I loved this story! This felt very unique and original, without crossing over into unlikely and implausible. Yat is a very likable and relatable protagonist, her character is very well developed and interesting. Sen is equally interesting and likable, though less well developed. I found the mycelium and cellulose based construction of the anti-iron city delightful and fascinating. There are strong sci-fi elements with advanced botany and bioengineering, but also magic. Gods resurrect certain people with abilities to manipulate life force around them and some other talents. Some of the gods favor marginalized and disadvantaged people for resurrection. A god-influenced, human conflict comes to a head in the city, and gives the story a very satisfying ending, but there are lot more stories to tell in this world. The book is much more sincere than the whimsical cover art implies, and I'm not sure where the title comes from, but I highly recommend this book, it's wonderful!

*arc provided by netgalley*

a biopunk botanical māori-inspired city, a cosmic war, queer rep!!, pirates, truly terrifying body horror, and giant mushrooms. what’s not to love about the dawnhounds?

this book was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. the world was expansive and immersive and i loved every second we got to spend in hainak. i was left desperately wanting to know more about the other nations who were implied to operate very differently than hainak.

despite the complex mythology and worldbuilding, this story still felt very human. the struggles yat faced in her life and in trying to find herself in the world that’s so much larger than she thought was still very relatable, even though she’s dealing with it through gods and magic.

i will say that there are places in middle of the book where i was very confused. some things felt very rushed and i do wish some more time had been spent explaining the mythology and the steps taken to get from point A to point B, but this didn’t really effect my enjoyment of the book overall.

the last few chapters really solidified the dawnhounds as a new favorite of mine and even though it doesn’t even release for a few more months, i already can’t wait for the next one!

content warnings for: homophobia/biphobia, suicide references, general misogyny, sexual abuse (only mentioned a couple times, nothing graphic), body horror

This book had a fantastic beginning and some great concepts but like 50-60% through it, it's like the author gave up and just wanted to get it over with. Either that or just really needs some editing.

NetGalley Educator 550974

I loved this book. As a fan of fantasy,otherworldness and representation for all, this book was amazing. Some who are not technically leaning may find issues with the book. It gives glimpses into the life of the Maori people and law enforcement. I look forward to the author's next book.

This was a very...odd book. I liked the setting, the biotechnical aspects, and the idea of the story, but those are pretty much the only things I liked about the novel. The story was contradictory of itself in multiple places and the storyline becomes very jumbled and ultimately too confusing to understand by the end of the novel. It was in serious need of an editor.

I should also mention that the formatting of the kindle version was almost entirely unreadable. - this didn't affect my star rating because I know that sometimes the formatting of ebooks can be a weird process, but this does not bode well for the future of the book. If I purchased the ebook version of this novel and got a file that looked like that, I would immediately ask for a refund.

Let me start with what I loved about this book. I loved the concept and the world. It felt fresh and unique, and I was so interested in how it worked. I also loved the magic system. They way it all worked felt intuitive without feeling simplistic. I also liked the band of queer misfit pirates - found family at its best.
I wish this book had taken more time to develop a few things. I wanted more about the world. I feel like it barely scratched the surface on an incredible idea. I also wish we had gotten more character development. I think if there was less focus on either the world or the characters, and more focus on the other, this would have gotten a higher rating for me. I would have read and enjoyed this book in a longer form as well - it just didn't go into enough detail for me. That being said, I enjoyed it I overall and would read a sequel.
As a side note, a queer cop is not a great way to market this book from my point of view. If you are considering this book, know that the protagonist is not a "failed cop," but a person realizing the corruption in a system she once believed in.

I liked the environment of this. The concepts were fresh - I liked the idea of blanks, the cool new gun technology, the plant based landscape. The explanation of how things ended up like this could have used a bit more work, but I liked the way steel and whatnot were treated. The religious cult stuff was cool and I hated it (in a good way)!

There is a lot I enjoyed about this - the overall theme of standing up to oppressors, the cultures, the sci-fi aspects - but there’s some stuff I found lacking.

The writing had good and bad moments - sometimes things would be stated repeatedly in a chapter. It felt like I was having deja vu a few times! But other times I enjoyed character commentary or phrasing.

The storyline was overwhelming at times. I couldn’t keep track of characters very well and was confused more than once. There was a lot of info dumping when it came to worldbuilding and the excessive paragraphs of descriptions without dialogue made it hard to get into a good reading flow. I’m all for description, but I couldn’t figure out what details were important vs which weren’t… causing me to miss some things entirely.

My actual rating would be a 2.5 but I rounded up. I expect a reread would make a lot more of this make sense and would give me a better experience, so maybe I’ll read this again in the future to see if my opinion changes. I think this book would be better suited for someone who can keep track of details and characters better than me! I also think this would be great for people with a very vivid imagination that can really picture the environment that’s set up here.