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!