Characterized by the publisher as magic realism, it has also been seen as an example of Daniel Heath Justice's critical concept of "wonderworks" or literature by Indigenous writers that defies conventional Western notions of literary genres.

[1] Tagaq was raised in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, and attended high school in Yellowknife before finding success in Toronto performing Inuit throat singing.

Through her relationship with her younger sister she begins to connect spiritually to the land, eventually learning soul projection to meet with a variety of mythic and incorporeal forces.

While projecting on the sea ice in an attempt to find Sedna, she instead encounters a deific set of Northern lights, who impregnate her with twins named Savik and Naja.

As infants, Naja acts as a healer strengthening the life energy of those around her, while Savik instead begins to predate on people's sicknesses and immorality, killing the protagonist's alcoholic uncle and threatening her other loved ones.

[18] The review in the Quill & Quire stated "Like a smirking teenager, Split Tooth blithely gives typical literary expectations the finger, daring us to see and experience narrative as chaotic, emotional, and deeply instinctive.

Quill & Quire editor, Sue Carter, writing in the Toronto Star, noted that Split Tooth, along with Cherie Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves also released in 2018, shows that there is now "a broad demand for Indigenous-authored books.