Wow. This is going a be a bit of a difficult book for me to review, as my impressions and feelings started unfavorable and gradually moved towards greatly enjoyed throughout the book.

The Helm of Midnight has a unique premise that meshes several genres, namely fantasy and mystery/thriller. The Helm of Midnight follows three different timelines/POV: the main protagonist, Krona Hirvath; a secondary character, Melanie; and the antagonist, Charbon. The book starts with a daring heist that results in the stealing of the Death Mark of Louis Charbon. This sets our protagonist, Krona, off on a twisting mystery where nothing is quite as it seems.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Helm of Midnight, though saying that is not without it's caveats. I struggled in the beginning of this book, to the point that I considered DNF-ing it. I ultimately pushed through and am so glad that I did.

Let me first say, that unfortunately, if a book does not match what I am expecting, it usually throws me a bit and I find it hard to recover. That said, the things that tried me a bit in the beginning and initially made me a little ambivalent were the following:

- I was not expecting the dual (or really 3) timelines/perspectives. In the beginning, I couldn't understand how they meshed and who Melanie was or why she was important. I understand that's part of the mystery and excitement, but since it was unexpected, I had troubles investing in the beginning.
- I felt this book took the approach of throwing the reader into the world (which was quite a new, complex and fantastical world) and entrusting them to figure things out. Things didn't always feel fully explained and defined and it left me confused at times. I believe the first full explanation of the gods and their gifts came around the 25% mark. I think it maybe would have been less confusing to introduce this sooner, or even as a prologue.
- This book felt unnecessarily long at times.

Those were my major frustrations that developed at the start of the book and once I had those preconceived notions, it took a bit to overcome them.

I think I started to really get into the book when the Charbon chapters happened and those were probably the best parts of the book for me. All the characters had great development, but his story was intriguing and fleshed out. Not only did I enjoy the characters own personal development, but also their relationship development. The relationship between Krona and her sister was another high point of the novel for me and I loved seeing them interact.

The action scenes throughout the book were also well done. They kept me on the edge of my seat and the author held no punches. This was an amazingly gritty book that wasn't afraid to go dark.

Lastly, I also ultimately loved the world building. Once I got a handle on it, it was really unique and interesting. It's just a shame it took about a 3rd of the book to feel like I finally understood all the complexities and the different magical artifacts and professions and gods and so on.

When I was partway through, I wasn't sure if I would continue with the series, but by the end, I was fully sold. I believe preconceived notions and expectations impact how favorable we find a book, so while there was exciting parts in the first half, I would tell anyone I recommend this to that it's a bit of a slow burn and to stick with it. I think this series has great potential and it's intriguing mesh of fantasy and thriller elements will attract readers.

Thank you to netgalley, Marina Lostetter, and Tor Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021, and sadly, I did not love it as much as I wanted to. So first of all, I think that the premise of this is really interesting. There’s a serial killer on the loose, and we follow three different perspectives – Krona, who is like a detective investigating the case, a young woman a couple of years in the past trying to save her mother from an illness, and finally, the serial killer himself. There’s so much potential in this novel, and that’s what was ultimately pretty disappointing about it. The magic system is also quite interesting – we have these enchanted masks, so there’s this hint of the occult and voodoo in the magic setup, we have an almost elemental thing with five elements, and then we also have these monsters that have some eldritch horror vibes to them. It sounds great and fun on paper, but it does not work. I think this book’s biggest issue is exactly that it tries to do too much and just does not succeed. I think this could have worked with a different approach to the writing, but as it stands, there was too much going on.

The world-building is really confusing, and it’s confusing throughout – not in a way that the author is trying to conceal stuff from the reader, but just in a way that the world-building is clumsy. The opposite is true actually – there’s so much exposition and the writing relies on it so heavily, that the reader is not only confused but also knows a lot more than the main character, which leads to a boring and frustrating reading experience. Moreover, the writing is so bogged down by the exposition, that the pacing of this is atrocious. The book is painfully slow, and seems to go on forever, and there’s nothing really propelling the story forward.

I did not particularly care for the characters because the writing just does not dedicate any time to character development. Everything feels like a narration and description of a scene on screen, in the vein of “and then this happened and then this happened” and there was no introspection whatsoever, particularly for Krona’s character, which was super annoying. I have said this on numerous occasions, but whenever there’s no inner world of a character depicted, I just can’t connect with a book. I will say that both Melanie’s and the serial killer’s perspectives were far more interesting than Krona’s which was also particularly frustrating.

Ultimately, the plot of this also quite dragged, without any real point, and in the end, we got very little resolution. Nothing was explained, which is fine because this is a series, but the book was just too long and there was literally no payoff, not even a crumb to justify the book’s length. Finally, I also had some issues with some of the specific plot points that just did not make a lot of sense.

Overall, this had a lot of potential and I did enjoy some of its elements a lot, but ultimately, this failed for me in its execution and I do not see myself continuing on with this series.

There is a lot going on in THE HELM OF MIDNIGHT. The plot centers around a murder mystery, which in itself centers around something called a death mask, which relates to magic having to do with five gods, and the mystery of the gods themselves is rooted in why the murders are even happening. There's conspiracy and cults and a very complex magic system and eldtritch monsters and three POVs happening in three different timelines. Honestly, I have to commend the author for managing to balance all of these disparate elements so skillfully, because it could have easily become muddled and confusing, but it didn't. I'm still left with plenty of questions, but that is the nature of fantasy trilogies, I suppose.

