annieb123's Review of The Dawnhounds (The Endsong, #1)

by Sascha Stronach

Gideon the Ninth meets Black Sun in this queer, Māori-inspired debut fantasy about a police officer who is murdered, brought back to life with a mysterious new power, and tasked with protecting her city from an insidious evil threatening to destroy it.

The port city of Hainak is alive: its buildings, its fashion, even its weapons. But, after a devastating war and a sweeping biotech revolution, all its inhabitants want is peace, no one more so than Yat Jyn-Hok a reformed-thief-turned-cop who patrols the streets at night.

Yat has recently been demoted on the force due to “lifestyle choices” after being caught at a gay club. She’s barely holding it together, haunted by memories of a lover who vanished and voices that float in and out of her head like radio signals. When she stumbles across a dead body on her patrol, two fellow officers gruesomely murder her and dump her into the harbor. Unfortunately for them, she wakes up.

Resurrected by an ancient power, she finds herself with the new ability to manipulate life force. Quickly falling in with the pirate crew who has found her, she must race against time to stop a plague from being unleashed by the evil that has taken root in Hainak.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

The Dawnhounds is a dystopian fantasy noir story and series opener by Sascha Stronach. Originally released in 2019, this reformat, re-write/re-release from 2022 from Simon & Schuster on their Gallery imprint is 352 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

The marketing blurb for this book says it's: "Gideon the Ninth meets Black Sun in this queer, Māori-inspired debut fantasy about a police officer who is murdered, brought back to life with a mysterious new power, and tasked with protecting her city from an insidious evil threatening to destroy it", and that's a perfectly apt description.

Much like Gideon the Ninth and Black Sun, I spent a lot of time not being sure what was going on and having only the most tenuous grasp of where the narrative was headed. Just as in those books, the writing was so superlative that I was willing to go along for the ride. This is a beautifully, lyrically written book which is often disturbing and quite melancholy. It wasn't often a comfortable read, by any means.

Four stars. Although it's not in any way derivative, it recalls to memory Arkady Martine's excellent Teixcalaan series. Fans of Tamsyn Muir and Rebecca Roanhorse would do well to seek this series out as well.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Reading updates

11 March, 2023: Started reading

11 March, 2023: Finished reading

11 March, 2023: Reviewed