The ending picked up speed though and I really enjoyed the encounter with the villain.

Fans of questing adventures will definitely enjoy this book!

This was incredibly fun, gentle fantasy novel. It doesn't drag, but carries itself at a comfortable pace that keeps you steadily moving along.
It blends together elements of a classic heroic adventure, folklore and fantasy beautifully.
While the ending became reather easy to predict once arriving at the final chapters, I still had fun, and reguardless of my guessing the ending I still found it satisfying and altogether worthy of a high rating.
Jenny, as a protagonist, is wonderful - a creature from a lake who is forced out of her home in order to save it only to change for the better as a result of that trouble. I adored her, and Temperance, so much I feel sad to let them go.

Overall, this was not a bad debut novel. It was a promising folklore inspired story, and I liked many of the unusual fae descriptions. However, it lacked in some aspects.

I would not say it's low stakes, since the UK and the world as a whole is at stake, so cozy fantasy doesn't feel quite right, but it's not an epic fantasy with battles either. This started more cosy, then started to move towards higher stakes, but never felt like it properly fulfilled either option.
It was a a slow, cute story about found family, with no romance.
However, the pacing did feel odd at times. It was essentially just 3 lame (imo) quests one after another, all kind of predictable, and SPOILERS ---- it was clear from the start it was going to be pretty useless too, with repeated mention of chekov's sword----.

Jenny felt like a great complicated character, however the side characters felt a bit flat, and I would've really liked to see Temp's family reunite on page or even mention her seeing them before the battle or something. Maybe some of the motivation for Brackus too.

Both the pacing and character types, made it feel like a sort of DnD campaign.

I both read and listened to the audiobook for this one, and the following is reviewing solely on the audiobook.
While her audio did a good job at differentiating characters, and was very clear, I feel like there could have been more emotion in her narration. I don't think the text was as calm as the narrator sounded, but I may have interpreted it differently. For such a monstrous being she sounded a little too upper-class-modern-day human, to me.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

If you like Welsh/English mythology, this book is for you! It reminded me of cosy fantasy books due to lovable characters. Even tough the stakes were high, I didn't feel like it. Overall a very nice book to brighten your evenings.

3.5 stars

This book never would have been on my radar without Netgalley. Some books are promoted all over the internet, but for some reason this book is not that visible. Which is a pity. The cover looked really intriguing, albeit a little scary too, and the summary made me really curious about the book. I was at least really happy that Orbit granted me a review copy and with the release date almost there, I could finally dive in last week.

This book is absolutely perfect to cure your Emily Wilde hangover. The two book series have, in a way, a lot in common. Both books are about the faerie folk, both books are talking about quests and traveling and both books have a cosy and yet also sort of sinister vibe. It's hard to describe, but this book was the best of both worlds. It was a lighthearted book that focussed mostly on friendship and adventure, but it did have a more serious and darker undertone and a spectacular finale.

What I especially loved about this book is the perspective, and main character. Instead of following a human stumbling into a fantasy world, we focus on one the faeries the human meets. She's telling us her stories. We're reading her thoughts. And it may sound weird, but in a way it made the book even more endearing. Jenny is a unique character, she really shines and despite her flaws and mistakes, it's hard not to like her.

This book also contains surprisingly much folklore, myth and legend. The more familiar you are with all the Welsh, Scottish and English tales of faerie, the more amazing this book will get. And despite the fact that the author included so many tales, it never felt overwhelming or all over the place. Everyone we met, every part of the quest, every magical power, it all made sense and it all fitted seamlessly into this story. I would certainly love more books like this!

I was going into this book thinking this will be in the same vein as T. Kingfisher, but I think on reading it, it may be actually more in vein of John Wiswell! Both are very good writers with their own set of strengths, and evoking this debut in same breath hopefully conveys the idea of the kind of story Greenteeth: non-human POV that allows the reader to have a sideways perspective on humanity, a strong focus on found family/friendship bones and a really solid helping of mythology and folklore themes, If you like that kind of stuff, do not pass by this debut: I really enjoyed my time with it, and looking forward to more from the author.

Thank you to Orbit for my review copy.

3 stars

This book is full of folklore references to myths and legends of the British Isles! I adored seeing which ones I could pick out (and I LOVED that there was one mention to one of my favourites! (The creature in question is Peg Powler and it really made me smile when I read the very small reference to her!)

This is the first time I have read from a non-human perspective in a while and it was interesting to read from something that isn't human, however, at times, it felt like Jenny wasn't too monstrous, but I loved her interactions with Bracken and Temperance, even if some of the dialogue felt a bit stilted to read.