Despite the length of this book, and despite the fact that I think it could have been cut short by at least a hundred pages, and that there was so much unnecessary and bloated description, I was gripped by the narrative from the get-go. Perhaps that's because this is partly a thriller/mystery, so I kept reading because I wanted answers, wanted to find out what was happening. Regardless, something kept me coming back, kept me thinking about this book constantly.

Overall I think the mystery was well done, but my questions definitely were not answered in a satisfactory manner. While we find out who the killer is and why is is committing his crimes, we still don't really understand the true underpinnings of his motives. The magic systems -- complex as they are -- play into the overall mystery, but so many questions about this too are left unanswered, as are questions having to do with this world's creation myth (is it real? is it fiction?). Who are the gods, really? What really goes on outside the borders of this little world the characters live in? Again, this is just the nature of fantasy trilogies, but personally I'm getting really frustrated by having to keep reading setups and being forced to come back to a second book in order to have my questions answered.

I think objectively speaking the characters were done pretty well, but there was something that kept me from truly loving them, or connecting with them on a deeper level, just as there was something that kept me from truly falling in love with this book, even though on the surface, it had all the elements of everything I should love in a fantasy. Still, I think many fantasy readers will adore this book and its rich worldbuilding, and this is definitely a unique kind of fantasy! As you can see, I rated it pretty highly (probably around a 3.75, I'd say), and I very much enjoyed it; it provided me with some much needed escapism.

The Helm of Midnight is the first in a new epic fantasy series by author Marina Lostetter, previously known for her Noumenon trilogy. I read the first Noumenon novel before abandoning the trilogy - the book featured issues involving a generation ship, and while I enjoyed much (though not all) of the character work, I found that not all parts of the novel, as it moved into later parts, really worked for me. Still, I tend not to love generation ship-type narratives, so I was interested to see how Lostetter's character work would translate to epic fantasy and I was happy to request this off NetGalley.

And The Helm of Midnight was well worth it. The book features a world with a fascinating magic system (sort of), an interesting fantasy setting with a really interesting, if possibly inaccurate, mythology. And most importantly, it features a number of storylines which center a number of really great characters, such that I really really felt for them all whenever things inevitably went wrong. The story doesn't fully deal with some of its more interesting potential themes - issues of class, of power, of lies and myths and debts - which prevents it from truly being one of my all time favorites. But as its own story it works really well, and as a series starter, I am very intrigued to see how the story plays out from here.



----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
The Five Gods created humanity and provided them with a place to live in the Valley, as well as a barrier to keep out the monsters that lie outside. But though their gifts have provided humankind with greatness, they come with severe penalties for misuse. It is the Regulators who ensure that no one misuses these gifts - the gifts of time, nature, emotion, knowledge, and the unknown - without paying the penalty.

Krona Hirvath is a Regulator under her sister's command with a particular talent: the ability to put on Mask's containing the knowledge and echoes of others long past, no matter how powerful, and being able to use them safely like no one else can. But when a Mask containing the knowledge of one of the Valley's most notorious serial killers is stolen out from under her squad....and someone quickly begins using its knowledge to resume its work of murder, Krona finds herself desperately trying to stop the killer before he can cause too much damage.

But the killings are not quite the same as before, and seem to indicate that the killer is searching for something....and as Krona begins to track down the culprit, she begins to discover that she is searching not just for a simple murderer, but for a conspiracy that seeks to expose the past and the myths of the valley as falsehoods, with ties to a far greater and more sinister force......
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The Helm of Midnight is a really interesting epic fantasy, especially in how it tells its tale. Our main story is told from Krona's perspective in the present day, but three other storylines from the past are told alongside it in various forms. In Krona's own chapters, a story is told through one paragraph at the start of each chapter, in which an unknown character makes a confession of guilt of an act from her childhood. In between Krona's chapters, we switch to two other stories - the story two years back of Melanie, a young woman who seeks a mask with the knowledge of a healer in order to save her mother; and the story of Charbon ten years back, in which he began the killing spree that would make him infamous throughout the valley until his death and his mask's creation. All of these past storylines eventually come to significance in Krona's story, as you'd expect, and as all three of the side storylines occur in the past, it soon becomes pretty clear that all will end in some sort of tragedy or disaster.

And yet, Lostetter portrays each of these main characters with such depth and in such interesting ways that I always felt absolutely invested in each of their stories and never felt too disappointed to switch away from one to the other. Each of these characters is distinct in their own ways, and yet each are very easy to empathize with for all their differences. For Krona, you have a young woman desperate to make her older sister proud and to prove herself despite a sometimes crippling phobia, who might have some feelings for a criminal informant she can't quite admit, and whom has a strong sense of justice. For Melanie , you have another young woman, but one who first is desperate to obtain a mask of knowledge of a healer to save her mother, and who then finds herself caught in an impossible dilemma due to the mask, alongside a man she starts to have feelings for. For Charbon, you have a man searching for knowledge despite it coming from forbidden sources (examining dead bodies) being driven by what might have been the preventable loss of his child, which forces him to expand his search to the bodies of the living - an absolute horror, but still...one you can understand. For the Confessing character, she's obviously a child and it's easy to understand why she'd make the acts she did. These characters are all great and well done - and the side characters are generally pretty solid as well - and because these characters are so easy to like and empathize with - even the serial killer - it's hard sometimes to read as they come closer to their conclusions...and their inevitable tragedies (especially the serial killer and the mysterious confessor).

