This was fun but not quite what I expected. I think the author has a lot of potential.

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.

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. 

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.

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.