The pace of this is definitely on the slower side, and when I got to the part where the plot begins, I could very easily see where it was going. The plot was mainly a typical quest plot to stop the big bad, so at times, it felt like a sludge to read through because I knew how it was going to end.

Overall, this is a cozier mid-fantasy quest book, with some lovely descriptions of forests and moors and full to the brim with mentions of folklore, so if this seems like something you'd enjoy, pick it up!

A clean pond, organized frogbit and now and then a nice carp to snack on is how Jenny Greenteeth likes to see it.
As any other Greenteeth she stays in her waters and lives a fairly solitaire life. Until someone is thrown into the water and left to drown.

What follows is a very enjoyable journey and adventure. Jenny is VERY obviously not a human and I loved reading the parts that shows how much she differs. The fact we follow her, and not a human who observers Jenny is what makes it all the more fun. The stakes are not high but also not low so there's enough adventure for everyone while we follow Jenny.

Greenteeth is like a little adventure and journey you can enjoy while being bundled up cozy on the couch with a nice blanket.
If you love reading about English folklore and myths, along with going onto adventures like in The Hobbit and Percy Jackson, with a dash of fun human and not-human interaction then this book is definitely for you! I am for sure gonna recommend this book to some of my friends or gift it as a birthday present.

The book might be promoted as cozy and while it does have those elements it is a more an adult book with some parts that might make some uncomfortable. Nothing too visceral but it's not cozy-cozy 'low-to-none stakes' as Legends and Latte's for instance.

Greenteeth is a debut cosy fantasy book about a lake dwelling monster called Jenny Greenteeth and the adventures that her and her companions go on. I loved this book and thought it was such a wonderfully written story.

Jenny Greenteeth is a unique main character, she is a lake dwelling monster who has lived for over hundreds of years. I loved reading about her especially the descriptions of her lake, I really felt how much of a home it was to Jenny and how important it was to her. Temperance is a headstrong character who's willing to do anything to get back to her family and I loved reading about her and Jenny meeting after Jenny saves her from drowning.

I loved the focus on friendship in Greenteeth, there is no romance in this book. At the beginning Jenny, Temperance and Brackus are kind of thrown together to go on this quest and as the book goes on their friendship grows. Each one of the characters comes to rely on the others and it made for such a beautiful emotional story as they learn to open up to one another and become a found family.

The plot drew me in and I loved reading about the different trials the characters had to go through to take down the evil that's took over their home. The creatures they encounter along the way were interesting and I liked how the book is based on forklore and mythology. The writing was very compelling and I was very engrossed in the book from start to finish.

Overall I loved Greenteeth especially how much it focuses on friendship and the importance of it. Jenny Greenteeth is a unique and memorable main character who I loved reading about and the writing and story captivated me. I'm excited for future books by this author since I enjoyed Greenteeth so much.


(I was sent a Netgalley ARC of this book to review)

Greenteeth follows three unlikely friends - a sea hag called Jenny (our POV character), the witch Temperance and a goblin called Brakus - as they go on a series of trials to get a weapon to fight a hellscape demon called the Erl King. I throughly enjoyed this take on an epic quest. The setting was around the time of the religious reformation and other witch trials in the UK (1600s-ish) and the characters journey across the British Isle, visiting with different mythological and folklore characters and creatures.
Molly O'Neill tells the story well through Jenny's POV, a character who is quite isolated and around for hundreds of years. She's an unlikely character to follow but Jenny was entertaining and engaging.
Within the quest style storyline, there is also hints of a discussion around judging a book by its cover, especially in Jenny's case, and morality not being as simple as others make it out to be. It would have been nice to explore these further, but I also understand this wasn't the point of the story and was more about friendships, found families and those relationships.
Overall, a story I devoured and I'd be interested in reading more by O'Neill in the future!

Thank you to Molly O'Neill, Little Brown and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Greenteeth is a tale of adventure and magic for those who like stories based on folklore and Arthurian legend. If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be green. The characters spend a lot of time walking so the setting for most of the book is forest. I can imagine this would make for a good read in your local park, under a tree on a warm spring day.

Jenny Greenteeth is a river hag from English folklore who would pull children or the elderly into her lake and drown them. She was most likely created to scare children away from dangerous waters covered in duckweed which completely obscures the surface of the lake.

I liked Jenny as a character, I found her to be both charming and amusing. It was fun to read a story from the perspective of the monster instead of the human, even if they do eventually end up cooperating. At times Jenny was a bit difficult and quite juvenile in the way she resolves conflict, but ultimately she is an engaging character with a unique voice.

Jenny is hundreds of years old so there's plenty of possibility for more stories from her life which I would definitely read, especially when she was with her daughter Little Jenny (not a spoiler, don't worry).

