This was a really enjoyable, immersive read. Inspired by Filipino folklore (my first foray into the genre, but definitely not my last), the world building and magical system created by Bonnin was super interesting and had me wishing this wasn't a standalone. I'm really impressed by this debut and am looking forward to her future work.

Many of our middle graders and young adults will enjoy the story. Adults and avid fantasy readers are unlikely to enjoy as the world building isn’t there and the characters are a bit flat. Stopped reading at 10% but if it continues as it has, our YAs will likely enjoy at three very easy stars, four for the right readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the ARC.

I tried reading this 3 times and I just can't get through it. I like the concept, but the execution wasn't for me. I love stories where characters question the world around them and I really thought the concept was cool, but this didn't do it for me.

I'm a fan of much of this in isolation: queer rep, animal companions, setting. However, this plot was incredibly hard to stay on top of for me and I feel it's enough of an issue that this will lower the enjoyment for the YA audience who are plot readers. However, I think this will be a strong read for those in the YA audience who want to have an experience that is more about setting and romance. This has a great world and characters, but whether readers will enjoy it depends on what kind of reader they are.

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.

This book has a great sense of driving force; the prose is direct and the pace never slows. It kept me engaged and reading for long periods of time (which is a feat these days).

However, the book starts off with no foundation - to the point where I started to question if this was actually a sequel (wouldn’t be the first time I’ve accidentally picked up a sequel), but instead it felt like the author was so terrified of a potential infodump that she left us in the dark instead. As a result, it took a long time to tease out Seri’s secrets, which made her difficult to understand and want to root for in the beginning. Which was somewhat fine, because we got fights and Eshai to lead us on.

The other big miss for me was the instalove and Tsana as a whole. We don’t see much of their initial interactions, but suddenly Seri is spending an entire day aimlessly searching when Tsana misses a date and is willing to take multiple betrayals in stride? I find that hard to believe. Also, I think Tsana should either have had a larger POV role (more like Eshai, who was frequently in focus) or taken more of a backseat. We didn’t get quite enough from her POV moments to enhance the worldbuilding beyond what she could reveal in dialogue and she just wasn’t on page enough to really justify being a “main character”.

This is honestly more nitpicky than negative, and I fully believe that Bonnin can write an even stronger novel in the future. I for one can’t wait to read it

Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Format: Audiobook. Thank you fiercereads for sending me an eArc of this book! I waited until I could get a copy on audio though because I haven't been able to read physical books for a while.

This is a Filipino-inspired young adult fantasy, perfect for fans of The Sunbearer Trials (Aiden Thomas) and The Witch King (HE Edgmon). Seri lives in a place where beasts roam outside the city walls and elite hunters protect them. She soon comes across some people that will change her view of her city and the beasts, however, and unlock a potential power within herself.

I really enjoyed the world and the connection between the characters and the beasts. The fact that the hunters use the beasts' hides as special armor was a really interesting twist on an old idea. I was also excited to see a lesbian relationship in the midst of a fast-paced jungle fantasy! Lastly, the connection characters have to the animals/beasts was very interesting, it reminded me a little of the daemons in his dark materials. Some issues I had however prevented me from fully immersing myself in the story. One was that the main characters' names are SUPER similar sounding. Maybe on the page, they are easy to tell apart, but I was listening to the audiobook and the narrator pronounced them really similarly so it was hard to tell them apart (sounded like Seri, Shauna, Serian, and Ashai)! It took me way too long to even realize there were multiple POVs in this book haha. So even though there was a lot of action in this book, I sort of lost the thread of it because I couldn't tell the characters apart.

