Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this advance copy in exchange for an honest review

The Five Penalties remains one of the most unique fantasy series I’ve read. I like that each book introduces a new character, mystery, and timeline. In this one, the new part takes place in an undisclosed time and place. This added an interesting element to the story because the timeline is much more advanced technologically than our previous timelines.

While I enjoyed the new aspect and seeing how everything came together, this was my least favorite installment in the series. I preferred the smaller world and stakes in the first two books. In this one, the world expands and we deal a lot with the gods and how their magic came to be. Unfortunately, I wanted more character moments from Krona and the others.

A great conclusion!! This series in general is criminally underrated in my opinion. The world and magic are so unique. Lostetter uses a new POV with each book to grow the scope exponentially and it works so well. However, that does make this book my least favorite (a 4.5 instead of 5 star so don’t worry I still loved it) because I wanted to spend more time with the characters I was already invested it. However, we definitely need that POV to come to the epic conclusion we get. This series starts out with an attempt to catch a murderer and ends with the gods among us as the world is potentially coming to the end. I cannot express how impressive I found this book and this series. It had definitely become one of my favorites.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar

Lies.

The scriptures were lies, the magic source was a lie, and the savior is a liar.

Lies.

What else can it be a lie? The valley, the Gods, …the world?

Lies.

The Teeth of Dawn starts three years after the events of The Cage of Dark Hours. The war in the valley has started and the countries are fighting among themselves. During this time, Krona has been creating her army with survivors of those who know the truth and others who have been reunited with their vargers. At the same time, Krona and her friends have been looking for the temples of the other three gods: Time, Nature and Knowledge. As they find the temples of Emotion and Nature, the other two still elude them and they cannot open the temple of Nature.

As the story of Krona and valley unfolds, another story of twin siblings from unspecific time and place is told. Hailwic and Zoshim, who are Kairopath (time) and Physiopath (nature) respectively, are in a very high magitech city running from the law as Zoshim type of magic is frowned upon and becoming illegal.

Both stories happen at different times and locations, but with enough time, they will collide and save each other.

This has been one of my favorite series in the last five years. I have been a fan of Marina J. Lostetter for a while, but the Five Penalties series has been my favorite. Coming to an end, Teeth of Dawn brings this series to a close and ties up the secrets and plot lines that came to light in the previous books while also presenting new information to keep the reader hooked.

In this last installment of the Five Penalties series, we continue to meet new characters. During the previous book, the Cage of Dark Hours, we met the Savior/Absolon and the order of Thalo, Juliet and the others. This time we meet Hailwic and twin Zoshim, the citizens of the city of Radix and their dictator Friend Uphrasia. Their story is a whole different world but with the same ideas of trying to free themselves from an oppressive regime, but with the magic being the same as what Krona’s world was stolen.

The search and rescue of the gods was the main focus during the first half of the book. Without spoiling, their revival and the truths they gave Krona and the others change the battlefield and save the valley.

For fans of the series, Hintosep returns with her blazing guns and Jerome gets what he deserves.

Like in many of Lostetter’s books, in this one we continue to move back and forth through the POV of the characters and it gives us different glimpses of events happening throughout the narrative.

The Teeth of Dawn concludes the Five Penalties trilogy. If you are a fan of Fantasy and Science Fiction, I recommend that you pick up this trilogy now that it is complete. In it, you will learn about a dangerous world where the only habitable place is a valley where time and magic are stolen from the citizens at their birth, and indestructible monsters roam the outsides of the valley.

Marina Lostetter has crafted a uniquely immersive world in her Five Penalties trilogy, showcasing a remarkable talent for worldbuilding across all three books. Each setting is rich and intricately developed, pulling readers into a fully realized universe. While this depth is undoubtedly a strength, it can also occasionally slow the pacing, as the abundance of information sometimes feels like a hurdle to reach the next action-packed moment or revelatory twist. Nevertheless, Dawn of Teeth picks up where Cage of Dark Hours left off, propelling the story to new heights with shocking revelations, enigmatic overlords, and a thrilling conclusion that caps off an otherwise stellar fantasy series.

I wanted to thank NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for allowing me to read this book and share my thoughts!
This epic fantasy was definitely different from what I had read before. I had to quickly catch up with the first 2 books to make this review, and even though this was just as interesting, I enjoyed the first book better. Yet, I love how the author immerses you into the world she has created and develops unique forms of magic and new perspective narratives. It is intense at times and much darker than other fantasy reads I have encountered, but overall, I enjoyed this very much! I look forward to looking more into Marina Lostetter's work!

I posted a review on Amazon and will update the link once it is approved!

3.75 stars!

This is one of the most unique fantasy series I've ever read, and this book is NO exception. If anything, it's even more creative and off the rails (in a good way) than the first two as Lostetter further expands the world and its history. While I love this about the series, it was almost, ALMOST too much in this edition, and I found myself wanting more of the characters and the current-day plot than the history and the more fantastical elements of the magic and world. The characters we spent so much time with in the first two books are a little bit lost in everything else going on, but I was satisfied with their endings and how pretty much all of the arcs were concluded.

I'd definitely recommend this series to avid fantasy readers and I'll be keeping an eye out for more of this author's work!

Lostetter continues to be one of my favorite writers in sci-fi and fantasy, and the Five Penalties series has been a great flex of her ability to worldbuild and create interesting conflicts compounded on interesting philosophical questions. What I respect about these books is her commitment to creating space for progressive fantasy, inclusive but still nuanced and conflicted and defying typical conventions.

<i>The Teeth of Dawn</i> is yet another excellent contribution to her collected works, a book that further complicates the world of the Five Penalties series while introducing new characters that contribute to the breadth of what her world represents. Lostetter never loses sight of her characters, grounding even the fantastic in believability.