This all takes place in a setting that's fascinating - a valley where humanity has been living because outside of its magical barrier supposedly lies only death and destruction by horrifying monsters created by the world's first deity, the one who created the five gods humans now worship. The gods represent nature, time, emotion, knowledge and the unknown (literally the "Unknown" is the 5th god, of whom little is know about), and each god has their own pronouns/genders. You have normal class issues inside the Valley - there is a noble class, a common class, as well as others from the "Dregs", and the give cities in the Valley all have slightly different cultural quirks, although these are never really explored much here in this book. But you also have the gods' magic playing into those issues - so every child has a tax of "time" taken away from them, which is held in trust by the government, and "time" also serves as the everyday currency - so the rich have the ability to use it to "cash out" and extend their lives (or leave it for their heirs).

There's also a tax of emotion, which is less discussed, but the related magic allows for objects to be crafted to give people artificial emotions like courage, despair, and hope, in anywhere from small to dangerous quantities. And then there's knowledge, which can be left behind in masks that contain a dead person's knowledge/memories of certain skills - such as medicine, anatomy, smells, picking apart small details, seeing lies in facial expressions, etc. - but can contain dangerous and possibly overpowering echoes of their originator's minds, which the Regulators try to strictly control supposedly for the people's safety. Really the only disappointment of this book is that the book doesn't really go into the class and other issues that go with these magics and costs - or the unexplained magic/control of Nature, which seems to be used to ensure people don't do things that are considered unethical (but by whom?).

But the characters are so good, and the plots come together so well, such that the ending is both tremendous and satisfying as a single volume, while also providing sequel hooks for future volumes in the series. And those sequel hooks suggest that we might be going into those themes more in depth in the future, which would be really exciting. So yeah, The Helm of Midnight is an excellent epic fantasy series starter, and I would definitely recommend it, even if doesn't quite manage to hit all of its potential.

Instagram Review:
The Helm of Midnight by Marina J Lostetter (out April 13th from @torbooks (thank you for the e-arc!)) Is the first novel in a new fantasy trilogy.

The book follows Krona as she and her team of Regulators is tasked with tracking down a serial killer. There's just one problem: the serial killer is long dead, and it's her teams fault that he is on the loose again.

The story begins at an event where Krona and her team are guarding dangerous magical artifacts so the rich can ogle at them. When a seemingly random attack turns out to be an elaborate heist, Louis Charbon's (the aforementioned serial killer) death mask is stolen.

There are several different dominions of magic based in the elements of their pantheon of gods. One of many is focused on magical death masks. While everyone gets a death mask when they die, only some imbue their essence into the mask. These masks are highly regulated, but can be used to gain the knowledge and expertise of those who wore them. But, it's not as simple as just slipping on a mask and receiving their breadth of knowledge. The masks fight for control and if you aren't careful, you might find yourself slipping away.

The story is fast paced, with a wonderfully diverse cast of characters and an eerie ambiance. It's a fantasy/mystery/thriller. The setting is vivid and has depth (literally & figuratively).

There are multiple POVs, one POV is set 2 years in the past, and another is set 11 years ago. I loved seeing the stories come together.

Because this is a book about a serial killer, it might not be for those of you who are squeamish. There are daring sword/dagger fights that leave characters slashed and bleeding, but, worse than that are the elaborate arrangement of Louis Charbon's victims.

This book was also more emotionally devastating than I had predicted. I loved the book, but I was also openly sobbing at one point.

The morality of the book isn't simple and it has fantastic depth without excusing evil actions.

It's also a fantastic queernorm world with they/them and neopronouns galore. Krona is also possibly bi (mentions a first kiss with a girl) and I'm always here for that 🙌

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Blog/Goodreads Review:

The Helm of Midnight by Marina J Lostetter is the first novel in a brand new fantasy series. It is out April 13th and I definitely recommend checking it out! Thank you to Tor and Netgalley for the e-arc. All opinions are my own (as we all know from looking at my...more negative reviews)

The Helm of Midnight follows Krona, her sister De-Lia, and their team of Regulators. They've been tasked with tracking down a serial killer. There's just one catch - the serial killer is long dead, and it's their team's fault that he is on the loose again!

There are three points of view, by Krona's feels like the main POV as it drives the current plotline of the book. The other two POVs are in the past. One takes place two years before the present story, and another takes place 11 years prior. The story's come together fantastically. There is no waiting for them to come together in future books! I'll be focusing on Krona's POV to summarize the story.

The story opens with Krona and her team at a politician's event. Their job is to guard a series of dangerous magical artifacts that the councilor borrows for his rich guests to ogle over. But, when a seemingly random attack turns out to be an elaborate heist, the thieves get away with Louis Charbon (the aforementioned serial killer)'s death mask! We are also confronted with some of Krona's weaknesses right out of of the gate, which I appreciated. No overly qualified characters who never mess up here.

As the story unfurls, we see that things and people aren't as simple as they seem on the surface. Lostetter provides a real sense depth to the morality of the world and the characters. Things are not simple, but heinous acts aren't forgivable even with good intentions or when done under duress.

One of my favourite parts was the magical system. There are several different dominions of magic based on the elements of their pantheon of gods. Combining the different magics together is illegal. One sphere imbues emotions into gems. Another of many focuses on creating magical death masks.

While everyone gets a death mask when they die, only some imbue their essence into the mask. These masks are highly regulated, but can be used to gain the knowledge and expertise of those who wore them. But, it's not as simple as just slipping on a mask and receiving their breadth of knowledge. The masks fight for control and if you aren't careful, you might find yourself slipping away. Louis Charbon's death mask is one such magical mask.

