My first encounter with J.P. Moore’s Toothless was over a decade ago when my husband discovered it on the free audiobook app, Librivox. He insisted I give it a listen. By the time I decided to it was removed from the platform. I eventually bought a physical copy from Thriftbooks but it still sat on my bookshelf for at least a year until I finally gave it a read this past June. Upon completion, I was left with only one question. Why? Why did it take so very long to heed my husband’s advice?
It’s a zombie book. It’s a tale of horror. It’s fantasy. It’s even a story of alternate history but also, it’s nothing like other books within these same categories. Moore took the conforming box that exists around zombie fiction and burned it in a blaze of literary glory.
Within prose that could only be described as gruesomely poetic in its description and storytelling, Moore addresses the many facets and instincts that make us human and how even the basest of these anchors us to each other and life itself. Without saying explicitly, Moore illustrated the psychology of how our incredible neurons react to and with dopamine-inducing activities.
“In all the heroic tales, dying soldiers saw their lives pass before their eyes. No, Martin realized. The memories were just running like rats from a sinking ship, down the ropes only to drown. ”― Toothless
The main character, Toothless who was once a Templar knight named Martin, is killed in battle during the Crusades and brought back to life by The Black Yew. Though Toothless is an unspeaking fighter in an army of the undead that tears its way across Europe, it is in the above unsaid psychological illustration that I could find myself connecting to the main character.
Toothless, despite having retained some of what made him human is destined to lead this retinue of the undead as it moves across Europe indiscriminately killing all in its wake but just as plans in life can fall apart so can the expectancies of an afterlife, at least in Toothless’ case.
Coinciding with Moore’s phenomenal description of detail is his ability to set a perfect pace. The story begins with bleak and intense gloom but explodes into the blood and gore-filled combat that is very reminiscent of the time period. Though, at its heart, Toothless is simply about clinging to our fleeting humanity in moments of adversity. It’s about redemption, forgiveness, unconditional love, and friendship. I have suggested this book time and time again since I’ve read it. Whether or not you like any of the genres in which Toothless falls, I suspect you’d enjoy it if you gave it a try.
An ancient evil leads a rampaging army of demons and undead warriors across the countryside. Martin, a failed Templar, is slain on the field of battle only to be reanimated in service to the very evil he hoped to destroy. The Black Yew, the dark force that controls the undead army, considers him a gifted minion.
But life is not done with him yet.
