Sascha Stronach

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-dawnhounds-by-sascha-stronach/

An urban fantasy with a difference; the fantasy city is a port threatened by pirates from without and religious fanatics from within. Our protagonist is a gay policewoman who survives murder and gets caught up in a plot to destroy the city. I seem to have read a lot of books like this lately, but this held my attention for the duration.… (mais)

It was just as well that I went into this novel without a lot of preconceptions, since I'm still processing what I just read. In as much as I had expectations, I thought this was going to be some sort of post-apocalyptic story of climate collapse, but the more I read the more that this novel seemed like some sort of secondary-world fantasy; one with really sharp edges. What Stronach has going for them is good characterization, snappy dialogue, and a determined pace. Less good is that, for me, there's a tension between the over-the-top deliriousness of the setting and events, which conflict with my sense of the proper logistics of world building. Still, I liked it well enough that I'll certainly give the follow-up book a try.… (mais)