I’ve never read Robert Jackson Bennett’s works before, but this book made me a fan! What I liked: detective murder mystery dressed up as fantasy, nature-based “magic” system, set in a fantasy world without a lot of new tech but sci-fi in its ideas about systems and change, two mcs who complement each other’s styles, some disability representation that feels genuine to the story and not just added in for its own sake, a shadowy Empire that I’m sure we’ll read more about in future books, mysterious leviathons, and a beautiful (jacketless) cover, which I have just learned are called case laminate books.

4.5 stars!