This book is super long, but enjoyable. My only real complaint is I was annoyed with the gender neutral made up pronouns used, but I can appreciate the inclusivity that I'm sure others will be grateful for. Very unique storyline and I hope to see a sequel.

A serial murderer on the loose and Krona and her fellow Regulators must stop the killer before things go wrong. The story takes place in a world where magic exists and there are artifacts that are embued with magic from the gods. Emotions are also regulated and its the job of regulators, who have jewels that contain emotions to maintain stability and peace. There is a masks that once belonged to a notorious serial killer, and now its on the loose again and the serial killings have started up again. I was initially drawn in by the premise of the book because, Jack the Ripper serial killer meets magic? Heck yeah! But unfortunately the execution of the book just did not meet expectations. The story is long, it jumps around time wise a lot, and its just a lot. The plot drags on a bit and I found it hard to keep reading. I nearly DNF’d it a bunch of times but told myself just to stick through with it. This book is the first in the series, and i guess its important to set everything up but it really felt too long. There is a lot of potential but the tension just wasn’t there for me and the characters were great. I liked their dynamic but their motives just didn’t really work for me. All in all, it’s an okay read. It has a good fantasy world and the characters are interesting, I guess this was just the case of “its me not you.” I definitely think anyone who enjoys a mystery fantasy should give this a try!

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This is a tough review. The description of this book intrigued me, and I was glad to start reading it. However I must confess that at about 12% of the way through, I wanted to give up on it all together. The story just didn't grab me. That said, I decided to persevere, and i'm glad I did. This book has some very interesting concepts that I haven't come across in another fantasy book before. Also the magic system was interesting, and definitely unique enough to help set the book apart from others. There were also some very surprising twists and turns that I didn't see coming. For this I must give the author credit. That said I have one main criticism. That being the length of the book. While I am no stranger to a long, well written book. In this case the length of The Helm of Midnight actually works against it. The story seems to drag and I definitely developed a healthy case of reader fatigue. The overlong length of the book also seems to sap any kind of urgency from the story which is a true shame. I feel that these issue could be easily remedied however, if the book was edited and shortened. I believe that this would instantaneously cure all my issues with this book. Not only would reader fatigue no longer be an issue, but by shortening the book, it would give the story a more fast paced and action packed feeling. Something that is sorely missing at the moment, and would improve the story immeasurably. In conclusion, I feel like this book has a lot of promise. The concepts are strong and the story is definitely interesting and unpredictable. With some revisions I feel like this could well be a must read for fantasy lovers like me. However in its current form, it would be tough to recommend to potential readers.

There was a lot going on in this book - an incredible magic system, a Jack the Ripper style murder mystery, flashbacks all over the place... and it got to be a bit much. This was well-written, but was bogged down with unexplained details in the worldbuilding. The characters were compelling enough, but they weren't featured much. We spent most of our time in Krona's head and delving into her psyche. Overall it's a good fantasy, but I felt like it needed a little more paring down.

The cover most definitely attracted me to this book and I thought it was going to be scary because of course it has a serial killer and also have fantastical elements but I was quite disappointed in that way that I usually am when a fantasy story focuses more on the characters than the plot.
The premise was very intriguing especially for someone who hails from a continent where masks are a huge part of various cultures.
Saying that I wasn't gripped by the story yes I loved the characters and the potential of the world although it was a bit confusing at times, the killer did not feel scary enough to me I often times did not feel like any of the characters were in any danger at all. There was no tension. the writing style was basic as well good enough for me to understand and get through the story but not enough from me to sigh or be impressed but it did make the make the book easy to get through although I couldn't tell you what this world looked like, maybe it will be explored in the later books.
The character on the other hand were done better I liked the dynamics between Krona and her sister Lia and a potential love interest. The villain however was not to my liking their motives were not convincing to me at all and the villain monologue honestly should be done away with. I also noticed there was a distinct lack of subplot, the author tried to make the story nonlinear with the use of flashbacks but I still noticed that. All in all this was a solid read and I would recommend it if you love a fusion of a murder mystery paired with fantasy.

thanks to Netgalley, tor and the Author for the Arc

The Helm of Midnight by Marina J. Lostetter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was something of a surprise to me because I'm kind of a connoisseur of covers and with a title like that, I HAD to assume the novel was an epic fantasy with standard worldbuilding for such.