This is a fast paced story with a wonderfully diverse cast of characters and a delightfully eerie ambiance. Beyond being a fantasy novel it also has all of the necessary elements of a mystery and a thriller. It is well-plotted with a well developed world that is vivid as has depth (both literally and figuratively). I really enjoyed this one! Like a lot, a lot.

The Helm of Midnight was also more emotionally devastating than I had predicted. I loved the book, but I was also openly sobbing at one point. I am quick to tears though.

Because this is a book about a serial killer, it might not be for those of you who are squeamish. There are daring sword/dagger fights that leave characters hurt and bleeding. But, worse than that are the elaborate arrangement of Louis Charbon's victims. I wouldn't really call it gory as the language and the arrangements are quite metaphorical and most of the characters don't try to look them in too much detail. But is can be thematically dark, and it might be something to watch out for!

It's also a fantastic queernorm world. There are they/them and neopronouns galore! Krona is also possibly bi (mentions a first kiss with a girl) and I'm always here for that.

I highly recommend this book! I had a lot of fun with the characters and the world. I'm really looking forward to the next books in the series!

The blurb of this book was intriguing but really, I knew absolutely nothing about "The Helm of Midnight". I went into it with no expectations whatsoever, just genuine curiosity - and wow, am I happy I requested this on Netgalley!
It's not your typical fantasy story. It takes place in an intriguing city in a valley closed off from the rest of the world where danger lurks and monsters live. The setting is dark and atmospheric, the world building is detailed and really well incorporated into the flow of the story. There's a super interesting magic system involving metals, feelings, enchanted masks. It's not the kind of magic system we read about in high fantasy books but more subtle, adding a gritty vibe to the use of magic as a whole. The characters are mostly really complex and interesting, especially our main protagonist Krona. She's multifaceted, a badass soldier, a loving sister, a loyal friend, a clever investigator. I absolutely adore her. Her relationship to her sister De-Lia is central to everything that happens in the book, really, and I was invested in them from the start. There's also no focus on romance, even though there are some romance and promises of something more here and there, and I really enjoyed it. Still, I do hope Marina J. Lostetter understand how much I need Krona and Thibault to happen like, soon please thank you.

The plot is dark, gritty, graphic at times. There's a gruesome murderer roaming the streets forming blooms out of their victims and the book doesn't shy away from going into detail about these horrible acts of violence. The murder mystery is complex and tied to the mythology of this world, and the added perspective of the first murderer from years and years ago, whose mask is used to commit the recent murders in the storyline, helps to turn this into more than just a cop story. It's intriguing, it's disturbing, it's fascinating. There's so much action, but also quieter scenes in this book that allow for more insight into the characters and their development. I was never bored, and I never felt like I wanted to put this book away. Bonus points are given for the way Lostetter's world treats gender and sexual orientation: This is obviously a queernorm world where noone bats an eye or cares at all about who you love or sleep with, and there are multiple genders and their respective pronouns.

The pacing is a little slow sometimes and at times I felt like Lostetter provides more information than there really needed to be, but really, that didn't bother me much. There's also a minor issue in some word choices in the fantastical context of this world: Would a "Jugendstil" style really exist in a fantasy world that doesn't share our real world's art history and has never known the German language, for example?
Still, the writing is beautiful and captures the dark vibes of the setting and story. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.

TL;DR

The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter features Regular De Krona attempting to recover the dangerous magical artifact lost under her watch. This novel about the weight of secrets and the various masks society wears kept me glued to the page. I cannot wait to return to Lutador. Highly recommended.

Review: The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter

From the moment that I read Terry Pratchett’s Night Watch, I fell in love with fantasy police procedurals. In fact, I think I like them more than strict police procedurals themselves. The addition of the fantastic elements allow for an even deeper exploration of what it means to be human. With the focus on what type of people would hunt down criminals, police procedurals theorize on what drives the investigator as much as how the investigation is conducted. But a good fantasy procedural does more than drape the cop drama in the costume of fantasy. By pulling from the strengths of both genres and mixing their tropes, Marina Lostetter has created a great novel in The Helm of Midnight. Lostetter’s latest features a fantasy law enforcement group, the Regulators, investigating the disappearance of a dangerous magical artifact. All the while, Lostetter explores the effects of secrets upon ourselves, our relationships, and society around us. I am a fan of Marina Lostetter’s Noumenon series. But even with that bias, I can say that The Helm of Midnight is a great fantasy police procedural.

The Helm of Midnight follows Regulator De Krona on the night of a heist in Lutador City. The Regulators, a division of special police, are tasked with protecting enchanted artifacts during a celebration, the Chief Magistrate’s Silver Jubilee. The artifacts are part of the Chief Magistrate’s collection, and numbered among the collection are two powerful and dangerous items. One is a ruby brooch filled with enough despair to drive its wearer to suicide, and the other is the death mask of serial murderer, Louis Charbon. The mask contains Charbon’s knowledge of how to mutilate corpses to resemble flower blossoms. This enchanted mask is so feared, it’s illegal to wear it. The heist targets these two items, and they are freed out into the world. De Krona and the other Regulators must retrieve the artifacts that were stolen under their watch. Can the Regulators retrieve the mask before the killings begin again? And why would anyone want a murder’s mask?

