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A review by dreaming_of_eutony
The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach
4.0
An intricate tale of broken cities and broken hearts, of corrupt heroes and lost girls. Where gods and cops and priests and pirates pull the threads of power and greed and love between them until they snap.
We meet Yat, a constable with the best of intentions and a cat that isn't hers.
Yat struggles through the day to day in a world where anyone who doesn't fit the proper mold is chipped away at until they do.
But there are much greater forces at work than the petty cruelties of human nature.
And Yat unintentionally stumbles into their paths.
Our cast is beautifully diverse and lgbt+ representation is present in both main and side characters.
The world building is incredibly unique and I've read nothing like it before. The term "bio-punk" was not one I had come across before this book and immediately intrigued me.
Think steampunk but with plants instead of steam power.
There are threads of noir and a fine thin icing of horror woven throughout with a tasteful dashing of classical fantasy in the magic system.
The politics of this world are incredibly well thought out and detailed yet not so much as to bog the writing down with it.
The writing itself is like a poem or a dream realized on the page. It is whimsical and sharp, often sarcastically humourus and deeply emotional in the same paragraph.
I became very attached to all the characters and their individual quirks as I read and really enjoyed the subtle foreshadowing for the twists and turns of plot along the way.
I would love to read more of this world and its characters as the ending, while nearly tying up most loose ends left me wondering just enough to keep my wanting more.
Overall this is an excellent adult bio-punk horror and I'd highly recommend to anyone willing to dip their toe I to something different and refreshing and entirely delightful.
We meet Yat, a constable with the best of intentions and a cat that isn't hers.
Yat struggles through the day to day in a world where anyone who doesn't fit the proper mold is chipped away at until they do.
But there are much greater forces at work than the petty cruelties of human nature.
And Yat unintentionally stumbles into their paths.
Our cast is beautifully diverse and lgbt+ representation is present in both main and side characters.
The world building is incredibly unique and I've read nothing like it before. The term "bio-punk" was not one I had come across before this book and immediately intrigued me.
Think steampunk but with plants instead of steam power.
There are threads of noir and a fine thin icing of horror woven throughout with a tasteful dashing of classical fantasy in the magic system.
The politics of this world are incredibly well thought out and detailed yet not so much as to bog the writing down with it.
The writing itself is like a poem or a dream realized on the page. It is whimsical and sharp, often sarcastically humourus and deeply emotional in the same paragraph.
I became very attached to all the characters and their individual quirks as I read and really enjoyed the subtle foreshadowing for the twists and turns of plot along the way.
I would love to read more of this world and its characters as the ending, while nearly tying up most loose ends left me wondering just enough to keep my wanting more.
Overall this is an excellent adult bio-punk horror and I'd highly recommend to anyone willing to dip their toe I to something different and refreshing and entirely delightful.