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fionamclary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Some things that would have improved this book:
-a map
-consistent spelling of Tangata/Taangata/Tāngata
-not saying "it was the worst pain she ever felt" every time Yat experiences some kind of magical injury
Otherwise, there was a lot of inventive world-building that sometimes held together only with vibes but was nonetheless engaging. I liked the inspiration from Maori culture and hope that SFF only sees more influence and authors from various world cultures.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Police brutality, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Cursing, Misogyny, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Confinement, Sexual violence, Suicide, Vomit, Acephobia/Arophobia, Outing, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, Alcohol, and War
bibliomania_express's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Gaslighting, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Ableism, Self harm, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
christina_ro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, and War
Minor: Addiction
fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
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?
Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Transphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
augustar14's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Spoiler: The only thing I didn't get was
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Outing
kumquats87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and War
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
4.0
Content warnings: graphic depictions of body horror, violence, blood and gore, homophobia, ableism, suicide, animal death, death, gun violence, addiction, self harm, war
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and War
laurareads87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
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.
Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and War
Moderate: Addiction and Suicide
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
- I’m not sure I actually know what to make of THE DAWNHOUNDS. It was wildly creative and inventive, filled with compelling characters, action packed, and often confusing as heck.
- I think the author leaned a little too hard into the “drop readers in without explaining the world and they’ll figure it out” school of sci-fi. Eventually I think I got a handle on it, but a lot of it still felt under-explained, especially the mythology of the gods.
- However, I really loved the writing and found it so compelling. I do think I’ll pick up the next in the series when it arrives, because although this book had some issues, I think Stronach is an author to watch.
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Ableism