Daggermouth: Dark Dystopia

A review of Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe

Image courtesy of publishing house

This story is set in a corrupted surveillance state called Found New Haven, where the elite wear masks and rule from the inner circle. The farther you are from the inner circles, the higher your chances of death. Shadera, our main female character, has lived a difficult life in the outer rings; her childhood ended when her parents were killed and from then on, she trained to be the greatest hired hand she could be. In her latest assignment, she is tasked with killing the prodigal son of the tyrannical leader, a suicide mission she takes on with a personal vendetta in mind. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned and Shadera is sworn to marry Greyson, the main male lead, in an attempt to craft a narrative of unity and stability. It is their story, as well as the overarching political intrigue, that kept me reading. I was pulled in by the opening scene, which was a public execution. The way H.M. Wolfe describes the violence and brutality of this world is exquisite and had me putting down the book after every big moment to just wonder and awe at the brilliance of female writers and the fucked up stories in their heads that have yet to be told. Until now.

What should have been clearer from the beginning was how this surveillance state came to be, what state was the world in for this dystopia to be able to easily rise? Are we in the United States or an unnamed country? What about other survivors? These remain the unanswered questions as you read, but the main plot is so engrossing that you don’t dwell too much on the missing information. As you read, NOT A SPOILER, you will come to learn that Greyson isn’t the villain of this story, no, it’s his father, Maximus. Maximus is a villain I’ve never encountered before: he has a singular need for power, dominance, and fear-based loyalty. Most villains, as we know them, have a weak spot. Maximus does not. He will use and abuse anyone to get his way, even his own family, in fact, especially his own family. The pain and abuse he has inflicted on his wife, his children, especially his daughter, is so heinous that I cannot describe it here. Instead, I advise you to remember the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book.

Maximus appears larger-than-life, but in this dystopia, there is no magic, there are no other worldly creatures, there is nothing to make you stand out as the one blessed by the gods, and yet Maximus feels as though he is untouchable by the gods. He is just a human man, but the loyalty he inspires, and the lengths he goes to ensure that this loyalty never wavers, makes him feel inhuman. His society is built on starvation, fear, brutality, and constant vigilance. If you are ever caught by his enforcement group, the Veyra, you are guaranteed a one-way ticket to the execution block or physical and psychological trauma that will define you for the rest of your days. In this society, no life is seen as valuable, just dispensable. Even the women of the inner circle are not spared from this violence and suppression. From the perspective of the outer circles, the women in the inner circles are protected and pampered, but that is far from the truth.

Misogny is rampant. In this world, once a woman marries, she loses all right to her identity and autonomy, instead, becoming her husband’s shadow, literally and figuratively. Elara, Greyson’s mother, is a complex character that doesn’t receive as much attention as the main characters, but she is one of the many characters that will hopefully have a longer arc in the next book. Speaking of the next book, this is only a TWO BOOK STORY, which made me so happy. Personally, the longer a story drags on, the less I become interested. The only exception to that rule is a multi series with a different character’s story in each book, or Harry Potter.

A few days after finishing the book, it is still sitting with me, and the final scene keeps replaying in my head over and over again. I definitely see this story as something Hollywood will turn into a blockbuster because frankly, it is that good and the story is captivating. The story focuses on Shadera and Greyson, but I found that the side characters — the real villain, the oppressed women, the best friends — captured my headspace just as much as the main characters because of the perspective they bring; it reminded me of thatsaying, “there are sides to a story and then there is the truth”. With such rich characters providing their own perspectives, I found myself closer to the truth than I have ever felt reading a dystopian book.

The physical copy will be released on July 28th, and the ebook copy has been available since March 2nd, 2026.