In addition to De Krona’s storyline, The Helm of Midnight follows Melanie, a naive country girl, who comes to the big city in search of an enchanted mask that will heal her mother. However, enchantments occasionally have a mind of their own, and she becomes embroiled in her own magical drama. Finally, the reader meets Louis Charbon. Yes, the serial killer himself has point of view chapters. The reader meets Charbon prior to his first murder, and with each chapter, Louis advances towards his infamous future.

Lostetter’s mix of fantasy and mystery elements works well here. Neither gets in the way of each other. The world building is pristine with an eerie setting that I hope we learn more about in future novels. The magic system does remind one of Mistborn, but it is unique and neat in its own way. Though I don’t quite understand the magic system, it didn’t affect the powerful uses Lostetter put it to. After all, good stories, such as The Helm of Midnight, focus on character and not describing in detail the ins and outs of its magic system. De Krona, Melanie, and Charbon’s stories all tie together eventually in a satisfying way.

World Building

In The Helm of Midnight, humans are confined to a valley that is shielded by the power of the five gods. Emotion, Nature, Knowledge, Time, and the Unknown keep most of the monsters and harsh environmental conditions out of the valley. The novel stays primarily in Lutador, which is a larger city, if not the capital, of humanity. At birth, the citizens sacrifice part of their lives in the time tax. It’s literally minutes (or more) taken off their life, but it can be put back at the end if a person chooses. In the meantime, this ‘tax’ is put into tokens that are used as money. Emotions can be put into gemstones that influence a person simply through the gem touching skin.

While the novel has a tight focus, we do get to see larger parts of Lutador society. We learn about the dregs, the nightingales, the coteries, and more in small pieces. These hints at a much larger, more complex world flesh out the novel.

Magical System

Magical masks get most of the magical world building here. Upon a person’s death, enchanters transfer a skill from the person’s body to a mask. Part of the person – an echo – goes with the skills, and if a mask wearer can suppress the echo, then the wearer temporarily gains whatever expertise is in imbued in the mask. This is a neat and useful bit of world building. One of the expert skills that gets used is an interior decorator; the Regulators use this mask to notice anything out of place in the room. It’s a very creative use of magic. In a sense, mask wearer’s temporarily download into their brain the dead person’s expertise, and if they’re not careful, they might download the echo itself. The skills in the masks help the Regulators solve crimes, and, interestingly, the masks are regulated by the state, making them legal forms of enchantment.

Gemstones contain emotion, and though we don’t see a gemstone made, we know that Emotioteurs create them. Inside each gem, an amount of emotion is embedded. When placed directly against the skin, the gem’s contents gets added to the person’s current emotional mix. With enough gemstones, a person can literally have their mood changed.

The magic system extends beyond the masks and gemstones as described above. There’s hints in the book about other enchantments – the time tax, manufacturing of the containment bottles, etc. Lostetter treats magic in this world like a scientific system rather than a mystical system, and it works. There’s even a system of master and apprentice to pass on the knowledge. In future books, I think we’ll learn more about this system of magic.

Politics

The Helm of Midnight focuses on the law enforcement aspects of Lutador, but the reader does get hints about the larger society. Economic class is very much a thing in the novel. The rich literally have longer lives because they can afford to convert more money directly into lifespan. Pronouns are commonplace and no big deal. Sex work is legal (as it should be). So, we get views of a complex society. I look forward to learning more.

Religion plays a big part in Lutador society, and it mixes with the state to form a very strictly controlled city. Since magic flows from the five gods, it makes sense that religion places strictures on magic. Societal law enforces these strictures. Magical invention is not allowed and is punishable by losing a hand. Authoritarian structures are built around regulating enchantments, which reinforces the class divisions.

A Quick but Important Bit of World Building

De Krona, the main character, has a phobia. She is terrified to the point of inaction by the monsters that can penetrate the gods shield. Upon seeing these monsters, called Varger, de Krona freezes. This is a neat addition to the story, but we learn from this that healthcare in the Regulator service, if not all of Lutador, includes mental health care as part of a person’s overall wellness. The integration of mental health with the physical care is so nice to see, and though it’s a tiny part of the book, it made me happy. Often with respect to law enforcement stories, mental health care is something the officer is forced to do. It’s an added burden instead of another part of the officer’s routine. I can’t help but wonder how law enforcement in our society would look if mental health care was a routine part of a law enforcement officer’s job. In fact, if I had my way, I wouldn’t limit it to law enforcement. How different would our society be if mental healthcare was treated equally with physical care. Imagine if a person’s yearly checkup went beyond just a physical to an emotional checkup as well. As our society changes and accepts mental health care as the normal thing it is, we’ll probably start seeing a similar integration in our world.
onclusion

Marina Lostetter’s The Helm of Midnight had me glued to the page from start to finish. It’s innovative world intrigued me, and the mystery and setting built on each other to create an excellent story. This first entry in the Five Penalties series has me hooked, and I look forward to future novels.

The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter will be available from Tor Books on April 13th, 2021.

