"When a magical creature kills, is it murder? " That really had me questioning that. This book was really well done it had what I enjoyed from the genre.

Abyowith is a Stalker. In the city of Abraniotok, miscreations can be a problem. They are usually harmless, but sometimes such creatures — created accidentally or on purpose by powerful mages — run amok and have to be put down. It is the job of the Stalkers to identify and track miscreations, and then call in the Knights of the Exculpatory Order to finish the job …. Usually. When a city councillor is murdered, Abyowith and Kalitith are sent in to determine if the crime was committed by a miscreation. As their investigation takes them from the halls of power to the city docks to the sewers and back again, the two Stalkers realize that this is only one murder among many, and that the murderer will soon strike again ….

I came across The Wire Noose on netgalley. The premise sounded interesting, and I was looking for a new fantasy to read, so I requested it. After starting and abandoning several books that couldn’t hold my attention, I remembered The Wire Noose and decided to give it a try.

My apologies to the author for taking so long to read it. The Wire Noose is a highly entertaining read, with appealing characters and an engaging mystery.

I really like Abyowith. She’s not some badass, know-it-all swordswoman who can do no wrong and can out-fight and out-smart any villain. No. She’s young and she’s just starting out, and not in the career that she had intended, either. She wanted to be a Knight. When that didn’t happen (see The Trials of Abyowith), the Stalkers took her in. And while she does mostly support their mission — no one wants a horde of squirrel-like quislects running around eating all of the stone buildings in town — Abyowith is beginning to wonder if killing miscreations is always necessary and just. And what about those miscreations who can think and reason and speak?

Abyowith has a large supporting cast, with The Wire Noose focusing on just a few: Captain Marfolio, the fair-minded and happily married commander of the Stalkers; Kalitith, next in command, clever, with a keen eye for crime scenes; Yamillo, the arrogant but skillful Knight-Captain of the Exculpatory Order; Aunti, the crime boss who runs the docks, and who dislikes it when Stalks wander in and disrupt business as usual; and the tkodipin — ah, well, no. Spoilers.

I also really like the world that Abyowith inhabits.Unlike so many other fantasies, it is free of misogyny and sexual violence. Abraniotok is a multiethnic society, and (while there are disparities in wealth) skin tone, gender, and sexual orientation have no impact on occupation, social status, or political power. Anyone can be a smith or a Knight or a Stalker or a city Councillor.

I enjoyed The Wire Noose so much that I backtracked and downloaded The Trials of Abyowith immediately after I finished it. (While I had no trouble following along in The Wire Noose, I do recommend reading the books in order).

Highly recommended to fans of Company of Strangers by Melissa McShane, Succulents and Spells by Andi C. Buchanan (no relation, I think), Touched by Magic by Celine Jeanjean, and The Beast of Talesend by Kyle Robert Shultz.

This is a short, action-packed story that was easy to read in one sitting. The Wire Noose is well-written with only a couple of grammatical errors that tripped me up, which is understandable given it is self-published. It became clear at the beginning of the novel that I was missing some background knowledge, but I thought the world was well-described so I didn't find this lack of backstory distracting or confusing. The concept of miscreations was especially intriguing and well-executed; I really enjoyed the scenes with the tkodipin. I gave this book three stars because while it was enjoyable, I couldn't connect with the characters, even though I found the MC likable. I think this was in part due to the pacing, which kept the story focused mostly on the action. While this was a nice contrast to some high fantasy novels where the plot pacing often feels too slow, it kept me from feeling engaged with the story as I was reading. I also felt that Abyowith's realization about Lisyrith towards the end of the book came out of left field and should have been saved for the next book, perhaps with more build-up and context (maybe this was present in the prequel?). Overall, The Wire Noose is definitely worth the read for fantasy, action, and crime fans.

This book has a couple of non-fatal flaws, which appeared early on. Firstly, I had to double-check that this is Book 1, since there's a lot of expository backstory that sounds like "previously on...". I believe there's a prequel as a mailing list magnet, which explains why a lot of significant-sounding past events are summarized in what's marketed as the first book in the series.

The author also makes the classic stumble of introducing a large number of people at once (many with similar names - most characters' names end in -th, and those that don't all seem to end in -0), so that by the time any of them did anything I'd forgotten who they were.

Other than that, it was an entertaining fantasy mystery with a capable, determined and compassionate young female protagonist (who, quite appropriately, gets into trouble with her boss for going off without backup or telling anyone where she's going). The pacing worked well, with some suspenseful action scenes and a good progression of the mystery's solution through the book. The clues were there in plain sight but not so spotlighted that I solved the mystery before the character did, so well done on that too.

I will be looking out for sequels; the author and the character both show promise.