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.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided me an eARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The following opinions are mine and mine alone.
© Primmlife.com 2021
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.
From the Publisher
Hannibal meets Mistborn in Marina Lostetter’s THE HELM OF MIDNIGHT, the dark and stunning first novel in a new trilogy that combines the intricate worldbuilding and rigorous magic system of the best of epic fantasy with a dark and chilling thriller.
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.
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.
It is up to Krona Hirvath and her fellow Regulators to enter the mind of madness to stop this insatiable killer while facing the terrible truths left in his wake.
Review: The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter
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.
Conclusion
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.
© Primmlife.com 2021