I've seen this book pitched as a fantasy take on "Silence of the Lambs" and the influence is evident. Personally, I'm not a fantasy fan. I don't really enjoy the genre and I really hate slugging through miles of exposition and world-building. This book definitely has a heaping share of both. Nonetheless, the book is well-written and many of the concepts are interesting enough. There's subtle LGBTQ+ representation, including the use of neo-pronouns and some queer characters, though this is far from the focus of the novel. Overall, this book has a lot going for it- it's essentially a serial killer horror through the lens of a magical world. What would Se7en look like if it involves high fantasy, emotion-based magic, oppressive deities, and weird masks? The Helm of Midnight is not the sort of book I'd normally pick up. Ultimately, I didn't enjoy the horror narrative enough to rush through the fantasy novel- in some respects, I dragged my feet because this is simply a genre that doesn't do a lot for me. But if you are a fantasy fan with a love for horror, crime procedurals, or a good mystery, this might be a great series for you.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

Wow, this was fabulous. I've seen it described as sort of like The Silence of the Lambs meets Mistborn, and that's fairly accurate I think. There are definitely dark themes here, but it's all just so good!

Let's talk about the worldbuilding because WOW. In this world, gems can hold emotions and time can be bottled. There are legal limits for these, and you can actually trade them! Additionally, the personality and skills of individuals can be transferred into masks upon death so that others can later use these skills. Each mask is rated based on the different skill levels and strength of these echoes (the personalities). There are also a variety of materials (like metals) that can store different aspects corresponding to the 5 different gods. This does feel like a medieval type of setting in some aspects, particularly with how the different humors of the body are mentioned. There are also some interesting (and creepy) creatures in this world. So many cool things here! I loved getting to learn the details about all of these different magical things.

Speaking of the gods, there are male, female, intersex, and sexless gods. All of them use different pronouns, so this feels very inclusive and diverse. Characters in this world take care to not improperly address others by the wrong pronoun, so that was great to see. I really liked learning more about each of the gods (and how they are perhaps more involved in matters than people think).

I found this to be well paced overall, though the plot does unravel slowly - but not in a bad way at all! It felt like a really rich, engaging build up. Admittedly, I did feel mildly impatient towards the end, but overall, this was a great reading experience.

We get 3 different POV sections here - Krona, Charbon, and Melanie. I really liked all of these, especially because it allows us to get inside their heads and learn their stories. Several of our characters are faced with conquering their fears and dealing with some rough situations. Krona has a severe phobia and tries to manage it. She idolizes her sister, and her journey is somewhat about finding her own path. Watching her fight to overcome dark things was fabulous. Charbon was very intriguing, and I liked seeing the reasons why he did certain (murderous) things. At the end of the day, I do think he does evil things, but it's more complex than I initially expected. Melanie is almost in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I like how she tries to heal her mom.

It was so cool seeing how everything ends up coming together in the end! I think this had a very satisfying conclusion, though there is definitely more to be told in this world (especially with the gods).

I would highly recommend this, and I absolutely cannot wait for the next book! There are dark themes here with content warnings for things like murder, trauma, and despair.

I received a copy of this for review from the publisher via NetGalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.

My video review can be seen on my channel (around minutes 12:47-18:15 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01g7AFRqEVg

First impression: I feel like I've been reading this one *forever* (which according to my reading activity translates to... 6 days). This is longer than I usually take to read a book, however, and I think this one did drag a tiny bit in the middle, but I never really felt it dragging. It was more an overall feeling and I think was mostly due to this book requiring a *slower* reading because parts of the worldbuilding are very complex and the structure of the story is many-layered. The conclusion was very fast-paced though. And if it's not obvious from this intro paragraph... I absolutely loved it.

The way the story is structured, there's a lot of anticipation as the reader discovers things the main character doesn't know. There are 3 POVs, though the story is told mainly through de-Krona, a slightly naive and generally good-hearted police officer who starts the story off by failing to stop a heist of dangerous magical artifacts. (This is an angle I've never seen explored in a heist novel.) This heist reopens a sort of Jack the Ripper case that was rather disturbing.

After a few chapters, de-Krona's chapters begin to alternate with another woman's (unrelated at first) set two years previous. Later, another set of alternating chapters appear, this time of a man set 11 years earlier who very quickly becomes very obviously related to de-Krona's investigation. There's also a very clever intro to de-Krona's chapters that becomes clear at the end.

I empathized with each of the POV characters and wanted things to go well for them even as it became clear for some that they wouldn't. I also really enjoyed a few side characters, Thibaut especially.

You know a book is good when it gives you chills of anticipation and foreboding. Also I love how the threads of the story weave around each other.

The religion and creation story is complex and fascinating. It's frontloaded in the intro and first chapters but it stays consistently important throughout. There are 5 gods with 5 sets of pronouns and this is done in a way that feels organic and makes sense with the story. There is a religious component to the overarching mystery de-Krona is trying to solve, as well as a magical component, and I have a feeling the gods are going to be very important in the next books.

The way magic works in this world is very interesting - especially the death masks. The time tax and use of time as currency is also quite unusual

I highly enjoyed reading this and am anxious to find out what comes next. It's definitely going in my top 10 for the year, possibly top 5.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Tor for providing an e-arc for review.

I had really high hopes for The Helm of Midnight (THoM), but it ended up just being an okay book, with a lot of wasted potential. And it fills me with sorrow, because this book had all the papers in order to be ground breaking high fantasy, with an astoundingly original magic system.

Lostetter’s world is really immaginative and complex. She did not create one magic system, she created <i>four</i>, all of them extremely original and compelling. And that’s not all. The author build a beautiful and unique world, where the human territory is inspired by 1800s France, but the outside world is populated by Lovecraftian eldritch horrors. The description of the the monsters from the outside was chilling, vivid to the point it gave me chills! There are elements of the occult (like lithomancy and divination) and aspects that reminded me of voodoo, like the enchanted wooded masks and the Thalo puppets — dreadful stuffed mannequins controlled by the Unknown god. Lostetter put together such a mixture of fantastic ideas; if only she had wrote them cohesively... I regret to say the author bit more than she could chew, and ended up creating a massing world of whom she only drew the very basic outlines.