Sign me up for more of her literature, this was a very satisfying conclusion to this series, and probably Lostetter's most ambitious work to date.

This book and overall series are so unique to the fantasy world. The way the magic system is described throughout the series is really well done, especially for a season fantasy reader.

I also love how the author weaves new POVs into the book to expand the worldview and worldbuilding in a very fluid and natural way. While this was perfectly done in books 1 and 2, it felt like it was too much in this third installment. I wanted more time spent on the core plot and the characters that I have grown to love and cherish. This book could have been split into two more to make this series even longer.

This is unquestionably one of the most unique fantasy books I’ve read in a long time. Love these characters and each instalment is compulsively readable. New auto-buy author added to the list!

A core element of this series is how the author weaves in new POVs with each book to expand the world and layer in an air of mystery to the plot. While this served perfectly in the first two books, I found that I was less inclined to be introduced to a whole new aspect to the world in the final instalment.

I found I wanted less time away from the core plot and the characters I’d grown to love while also wanting that new pov to be fleshed out a bit more. Essentially - I wanted a whole other book!!

There is so much to love in this series and I feel like this could have easily been 5 books long and I would have adored every single one.

The time jump between the previous book and this one really worked against us this time. I made note of the same issue between books 1 and 2 but things were a lot more fraught for our characters this time around. There’s no way that the Big Bad would just sit back and twiddle his thumbs for 3 whole years. Or that our wanted fugitive characters wouldn’t have faced a lot more difficulties escaping notice. And the character relationships don’t seem to have evolved in that intervening time? Three years is a LONG time to be in close proximity to someone - particularly with Avarillo who needs to relearn and adapt to society, he’d probably be a lot less wide-eyed after 3 years. Genuinely not sure why that time jump needed to happen and, again, it didn’t feel very well thought out.

There was also a major tonal shift with this book, and I don’t think it worked for me personally.

DNF. I tried three separate times to read this, and each time it made me so sleepy that my eyes were burning. Actually stinging with the need to take a nap.

I don’t know what’s gone wrong. Is it me? Maybe? I loved the previous two books… although maybe it should have been a red flag that I really didn’t want to reread them before diving into this one (and I ALWAYS reread a series before a new installment, it’s part of the fun for me!)

Though I’m struggling to identify why this is a massive nope for me, I can point to two writerly choices that deeply displeased me. So let’s start there, I guess.

The book opens with whiplash: instead of characters we know, instead of the world we know, we are dropped into a terrible night in the lives of Hailwic and Zoshim, two teenagers…living in an industrialised science-fantasy world, where there is magic but also helicopters.

…what.

After reading the first fifth of the book, I’m pretty confident I know how these two are connected to the main story, but I can’t say I was enjoying their chapters. Zoshim possesses the magic of transformation, which is demonised in his setting, and Hailwic is frantic to help him escape the cops hunting him. It becomes clear very quickly than this is a totalitarian dystopia, which is not what I signed up for and which I have no interest in reading about.

The PoVs alternate: the first chapter is Hailwic’s, but then we do return to characters we know – and my heart sank. Because there has been a three year timeskip between the end of Cage of Dark Hours and the events of Teeth of Dawn.

I hate timeskips, and I hate them in direct proportion to their length. Not everyone does; I’m sure plenty of readers won’t mind at all, but to me it’s lazy and rushed and breaks the characters. (Because why haven’t they changed in three years? After everything they’ve gone through, why are Krona et al the same people they were at the end of Cage? It makes no sense!) (Except of course it does; readers wouldn’t like it if we opened the next book and found drastically different characters than the ones we left, so you have to keep them the same, even if it makes no sense.) It requires a lot of summarising of what we’ve missed, which grates like the info-dumping it basically is, and many rapid introductions to new people the cast has gathered around them, which makes everything feel cramped.

And somehow, the Valley is still at war. After three years. HOW? What are they even fighting about? I couldn’t tell you.

So those are the two main things: the timeskip, and Hailwic-and-Zoshim.

But also, even in just the first 20% of the book, everything is so damn convenient. With the exception of finding the lost gods, everything falls into the characters’ hands almost as soon as it’s mentioned – and don’t even get me started on the magic, which is overpowered and hand-wavey to a ridiculous degree, and wildly inconsistent in what it can and can’t do. One character can literally pluck knowledge from the air… but he can’t, whenever it makes the plot more interesting that he can’t. ???

I’d like to give this another go eventually (just in case the problem is me rather than the book) but right now I have no interest in where this is going, and the thought of continuing with it is exhausting.

This doesn't feel like it works as a standalone, so it isn't the right fit for our libraries. I did like the writing style, though I stopped after chapter 1 (2%).

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC.

Lostetter crafts a world that feels both vast and intimate, where the clash between ancient gods and oppressive forces unfolds with palpable tension. The character development is particularly striking; Krona and her companions navigate their fears and desires, making their journeys both relatable and inspiring. With a sharp narrative style that balances suspense with philosophical musings, this conclusion is not just a battle against external forces but an awakening of the self. It’s a compelling reminder that to reshape reality, one must first confront the very illusions that define it.

A stunning conclusion to the Five Penalties Series! These books definitely aren't for everyone - they're dense and lengthy, with tons of body horror - but Lostetter brings it home with an incredible final installment full of twists and revelations. There's a summary of the previous book and some of the worldbuilding basics at the beginning of The Teeth of Dawn, which is something I really wish more series would do. If you've ever wished for Sanderson-level worldbuilding with queernormativity and visceral horror without sexual violence, check these out!