The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter
“Yes,” De-Lia said flatly. “And now two of the world’s most dangerous enchantments are once again loose in the city.”
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My journey with ‘The Helm of Midnight’ actually started over a year ago. I picked this book up based off of the cover thinking that it was a different book…oops haha. It sat on my shelf and I would every once in a while pick it up and think “do I want to read this?..”, and end up putting it back down. Until one day when I picked it up and dropped it! Creasing the shit out of the cover, somehow the cover folded perfectly in half. So to honor the book I thought now is the perfect time to read this I guess!
I’m so glad I finally did because I could not stop gushing about this book to anyone who would listen (shout-out my amazing friend Emma for listening to many voice memos I sent her talking about this book).
“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.”
The story was so good and such a fascinating blend of genres! I kept saying how cool it was to be reading a ‘catch -the -killer’ thriller in a fantasy world. I was enthralled with this worlds magic system the whole time! It made sense to me and made me feel like I was really in the story.
We are primarily following Krona who is a Regulator. Regulators are like the royal guard. She is focused on figuring out who these theives are. Her older sister De-Lia is also a Regulator and is helping Krona figure this all out while also fighting her higher ups who think she hired her little sister out of nepotism. She didn’t, Krona is actually very strong against forms of magic. Specifically when it comes to death masks.
In this world when someone of great importance or who has some stand out talent dies they make a mask that encapsulates their spirit. Living people can then wear the mask and gain insight on that persons knowledge. This doesn’t come as easy peasy as it sounds. Often people report feeling like the spirit of the person is trying to take over them and continue living their lives, they experience headaches, loss of time, and in terrible cases could even die. So to combat this there is regulation on the masks, they are given a grade indicating how intense they are and you have to have the clearance (or money) to rent a mask.
Now our girl Krona is so strong that she can put on the most intense masks and stand strong in them not being able to overtake her. That’s why her sister hired her. Krona is reasonably worried that this mask of a horrid serial killer is just out there. She seeks out a contact who operates in the shadows for help with information. With this contact she is able to learn about groups of people who seem to be up to something shady.
But we also get another perspective. This one is of Melanie. Melanie is a regular young woman, her mother is dying and she is seeking out a mask of a well know healer hoping that his knowledge would be able to cure her mother of her ailments. When she shows up at a mask shop she is at first turned away - until a very suave young man appears and pays for her to be able to rent the mask. He even offers for her and her mother to stay at his inn while she figures things out.
Gentlemanly?….or perhaps nefarious?
The last perspective we get is of Louis Charbon himself. Eleven years previous to the present time of the book.
These perspectives really rope you in! As you read through there stories you learn so much about the world without feeling like you’re being dumped with too much info or feeling like all of it is unnecessary. I found the religious system very fascinating and I have a LOT of questions that I hope get answered in book 2.
Another cool aspect of the magic system that I want to gush about is precious jewels! Lol, the people of this world use stones that have been enchanted with different emotions. People carry around ‘joy stones’ or stones to help with courage…basically the crystal girlies! Haha I loved this aspect! It also gets scary because yes some are enchanted to have happier emotions…but there are also despair stones. 👀 uh-oh it’s getting a lil too real y’all.
Time is currency in this world as well. I love when stories play around with time like this. It tickles a part of my brain. It felt so intense when an exchange of time was done.
I really enjoyed the pace of this story. Yes we are solving a crime and subsequent murders, but we are also learning so much about our characters and their lives. It makes the drive and passion to figure out what is going on even more prevalent. I truly looked forward to each perspective change, there wasn’t a time where I was hating being in one pov or wishing I was in another one.
Having the pov of Louis was so interesting! It made me curious if the author always had his pov in mind or if this was added during the writing process. We really see a descent into madness with him and we know the outcome. I think his pov points to grief and religious trauma. It was chilling to be in his perspective and at times felt inspired by Jack the Ripper.
If you’re looking for a fast pace thriller but are maybe also in more of a fantasy mood I would highly suggest you check this book out! You will have an absolutely great time reading this story unfold that I’m sure you’ll also be sending your bestie voice memos convincing them to read it as well.
