The Helm of Midnight

The Five Penalties, Book 1

By: Marina Lostetter

Narrated by: Nicholas Khan, Shala Nyx, Vera Chok

Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

A legendary serial killer stalks the streets of a fantastical city in The Helm of Midnight, the stunning first novel in a new trilogy from acclaimed author Marina Lostetter.

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.  

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

©2021 Marina Lostetter (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Well worth reading

I enjoyed the three narrators, each unfolding their stories in turn. Part magic, part murder mystery and part police procedural, the rich characters are what makes this a great read/listen.

Great World-building

Loved the world, the pieces are unique and well thought. The story is moving and exciting. All around recommend.

Slow and convoluted

I’m really not sure how to rate this book. There is a good story buried within a gruelingly slow plot that had way to many info dumps. This book would have benefited with an editor cutting it down to around 300 pages.

The world felt very small and claustrophobic. Anyone going in to this hoping for epic fantasy is going to be disappointed. This book is more closely related to a thriller than a fantasy novel. The entire book takes place in a generic city in small protected valley. The world building was severely lacking. From what I was able to piece together the world, or at least the valley, was modeled after Victorian Europe which was built on top of a vanquished civilization still living in the ruins beneath the city. This setting has a lot of promise but it never was something I felt was utilized well.

It has all the modern fantasy tropes and they never really interested me. The “magic” system is enchantments based with enchanted death masks for every need. It’s convoluted and confusing but it fulfills the need of modern fantasy to have increasingly bizarre over explained pseudoscientific magic.

The book is told from three different perspectives over different timelines. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters. I found Louie to be the typical psychopath that justifies his horrific actions. Melanie was just boring and her story went exactly as I figured it would. The only one I found remotely interesting was Krona whose perspective I wish more of the story was told from.

I most likely will not read any other books in this series. This may be my own weariness of modern fantasy and not reflective of the author. The prose in this book were outstanding so again any negativity I found may just be my own.

There were three narrators. The one for Krona was decent but the others weren’t good at all. Louie’s narration was so boring & monotonous I players it on 2x. Melanie’s just never had the right inflection in her voice for the moment at hand. Overall just wasn’t very good.