It is so weird, and hard to understand in parts, but also beautifully imagined with a good cast of queer characters. This is a book I can’t really recommend, but I would not say stay away either. The main story is wrapped up but there are a few threads open –like the dead city and the witch’s promise – so there is plenty there for the author to work on if he wants to. While I don’t really know what I just read, I think I liked it because I’ve decided I would read a sequel if one comes out. On a good note, I was happy that most of the characters were pretty likeable and I loved that the main character turned into a total badass. The parts I was completely confused about, sometimes even random pages full of text that just froze my brain, I just figured that they could not have been that important and I just kept reading.

The parts I could understand and the parts that were so cleverly imagined, I really enjoyed. What I ended up doing is I just powered through this book. I can’t speak to that as I‘m waiting for the whole series to be out before I read it, but if you enjoyed that book you might enjoy this one –so I’ve been told. I heard a few people say that this had a similar “what is going on?’ feel that Harrow the Ninth had. It’s always hard for me to decide if I actually like a book when I have no idea what really happened half the time. Everything else that happened in-between, I’m not as sure about. I guess in the end it was a bit of everything and if you asked me what this story was about, all I could really tell you is badass lady finds her badass lady match and together they try to save their city. Then there were “gifted” pirates that gave the book a more historic fantasy feel, and then the book almost turned sci-fi-ish with its mycelium sprouting city -and the only reason I even know what mycelia is is because I’m a geek and I watch 'Star Trek Discovery'. At first I thought it was more steampunk fantasy and I was getting a similar vibe to Elizabeth Watasin’s Dark Victorian series. I don’t even know how to really classify this one. This book is wonderfully queer, super weird, and I had no idea what was going on half the time. I think this book just took the lead for the ‘WTH did I just read’ award.

The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach