This was way more fun and fast paced than I expected. I had a really good time with this one.

This book combines fantasy with crime fiction/suspense very successfully. It makes a lot of sense that the author is a lawyer. It’s 95% perfectly paced with twists and turns the whole way through. The only place I’d say it drags is in the “court room” piece where Vonvalt summarizes what the reader already knows.

I loved this trio - Helena, Bressinger, and Vonvalt. They cared for one another but also largely respected each other’s competence, which felt cozy in the midst of some dark happenings.

I personally hate an info dumpy fantasy, so the minimal style here worked for me. Vonvalt could easily have provided a clunky lecture on all the powers Justices have, but he doesn’t. I know of some of them but not all because it’s not relevant to the story yet.

Swan did a decent job writing a female POV. She has moments where she cries or chickens out, but also moments where she’s strong and smart. This wasn’t one of those times when a character is called smart and then they proceed to never do anything smart.