Reviews

The Helm of Midnight by Marina J. Lostetter

sillypunk's review against another edition

5.0

Absolutely excellent: https://blogendorff.com/2021/06/05/book-review-the-helm-of-midnight/

stripedstone's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

3.75

cursedepub's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

pemdas97's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

zebrakat's review against another edition

dark

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

kwolf1994's review against another edition

adventurous dark

4.75

emcasmith's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

lienluvsnoodles's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

tacanderson's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It's hard to say why I didn't like this book more. I went into it knowing nothing about it, so I didn't have false expectations. The best I can come up with is, you know how superhero origin story movies often aren't as good as the follow up movies because they're trying to balance introducing the heroes tragic backstory with the actual story? This book was kind of like that. This was a book that had way more potential than it delivered on, but it was still an interesting book. A very imaginative world and magic system and I loved that this was as much a detective/mystery as it was a fantasy, like what Philip K Dick did with sci-fi. But honestly I think the book just got bogged down with trying to do too much. It either needed to do less, or have been built out into two or three books. 

evanmc's review against another edition

3.0

This was an entertaining plot. I also really enjoyed the nested timelines that gave a good pace to the novel. The lore and history of the world was fascinating and unique, but suffered I thought from one too many "systems." In particular, the Sanderson-like gem system didn't do much for me and I thought could've been left out. The scenes of horror were very effective. I'd really like to rate it higher, but I have two main gripes: flat characters, and a weird mismatch between the tone of the world and the prose used. The modern prose style pulled me out of the world.