Overall, I think this had a lot of great elements, but maybe my distracted brain and audio weren't a good combination on this one!

dnf’d at 35% because i kept losing track of the plot :( i will probably pick this up again and try to actually finish it, but for now, i’m sending this review as a dnf :(

This was a buddy read, so we deliberately slowed our pace to make sure everyone could read the daily chapters, but it also felt like the actual pace of the story was very slow, which didn't motivate me to pick it up regularly. The final 20% of the story was the best part by a long way, with some great fight sequences and a good resolution at the end, but I just wish the rest of the book had been as been as exciting. I'm also not sure what age the main characters were meant to be, but they came across as quite young for characters that were in charge of battles and ended up fighting to the death.

Content warnings for general violence and violence against animals, death of family members and friends.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

I loved the female characters in this book not only because of their strength, but also because of the flaws and information that was shared throughout the book about how they became the people that they were. Each of the characters had experienced some type of tragedy that helped to form them, and yet they all grew and became more than what they or others expected of them as a result of their tragic pasts.

Of the two main relationships, Seri and Eshai, and Seri and Tsana, I found that I actually liked the relationship between Seri and Eshai the most. Part of my liking this duo better than Seri and Tsana is because of how easily their relationship flowed. At no point did I find myself sighing at the slow pacing of these two as they got to know one another and came to trust one another. Whereas the romantic relationship between Seri and Tsana was painfully slow with too much stilted movement. I found that I never fully bought in to them as the romantic couple.

We’re it not for the pacing of this book, I would have rated it higher. I found the pacing to slow down too much at points throughout the book, especially following an action scene. While I know that the story can’t be kept at a rapid pace the entire time, I still found that when an action scene was over and the characters were moving to recover and get to the next high point, I couldn’t help but feel that I was wading through a bog before the story would pick back.

In the end this was an enjoyable read by a new to me author and I look forward to reading more by Elisa A. Bonnin

A gorgeous queer fantasy. I loved the rich Filipino culture that Bonnin brought to Dauntless. An excellent first outing that will be well received at most YA libraries.

Animal companion stories are definitely one of my favorite things to read, and Dauntless’ worldbuilding definitely makes this shine! While it did start out slow, the world introduction was taken with a lot of care so that readers are immersed properly in the setting of the story. The lore and magic system behind the armor reminded me of usual RPG mechanics and its very Filipino, but more than that, this was a riveting fantasy read for those who enjoy action scenes, intriguing political dynamics and an extra bonus of sapphic romance on the side.

The world as Seri knows it is a clearly defined thing. The People live in the trees, away from the beasts that hunt along the ground. The Valiant stand between the beasts and the people, fighting the beasts and then using the beasts' own abilities to magically enhance their own fighting skills. When a patrol reports evidence of beasts that have climbed into the trees, leaders in the Valiant begin to worry. When Seri meets a strange girl who can communicate with the beasts, they realize the world is no longer the one they thought they knew. With a Southeast Asian-inspired setting, and filled with diverse and believable characters, the story showcases bravery, personal agency, and the struggle to define yourself in a world that often tries to do that for you.

DNF at 20%

Thank you to NetGalley and Swoon Reads for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

YA fantasy lacks representation. This is a strong title to diversify a unit about dystopias. I would use this as a companion novel or individual reading in a unit that uses LOTF or a similar text.

This was a quite unique fantasy and I really enjoyed it. The idea that the animals had acquired sentience (whether that was real or part of the characters’ magic, I don’t know) was well done and an interesting concept. I have to say I was a bit grossed out by the use of the animals carcasses for armor, but it made sense for the story.

Well done, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the author does next.

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for this advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Great world building, diverse characters, political intrigue. These are all things that make up great fantasy stories. Definitely recommend for anyone looking for something fresh in a fantasy.

I was unable to provide review due to time constraints of me starting college. I look forward however to reading this book in the future simply as a fan, not a reviewer.

This was a very intriguing concept but I unfortunately had to DNF it because it really wasn’t working for me. I first off had issues with the level of threat combined with how young everyone was? Like commanders in their teens? Maybe that was explained later but it’s annoying when YA books have teens in charge of armies and/or cities for no good reason lol.