River of Teeth

by Sarah Gailey

[Mercy]

This book was so good, it's so great when you don't have any idea what exactly a book is about but it surprises you with every page despite the premise being quite simple: hippos gone feral who eat people and a team formed by a bunch of people with each having their own reasons to accept the job of helping the government of getting rid of the hippos.

What I liked the most about River of Teeth, were the characters. Sometimes novellas lack in developing them but I warmed up to them quicly because Sarah Gailey did a great job at describing them and giving a view of their personalities and their back stories and within the first two chapters I was so engaged in the story. It was funny at times, heartbreaking at others and very action-packed.

Another point for the story is that it has a cast of character so diverse and it's so effortlessly done. There's non-binary, bisexual and gender fluid characters but it's not made a big deal of. They just are and it isn't mentioned like something different or that should get special attention and I loved it. And I've read reviews of people complaining about the author putting them in the story without a specific purpose and... gosh, isn't that the point? Why these kind of characters should need an explanation? They are in there because people like them exist and as straight characters are never looked at twice, the same should happen with them.