A truly outstanding and stand out biopunk queer read, The Dawnhounds has some of the best worldbuilding I've ever seen, diverse characters, and a story that will make you cry one page and feel hopeful the next.
It's a toss-up between what I love more, the eclectic characters, or the world they live in. Wajet is my favorite character in this, I don't care that Yat didn't like him he's so damn charming. The whole premise of using plant life to live and build instead of steel or other materials is so fascinating. The mushroom houses are alive and feed off the sweat and dead skin cells of their inhabitants. My mind is just blown thinking about it.
The whole concept of immortality and losing yourself bit by bit is a trope I want to read more of. It is so well done in The Dawnhounds. The different Gods and myths meddling, there is so much symbolism and foreshadowing I want to reread it again to see what I missed.
Stronach's writing feels almost dreamlike and ethereal in certain moments. It's not so much you feel like you are transported into the world, but more so as different characters lose their minds you feel just as lost and trapped too. It is truly a book with so much heart and hope, no matter how tough it gets and how dire the situation seems, Yat never gives up.
There's also a cat in this book, so that's such a bonus.
This is a rare moment where I feel like the blurb didn't do the book justice at all. It is quite a dark and heavy book, I wish it mentioned that. (Also it's just freaking fantastic!) Yat is a drug addict, and has lost faith in literally everything, she is just basically on autopilot.
The inclusion of so many powerful queer characters is one of my favorite parts of this, called a "degeneracy" by so many, it is just so emotional. It's not often I see bisexuality depicted as well as Stronach does here.
I almost wish I had read the audiobook instead, only because I felt like I was butchering so many words in my head because I didn't know how to pronounce anything.
This is definitely not a shut-your-brain-off-and-read book. If anything with science fiction books like this you really have to pay attention to what's going on otherwise you'll get lost in descriptions, names, and people. I also put off reading this because Yat is a cop, and I was nervous it was going to be copaganda. I wish I had read it sooner.
Check your tws! There is a LOT of body horror, gore, blood, death, drugs, corruption, and homophobia!
I have so many theories for the next book! I need to discuss this for hours just to share all my theories, questions, and love for it.
I absolutely 10000% recommend this book, perfect for people who loves books you can sink your teeth into! I can't wait for the sequel to come out next year! MOSTLY BECAUSE I WANT TO MEET WAJET'S

HUSBAND!

I actually like this cover better than some of the other editions. It is really cool to see what the houses look like, and it gives it such a great otherworldly scifi vibe. 

I loved the world and setting in this book! the idea of alchemy and botanics mixing and just having plants instead of mechanical machines was so new and interesting and with the "magic" system in this book makes for so many cool opportunities. and especially in later chapters this also leads to some really cool and creepy body horror.
in general this book has a lot of really cool and new/rare story elements; the mythology and the way the gods and minor deities interact with the world is something i've never read before, and there were some nice twists on genre tropes like "coming back from death" and the heroine coming into their power and changing/growing though that.
i really liked the heroine. we get thrown into the story and this world without knowing anything and there's this great feeling of "what the eff is going on here?!", but since the heroine, too, feels that way and is learning and discovering new things, as a reader i never felt left behind and it was just a mystery to solve together. 
i also really enjoyed the short inbetween chapters, where someone obviously more knowledgeable is talking. it adds to the sense of mystery and a bigger story line / backstory to it all. and some of them are just so poetic and rip your heart out.
also the representation and social commentary in this book is amazing. there is a super queer pirate found family and also a cat, that helps safe the day/heroine. and really what more could you want from a book?

The Dawnhounds is written by a Maori author. It was a wild ride. This is set in a society that is building beyond the industrial revolution and it's one or two generations out of a biological revolution. The setting is lush and interesting and the biobase tech is fascinating.

We follow our main character who's a big cop who has been demoted because they are bisexual. They are murdered one night and they are brought back from the dead and rescued by a group of pirates and a pirate ship. What follows is our main character unravels a conspiracy and fights to maintain a sense of order and justice.

It's got found family.  It's got swash buckling. I don't think they're any swords, but I just think of it as swash buckling. The mystery was interesting and the action was fast paced. There was some time where it felt a little slow just because of how much time the main character was thinking about the past, but I found the past recollections to be super important to the present.

Turn the end of the book it felt a little rushed, but at the same time it didn't bother me too much.

All that you might like this book if you like fantasy, political intrigues, and murder mysteries. If on page homophobia is something that is hard for you to read this might be a book to pass on.

I loved the characters and their connections. I loved this world built with life itself, yet lacking fundamental connections to life and other. That was intriguing and well developed. The bin chicken insult- delightful. The characters and their relationships are well established. The world building is well done. 
Spoiler: The only thing I didn't get was

why Sibby was so mad at the main character for going back, as if the antagonist wouldn't have started releasing the spores and killing the city if she hadn't (cause he already was).

I had a hard time getting through this one. Intriguing  world and characters for sure, but I had a difficult time with the writing style and following the plot. It could just be it's one of those books that's better read physically or on ebook rather than an audio. But I do think the narrator did a really fantastic job with tone and cadence. I could tell that a lot of heart went into this one and it definitely played with some cool ideas. I just had a hard time following it. Worth a try or anyone looking for queer fantasy but this one was not for me.

Maybe 3.5 stars for me, but I'm rounding up because Sascha Stronach has written a great bisexual woman protagonist and cast of diverse characters that I really appreciate.  
I feel complicatedly about this one.  I liked quite a bit about it: original world-building, well-executed weird, and really thoughtful representation.  The system of... magic? science? is interesting and the action scenes are well written.  What didn't work for me at all was the pacing -- sometimes scenes felt like they were drawn out longer than they needed to be, while at other times there seemed to be significant jumps that left me wondering if I'd perhaps missed something.  All in all: reads like a debut, but a promising one; I'll read the sequel.  

This was super interesting! The worldbuilding was so rich and layered it felt like the setting was a real place you could visit... not that you'd necessarily WANT to, what with the freaky plant magic, roaming gods, and dehumanizing power structures. While I felt like the protagonist could have been more active throughout some sections, overall the cast was fun and the fantasy elements were cool. I'd be interested in seeing where this series goes!