What it IS, however, is something more like a hybrid Jack-the-Ripper London in a unique fantasy with a Bujold-like 5 Gods setting mixed with a VERY cool external emotions-based magic system (at least early on). In other words, we have a heavy-population fantasy with lots of disparity between the rich and the poor, monsters in the streets, and heist-like action that goes a bit deeper. I'm also reminded of Foundryside as I read it.

It is, after all, a novel about rather unique ghosts that remind me of cyberpunk fare, magic masks, medical expertise, and a convoluted con game that only touches on a steampunk theme while doubling down on its own thing.

In other words, it's quite good. The characters are also pretty memorable, too, although there might have been a little too much meandering. The core fears and hopes were pretty standard and convincing and definitely swum around the main plot in a cool way.

I'm looking forward to continuing this pretty vast tapestry of a world. :)

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes when I read a book, I just can’t decide right away how I feel about it and that happened with this one. The description grabbed me instantly, as it promised to blend two of my favorite genres: mystery and fantasy. However, now that I’ve had the combination, I’m not sure they quite go together. The slower pace required of proper world building doesn’t mesh all that well with the rather fast pace required of a good mystery. I found the story began to drag a bit as I started to forget details of the “case” while trying to wrap my head around the complex and fascinating world that was being described.

I still found it enjoyable as the world that was created was quite interesting and the premise that someone’s strongest trait could be immortalized and used by people for decades to come was unique to me. The latter part especially grabbed me as the world building had been done for the most part and the pace picked up to what it really needed to be to create a thrilling murder mystery as two sisters hunt for a serial killer stalking young women in their city.

This is a book of fantastic ideas populated by some memorable characters but the story lacked a sense of urgency and seemed kind of repetitive until about 85% in. The ending was fun, if abrupt, and left enough unanswered questions and dangling carrots hanging around to where I'm looking forward to see where the next installment goes.

One of my gripes, and I hardly ever say this as a lover of long books, is that this is too long. Two hundred pages easily could have been chopped out without losing anything narratively and made things a little more exciting. That being said, this is definitely an expansive story with much of the worldbuilding and background history only hinted at and leaving lots to explore in future books. It took me a while to get used to the author's writing style and some passages seemed disjointed until things clicked at around 20% on my Kindle and then went down much more smoothly from there. I connected with the characters pretty early on and it was that connection that kept me going through the slower parts. The characters deal with loss, guilt, and redemption, and a lot of the motivations seem to stem from holding onto things from the past and trying to make things right. Multiple characters deal with this as well as experiencing what we now know as PTSD and this is what made the characters real for me, I have had those thoughts, I've had those feelings and I know how crippling anxiety and trauma from the past can impact present decision making.

The magic system is original and thoroughly explained, and there is plenty the author comes up with to marvel at but these were background things and did not add to the story. I think I was expecting more of a murder mystery that just happened to take place in a fantasy environment and yes the fantasy elements are there and are way cool, it's just that the other elements were not as engrossing and the momentum I usually feel when reading a whodunnit was not there. There were times I was totally stoked to read this and couldn't wait to get to reading (damn real life) but there were equal times where I wished things moved quicker and more was going on.

Three stars from me along with a dash of excited anticipation for where future books will take us.

I want to thank Tor Books, Netgalley, and Marina Lostetter for the advance copy but that in no way shape or form impacted my opinion or review.

Gosh, a lot to say here.

I went into this book because of the amazing premise. It's so rare to see heists and serial killers in a fantasy setting. Jumping in was....interesting. You are thrown into a whirlwind of action and HEAVY infodumping right away. It was really jarring. I did keep on with the book hoping to see a change and unfortunately, I did not.

Additionally, what I did notice was a LOT of mixture of magic and rules. Masks that grand powers, trading emotions like currency...

It just felt extremely chaotic in big world, and it makes it hard to focus on the small picture as the story quickly attempts to peel back aspects of the worldbuilding at an exceedingly rapid pace. It often felt unnational and awkward.

That being said, I liked the ideas, even if the method of execution was very awkward.

I think this ended up being one of those "it's not you, it's me" books -- as I'm in a graduate program I need something to catch my attention right away if its a nearly 500 page book, and this one just didn't do it for me. I have great faith that it picks up and might come back to it when I'm on winter break, however.

I have DNF'd The Helm Of Midnight. It has some excellent ideas within but I just found the fantasy too heavy and unrefined. There wasn't a clarity to it that was satisfying to me and I struggled to follow it. That is personal to me though. I know readers that would get on really well with this novel. I may give it a go again in the future but after reading several chapters I wasn't as excited about it as I thought I was going to be.