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bibliomania_express's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach mixes fantasy, murder, political intrigue, and mythology to create a unique world.
This book sucked me in, confused me, intrigued me, and made me keep reading. Yat is a bisexual constable living in a world where any queerness is punished. She is demoted and drugging herself to dull the pain and protect herself from her own memories. Then she ends up stumbling upon a sinister plot, murdered, resurrected by a god, and given new powers to see and interact with life threads. But there's still that sinister, government corrupting, spore-wielding plot to stop, so she doesn't have much time to figure anything out.
At times I found myself confused by exactly what was happening. The narration became purposefully disjointed, with snippets of dialogue breaking in. This was something Yat was experiencing, but since it was so hard to know what was happening, it pulled me out of the story.
I did like that the narrative moved betwern Yat and Sen, with a bit from Ajet and Sibbi to give some of the broader scope. There are also some direct-to-reader style chapters from one of the gods, which were intriguing but also mystifying. This book explores systems of power, corruption, sexism, homophobia, religious zealotry, police brutality, poverty, and what it means to be a hero. It's not subtle about its themes, but it weaves them together well.
I do wish there had been a bit more of Yat and Sen working together, and a bit more of the worldbuilding, especially the religion/magic system, explained up front. A lot of the book rushes along at a breakneck pace, so that coupled with the narrative style made it hard to absorb all the worldbuilding.
The setting, however, was fantastic. I loved the whole botanical engineering aspect, and how it tied into the Weaving magic and the dangerous spores.
This book sucked me in, confused me, intrigued me, and made me keep reading. Yat is a bisexual constable living in a world where any queerness is punished. She is demoted and drugging herself to dull the pain and protect herself from her own memories. Then she ends up stumbling upon a sinister plot, murdered, resurrected by a god, and given new powers to see and interact with life threads. But there's still that sinister, government corrupting, spore-wielding plot to stop, so she doesn't have much time to figure anything out.
At times I found myself confused by exactly what was happening. The narration became purposefully disjointed, with snippets of dialogue breaking in. This was something Yat was experiencing, but since it was so hard to know what was happening, it pulled me out of the story.
I did like that the narrative moved betwern Yat and Sen, with a bit from Ajet and Sibbi to give some of the broader scope. There are also some direct-to-reader style chapters from one of the gods, which were intriguing but also mystifying. This book explores systems of power, corruption, sexism, homophobia, religious zealotry, police brutality, poverty, and what it means to be a hero. It's not subtle about its themes, but it weaves them together well.
I do wish there had been a bit more of Yat and Sen working together, and a bit more of the worldbuilding, especially the religion/magic system, explained up front. A lot of the book rushes along at a breakneck pace, so that coupled with the narrative style made it hard to absorb all the worldbuilding.
The setting, however, was fantastic. I loved the whole botanical engineering aspect, and how it tied into the Weaving magic and the dangerous spores.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Classism, Violence, Gaslighting, Drug use, Addiction, War, Xenophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Slavery, and Police brutality
Moderate: Child death, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Blood, Animal death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Biphobia
Minor: Sexual harassment, Ableism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Self harm
nelldiaz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I loved the world of this book. I loved the nods to te ao Māori and other cultures. Yat starts of unsure of her place in the world and grows to be... well, a taniwha. The action was great, I could see this being an anime. The characters all had great personalities and the villans were a real threat. Can't wait to read the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Homophobia, Biphobia, and War
Moderate: Drug use and Sexual content
Minor: Animal death and Self harm
jessereadsthings's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Animal death and Suicide
lolajh's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“They'd always been looking for defects in her, as if women were defective men, and women who loved women were defective women who loved men. As if anybody who loved both wasn't a part of the equation and could be sorted into one or the other without their consultation. She would never be good enough, because she wasn't the person they wanted her to be. The Kopek had never asked her to be anything except herself.”
This was great, confusing, but great. Absolutely everything happens in the last hundred pages and made a lot of the start and middle feel very slow and filler-like, but the book came together wonderfully when it did, when plot points and characters and places all connected. Wasn’t a huge fan of the stuff with Kiada and Yat at the end just because it was so rushed, kinda predictable, and irritating to read through their interactions where Yat doesn’t recognise her. A challenging bisexual main character, two wlw couples, a cute cat!! Cool plants!!! Cool setting!!! I love the world, it truly is a mix of Black Sun and Gideon the Ninth; I really like the integration of the gods in this, of the powers and magic, of death not necessarily meaning the end. Truly great, loved this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Misogyny, Homophobia, Death, Gore, Murder, and Sexism
Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Sexual assault
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
4.25
This was a very cool and weird sapphic Māori cyberpunk fungal horror and if that doesn’t hit literally every spot I need, I don’t know what will. The world is *spectacular*. It completely satisfied the cyberpunk craving I’ve had since obsessing over Cyberpunk 2077 earlier this year. It has that combination of future tech but eery, creepy vibe full of capitalist immorality that just creates the perfect cyberpunk world. I mean, people live in mushroom houses that feed on their dead skin and sweat but if it goes wrong they try to eat them?! Are you kidding me?! How fucking amazing. Is it so weird at times I’m still not sure what happened? Possibly. But it’s in the same way Tamsyn Muir writes and means I think a lot of things will get further explained (and more mysteries added…) in sequels, which I can’t wait to read.
Content warnings: graphic depictions of body horror, violence, blood and gore, homophobia, ableism, suicide, animal death, death, gun violence, addiction, self harm, war
Content warnings: graphic depictions of body horror, violence, blood and gore, homophobia, ableism, suicide, animal death, death, gun violence, addiction, self harm, war
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, War, Death of parent, Ableism, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Animal death, Homophobia, Death, Gun violence, Gore, and Addiction
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