There's no romance in the novel which I would say is a plus. The story focuses on the friendship between Jenny and Temperance with lots of discussion on what makes someone a monster or a human and how sometimes we can be a bit of both.

My fancast for Greenteeth:
Anya Taylor Joy as Jenny
Olivia Cooke as Temperance
Billy Boyd as Brackus

Greenteeth is Molly O'Neill's debut novel and it comes out 25th February 2025.

I give Greenteeth 5 stars!

an unlikely found family embarking on a seemingly impossible journey in order to save their village from an infamous and elusive evil.

Unfortunately, this story fell somewhat flat for me. I found myself feeling as though it was just going through the motions of a rather basic story; even elements which were clearly intended to surprise or shock the reader seemed a little lacklustre.

Perhaps my opinion is a little biased, as lately I have read a few other books featuring a non-human main character, so Greenteeth has had some big boots to fill. Someone to Build a Nest In and The Morrigan are two books which I thought executed this trope a little better than Greenteeth, and so the latter has paled in comparison due to being read in such quick succession! Or maybe I’m just tired of this kind of story? Either way, I just wanted to mention this as a little disclaimer! These types of books seem very popular lately and I suppose the novelty has just worn off a little.

3⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Charming and fun, a cosy fantasy with an epic knowledge of early British and Irish folklore.

Jenny Greenteeth, local monster in the lake of Chipping Appleby, is minding her own business when a witch gets dumped in her lake. After deciding against eating the witch, Jenny instead saves her life and her peaceful, aquatic solitude is a thing of the past, for Jenny Greenteeth is far from the worst monster around. Together, a goblin, a Jenny Greenteeth and a witch embark on an unlikely quest to save Britain.

Well I learnt so much! This story struck exactly the right tone, it was just whimsical enough. I thought it was pure genius to tell the story from the POV of the monster.

It has all the trappings of a fable, full of morals and messaging. It’s funny, it’s exciting and really well plotted and characterised. Super suitable for YA and all the way up the ages.

Fans of Emily Wilde, Sorcery and Small Magics, and the Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches I think you’ll really enjoy!
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Thank you #netgalley and @LittleBrownBookGroup_UK for my #arc

There are plenty of books in which a literal monster is the protagonist, from Frankenstein’s monster to Doctor Jekyll and beyond. More recently we had John Wiswell’s delightfully twisted debut Someone You Can Build a Nest In. Molly O’Neill’s debut Greenteeth takes a similar premise but sets it in medieval England and ties the characters and action more firmly to established British folklore.
Jenny Greenteeth is a monster living in a lake next to a small English village. She is disturbed when a witch, called Temperance, is thrown into the lake bound in chains. Jenny saves Temperance’s life and the two quickly find that the reason that the village has turned on her is the influence of a new pastor who may well be the avatar of a much older evil. The two, accompanied by a goblin, travel to find the fairy court in a bid to find a way to rid the village of the malign influence and rescue Temperance’s husband and children.
Despite trying really hard, Greenteeth often fails to engage. The characters, monstrous and otherwise, a fairly flat to the point where the falling out between Jenny and Temperance feels contrived just to create some drama. And the plot, essentially a series of mini-quests, would work better as a video game. The way the book is narrated it is hard to conceive of Jenny as a monster at all, unlike the protagonist of the Wisell book. And her arc, such as it is, boils down to: monster comes to terms with her life and learns to like humans.
Greenteeth draws heavily on the folklore of the British Isles. Besides witches and goblins and lake monsters there are the fae, unicorns, and giants. But the tale also connects back to legends of King Arthur, with Merlin getting a name drop early in the piece. And the quest-based narrative is at least of a piece with this tradition, even if it also feels a little hackneyed. That said, the reveals through the climax of the book, based on tiny clues dropped through the narrative, are quite satisfying.
Greenteeth is a solid debut aimed squarely at lovers of traditional fantasy and traditional fantasy narratives. O’Neill has fun with familiar character types from what Ben Aaronovitch calls the demi-monde in a more medieval setting and links it all to some deeper mythology, and it will be interesting to see what she does next.

Thank you to Molly O’Neill, Orbit, and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was so sure I was going to love this the whole way through. Historical fantasy with a Jenny Greenteeth as the protagonist is so creative. However, after the original 25%, the book felt a little flat? The conversations seemed slow and the actual action seemed rushed. I think the book struggles with being in first person as well. I definitely would’ve enjoy it more being in third person. Cozy fantasy is quite difficult to pull off well but there was so much potential here with the story. I found myself reluctant to read on so had to dnf. If there was a rewrite, I think it could be a solid 4 stars.