The applications of the gods power is described vaguely. We know what they do separately, but when combined together Lostetter fails to explain how they are supposed to work. We are constantly told there are rules, and constantly the author proceeds to break them two chapters after. We are told that doing that thing is impossible, but three chapters after that thing is carried out with like it’s not a big deal. Lostetter clearly put a lot of effort in crafting her world, nonetheless her careful planning is completely useless when the readers can’t understand a damn about how it functions.

The main reasons why I didn’t like this book is the writing style, but that’s totally on me. I have come to the realization that in order to like a book I need an “intimate” writing. The narration has to provide the inner thoughts of characters (possibly through free indirect speech) and give each a distinct voice, otherwise I won’t feel attached to any of them. In THoM that isn’t the case. Lostetter’s writing is very clinical, it narrates the events but never analyzed the thoughts and feelings of the characters.
I’m sure that many readers will love this book because of its very clinical tone. It’s a very fluent writing stile with a simple prose, so many will fly through this book in a matter of days. For me that wasn’t the case.
Another problem I had with this book is that we readers knew too much compared to the characters. This book has three different plot lines: one follows Kron and the robbery investigation; one a woman named Melanie, who is trying to save her mother’s life; the last - and most captivating one - is Charbon’s origin story.
By the 35% the readers already knows <i>why</i> Charbon’s mask was stolen, <i>why</i> Melanie is important to story and the masterplan of the Unknown. Krona starts to figure things out at about the 60%, but since we know too much everything she discovers is devoid of any satisfaction. Krona’s arc is the most prominent of the three, it should be the most thrilling, instead it’s slow and redundant. The author should have spaced out the informations to create a sense of suspence. Other readers pointed this out, but this book should be about a hundred pages shorter.

The really good parts of THoM are Charbon’s chapters. Being in the head of a serial killer was awesome. Charbon’s story is a tragedy from start to finish, I don’t want to spoil you anything, but, out of all the characters, he is probably the only one with a story to tell. His actions are heinous, if he was a real person everyone would throw him in a prison and destroy the key. But, at the same time, what he did made so much sense! i wish Lostetter had written more chapter from his point of view, or even better, wrote his story only. That could have made a grand horror fantasy!

Serial killers are a difficult subject to get right, it's easy for them to slip into the realm of farce, where their convoluted schemes and rituals become detailed to the point of obsession, which may well be in keeping with the nature of serial killers but frequently makes for difficult reading.

This was not the case here.

Masks are the key here, both in that they contain the essence of a person after their death, and in that even when not wearing a mask to cover your face, there might still be an unseen mask that prevents the world from seeing who you are. Is it enough that you can be yourself to yourself or does the world need to see it as well?

There's a lot of thought gone into this, the timelines of Louis (Eleven years ago), Melanie (Two years ago), and Krona (Here and Now) are woven together, and while Krona's story is the one that we're really following, by itself, it wouldn't have been anywhere near the story that all three make. Each part is a single thread that might not be able to drag the reader onwards, but when all three are woven into a stronger cord, the pull is irresistible. There were parts where I thought it was too long, but equally parts where I could happily have read more and not been disappointed, but taken as a whole, I enjoyed the book, and while it could be read as a stand alone novel, the ending is one that demands that the next in the series be looked at.

There are a lot of graphic descriptions, it isn't a book for the faint of heart and those who want their violence viewed through sanitised lenses, but more than that, Marina makes sure that the emotional content is there. There are no strong and silent types in this book, when violence is done, there are consequences, when people die, there is a real sense that a person who mattered has died, and throughout, the stakes remain high.

I also loved the idea of time as a commodity, but also the understanding that the point at which you need most time isn't at the end of your life, when you can't make the most of it, but when you're at your best, and more time would be something that every one of us could treasure.

DNF @ 30% -this is the first arc that I received and DNF-ed and it was also one of my most anticipated releases:(

So, this book is a classic case of “it's not the book, it's me”. The writing style did not work for me and it affected my reading experience. The story was fine but I disliked a lot of the characters and the story was just so slow.

Even though I didn't like it, the book may be your niche. It has great representation (nonbinary characters that use neo pronouns!!) and the magic system is interesting.

I'm not sure if I'm going to pick this book up again since I didn't get very far into it, but for now, I'm DNF-ing it.

So, if you like:

-cool magic systems that use enchanted masks
-unique serial killers
-grim-dark fantasy books
-nonbinary characters
-very weird and terrifying creatures that will haunt your nightmares
-funny side characters

Then I recommend reading this book!

*many thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me and ARC of this book!*

This book, guys. This book. How do I rate it? It shines with fascinating and creative ideas, dense and evocative writing, and strong characters. Parts of the story are PHENOMENAL. Unfortunately, all of this gets bogged down by lots of exposition and info-dumping. The end result is uneven - with sky-high ups, but also some downs.

3.5, I guess, is the right score (for and from me) but don't let it detract you from trying this one. I'll preorder book two as soon as it's possible. I just hope it won't contain as much backstory and lore as The Helm of Midnight.

Longer review to come.

Got a copy from NetGalley to do a review, thank you for it.

