History Literature / RiverOfTeeth

* HazardousWater: Used throughout the story but especially when the gang is traversing the marshlands south of the Harriet. Since hippos dwell in the water and can navigate the marshlands unseen through it, and the feral hippos in the area are especially vicious, traversing the bayou during the day is dangerous and nobody wants to go near the water at night at all. Despite that caution, nobody sees the feral hippo before it [[spoiler:attacks and kills Neville]].

* IWillFightNoMoreForever: Both Adelia Reyes and Hero Shackleby have reached the point where--even though they are the best at what they do, and murder doesn't bother either of them--they realise they've had enough of it. Unfortunately Hero finds retirement as boring as he now finds murder, and he advises Adelia not to spend her retirement alone even if she thinks she's been alone all her life.]]
* KlingonPromotion: In ''Taste of Marrow'', [[spoiler:Parrish has Adelia's baby kidnapped to force her to assassinate his boss in the Bureau of Land Management. Once he takes his place, he'll use the US Army to wipe out the entire American hippo population, solving the feral problem for good. He claims to be a WellIntentionedExtremist but so happens to have bought up most of the riverboats, so he stands to become very rich as well if he can make the Mississippi River safe for traffic.]]

* {{Revenge}}: Houndstooth takes the job he is offered partly because it gives him a chance to take revenge upon Cal Hotchkiss for [[spoiler:burning down his hippo ranch]]. It is eventually revealed that Cal did it on behalf of Travers, who wanted Houndstooths land and to get him back for refusing to [[spoiler:introduce a more vicious strain to the feral hippos of the Harriet]]. Houndstooth is fairly consumed by his desire for revenge and wants to kill first Cal, then Travers. [[spoiler:He does manage to see both of them dead by the end.]]

* TheMole: PlayedWith. After they are [[spoiler:attacked by a feral hippo]] outside of the Harriet, Archie proposes the possibility to Adelia that the crew may have a mole among them. The natural suspect to turn to is Cal Hotchkiss, since he'd been working for Travers until recently and could have been threatened by Travers into providing him with information. It turns out that [[spoiler:Adelia Reyes]] has been the mole all along, having been payed by Travers to not only reveal the crews plans but also to [[spoiler:kill them all should the need arise]].

** Hero is African American and non binary

* FastestGunInTheWest: PlayedWith. During their introductions round in the Harriet Inn, Houndstooth introduces Cal Hotchkiss as the "fastest gun in the West" to the crew, only for Cal to insist that he's the fastest gun ''anywhere''. When Cal then immediately questions why Houndstooth is the boss, Houndstooth deals with him faster than Cal can blink, establishing who really is the fastest anything anywhere.

* NoEndorHolocaust: When the question is raised of what anyone living downstream of the Gate, or the US Coast Guard, will think of being inundated by hundreds of man-eating feral hippos, Houndstooth brushes this off as someone else's problem. It's likely this is the attitude of the federal government as well, [[PlausibleDeniability which is probably why]] they're hiring a RagtagBunchOfMisfits in the first place.

* TheWildWest: The novella is set towards the end of the 19th century around the southern part of the Mississippi river and has gun-toting {{gunslinger}}s, {{outlaw}}s, [[CardSharp gamblers]] and remote bars just waiting for a [[BarBrawl fight]]. That the entire area has become hippo country only adds to the fun.

* GoldTooth: Ruby, Houndstooth's hippo, has gold-capped tusks. How and why she got them are explained in a short story that's bundled with the digital edition of the novella.

* AmbiguousGender: Hero's gender is not explicitly described during the story (they are probably nonbinary, but more specifics never come up), and the narration uses [[GenderNeutralWriting gender-neutral pronouns]] when talking about them. It is made clear that Hero does not conform outwardly to any gender and several characters seem confused, though only the bad guy makes any verbal note about it. Hero seems prepared to avoid questions regarding their gender and is surprised when Houndstooth does not pry any further even after they become lovers.

* CorruptHick: Travers rules the Harriet. Through various means involving business machinations and the occasional burned down ranch he has managed to secure the exclusive right to own businesses on the Harriet. Though technically he has to follow federal law as much as everyone else, the Harriet is in such a remote location and has gained enough reputation as a lawless place that he basically does what he wants, including throwing cheating customers to the feral hippos and ordering around the rangers assigned to the Gate.