What an incredible debut book! I was already drawn in when I read magic + fae + Folklore, and it was fantastic! I loved the setting, the atmosphere, the magic and that Jenny Green teeth, a lake monster, Temperance the witch that is thrown in the lake and a hobgoblin, Brackis, embark on an adventure to free Temperance from her curse, defeating villains along the way in a perfect fairy tale quest! This was such a perfect cosy fantasy, with villains and friendship, hope and trust, and so much magical prose.
A pure delight to read and I can't wait to see what O'Neill writes next!

Such mixed feelings on this one! Jenny Greenteeth is probably one of the most interesting and unusual protagonists I've read in forever and for the first 20% I was very intrigued as to the time period and setting of the story. The way this book focuses in on British mythology and folklore is right up my street; I found this novel full of familiar characters and creatures: goblins, witches, unicorns, the high fae and wild hunt.
However, once this gorgeous medieval setting had been established, and our main characters had their mission, I started to lose interest. The dialogue during each scene often felt slow, and like it lacked purpose and, despite the brave adventures they all went on, I never felt like the stakes were that high (perhaps it's leaning on some of the ideas of cozy fantasy?).
Then again, the book pulled itself back at the very end for me with some Arthurian mythology and some dramatic twists and turns in the last few pages. A mixed bag!

I'm normally a sucker for a good character driven novel, give me all the characters and no plot & I will more than likely love it, the problem with Greenteeth? The characters felt overly flat, they didn't really grow past their initial introduction: Jenny Greenteeth, Temperance the Witch and Brackus the Goblin. The story is told from the POV of Jenny, a creature who has been around for generations. I expected her to be a more mature, to come across as knowledgeable in that way only mythical creatures can (if that makes any sense), but instead she was the most juvenile of them all, I guess this could have been blamed on the fact that she had mostly lead a solitary life, and wasn't used to spending so much time with others, but I just found her a little annoying if I'm being honest. She was recalcitrant, grumpy and seemed to argue just for the sake of arguing at some points. She read more like a teenager than a creature that had been around since the time of Camelot, and that lack of gel with her as a character played a big part in my not loving this book.

The narrative started off really strong, Jenny had this monstrous voice that drew me in and made me question just what kind of character she would end up being, but as it progressed she almost became a side character in her own story. The author just kept trying to make her seem more human than she was, shying away from the monstrous side apart from a few sections that felt a bit too on the nose. Temperance and Brackus seemed in parts only there to give Jenny a chance to show empathy, to try and change her ways. Neither really had any character growth in anyway. Temperance's main job was to show Jenny the wrongness of her ways, how to be more human. And Brackus felt like that character in video games that you talk too when you need a hint, or advice on a part of your quest. As someone who loves a well developed character, I did feel a little underwhelmed with this mostly crew, in fact my favourite characters were the Fae, for the short time we spend with them, and Cavall, a dog from the Wild Hunt gifted to the gang to help them on their quest.

Greenteeth is a story with a few moving parts, almost like side quests in a video game, and while I did enjoy the main plot of Jenny and co going on a quest to take down the Erl King, there was a part that was thrown in towards the end of the book that seemingly came out of nowhere. There were hints linking to it, but nothing to suggest the story would end the way it did, and I felt it almost took away from the big battle with the Erl King I was expecting. O'Neill does do a great job of inserting creatures and stories from British mythology, and while I knew some of the parts mentioned, there were others, both creatures and stories that were new to me. She weaves both creatures and stories into her plot effortlessly, allowing them to add some mild peril or a little coziness to her story, and helping to break up the plot.

There were definitely some dark parts to this book. Trigger warnings for child abandonment/death, animal death amongst others, but the way O'Neill writes the story, as well as the lack of empathy I felt for the characters meant that these didn't really hit the way I think they were meant to. I'm not sure if it was a conscious decision, or just how she ended up writing Jenny, but it felt like there was a bridge between her and the reader, I almost felt kept at arms length, never really getting that feeling of attachment that allows you to empathise with these emotional plot points. I also felt like the pacing was off in parts, we get some really long slogs where the characters are just walking and talking and taking in the sights... it's a short book anyway, but these bits could have easily been cut... in fact I would absolutely say this would have worked better as a novella. I feel like the emotional punches would have hit more, and the lack of character development wouldn't have been as noticeable.

All in all this one ended up being a little 'meh' for me, but there were some parts that I enjoyed. It just lacked the character attachment I feel is needed in these kinds of novels, but I do feel like these were debut novel problems and I would absolutely check out whatever the author writes next.

Sadly this is a case of 'not for me'
I think this is well written and I can understand why other people would love it but for me this was to cosy and nice.