Marina J. Lostetter's "The Helm of Midnight" is the first in her brand new fantasy series following inspectors in a Victorian-esque fantasy world hunting for a magical Jack the Ripper-like character. Enjoyed the characters and how they work together, how the mystery/thriller vibes littered throughout the book worked well with the fantasy elements, the Brandon Sanderson-esque magic system, and death masks. It was a great, well-crafted story of 2021 and I recommend it to anyone if you're looking for something like "Mistborn" but a handful of "Silence of the Lamb"/Jack the Ripper vibes.

It has potential and it isn’t terrible but the beginning drags a bit and it’s perhaps a few hundred pages longer than it need to be. A thriller ought to be a page turner. I liked it well enough I’d try the author’s next series to see if it suits be better but I don’t need to read book two of this series.

My thanks to Marina Lostetter, Tor/Forge and Netgalley.
I'm no good at reviewing Fantasy books, so I'm not even going to try.
I didn't think I'd even like this book when I first began. The magic is exactly how I think magic would be, if it were possible. Hard! Not for the mathematically challenged. So, I'd be out of luck!
But, it's the characters and the very abbreviated world that made me stick around.
I need more of this!
I shed a few tears in the end.

I love a good mashup, and this epic fantasy/mystery brought strong elements from both genres. While there are three main perspectives and timelines woven together in this story, in the present we find ourselves with Krona. She's a Regulator, guarding seized magical objects at a State soiree. When a wild animal attack covers for a heist, Krona and her team must race against the clock to retrieve a gemstone that stores despair and a mask storing the skill and memory of a serial killer.

This is definitely a character-driven story. Unlike thrillers that rely more on frenetic pace to keep up the intrigue, this mystery leans on the readers' connection to each person involved. While both approaches can work for me, I was happy to fall into the emotional trap of caring for these characters. For one thing, the author managed the feat of keeping my interest in all three converging plotlines rather than leaving me with a strong preference for one over the others. Second, Krona doesn't fall into an annoying, tropey investigator role. She's a loving sister, kind-hearted lover of music, and a selfless protector who stops short of wearing it as a badge of honor.

From the fantasy angle, the world is fascinating. One aspect I loved most was the gender inclusivity. The five genders of the world are also represented in their pantheon, each with their own associated pronouns (he/she/they/zhe--intersex/fey--sexless). The magic is also intriguing. Given by the gods, it resides in enchantments. For example, you can trap emotion in gems, time in sand and glass (the primary currency of the world), and knowledge in wood (hence the masks). As you can imagine, the social and political ramifications of this storage are complex and morally questionable, to say the least.

This is a clever mystery brimming with magical questions and emotional moments. I highly recommend it! It's out next month on 4/13. Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this advanced copy!

genre: Fantasy

age: Adult

Main Character: Krona

Favourite Character: Thibaut

Plot: In a daring and deadly heist, thieves have made away with an artifact of terrible power--the death mask of Louis Charbon. Made by a master craftsman, it is imbued with the spirit of a monster from history, a serial murderer who terrorized the city with a series of gruesome murders.

Now Charbon is loose once more, killing from beyond the grave. But these murders are different from before, not simply random but the work of a deliberate mind probing for answers to a sinister question. How far will he go?

Review: This blew me away! I can't wait until this gets published and I can buy my own copy. The worldbuilding, the characters, the magic system. All are amazing. I know this hasn't even been published yet, but I can't wait for the next one.

Trigger warnings: death of a family member, death of a parent, death of a child, lots of stabbing and shooting with needles, extreme gore, body mutilation, detailed description of murder and mutilation of murder victims , murder of pregnant women

I love the idea of enchantments and enchanted items… swords and medallions and in the case of The Helm of Midnight, masks! In Lostetter’s outstanding debut novel, individual’s essence can be trapped in a mask before they die and the power will last within the vessel forever. If a healer allows their essence to be imbued into a mask, a wearer would learn healing techniques. But a mask embodying a devilish killer… we might have a problem!

The novel opens at the anniversary celebration for a high ranking police officer with all the items from his greatest cases on display. Krona Hirvath is there to guard these treasures and because of her adept skill, she is wearing all sorts of enchanted items to assist in her own policing as a state Regulator (See the beautiful cover). Distracted by a supernatural beast, Krona and the rest of the Regulators allow two of the enchanted items to be stolen. One is a bracelet that turns the wearer against themselves, and the other a mask imbued with the spirit of an infamous serial killer named Louis Charbon. Soon, it becomes apparent that the mask is being used and the bodies start piling up. Krona is going to have to use all of her underground contacts and her strength with enchantments to hunt down the killer.

There are so many things I enjoyed about this novel. First is the worldbuilding. It has a feeling of gaslight fantasy. I definitely saw those video games Dishonored and Thief in the writing. Lostetter does a fantastic job of explaining the setting and politics and culture of the world in so many different ways. Religious texts and a master’s instructions and an informant’s report… all these are able to give the reader further glimpses into this awesome world.

Krona is a truly memorable character. With her sister as her boss in the Regulators, it’s hard for her to get away with much, but she has an edge and she’s tough as nails! Although she has one weakness: a phobia of the supernatural beings called vargs because her father was killed by one. She has great skill with enchanted items which at times can fight for control with the wearer. Krona’s mental acuity allows her to level up with items that increase her strength and bravery.

There is another thread that follows alongside of Krona’s. I won’t go into it too much but I’ll just say that it adds greatly to the mystery. And gives a different perspective on the power of these imbued tools of magic.

I will be recommending this book all over. I really connected with the writing and there are some unique elements in the story that I latched onto right away.

5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Books and the author for an advanced copy for review.