The Helm of Midnight

Dark science fantasy mystery with elements of horror and steampunk, it follows government enforcer tries to unravel the mystery behind a copycat murderer, using an enchanted mask of a famous serial killer, sows corpses throughout the city.

As with all fantasy stories, world building is essential and I can say the author did a great job showing the complex magic system and the religion central to it.  
I loved how the main plot is enriched by two subplots where we follow two characters' journey in the past. The author interconnected so well the events and characters from the different timelines bit by bit. The characters were all complex and compelling. 
The author subtly touched upon themes of family, duty, trauma, decisions and their consequences. 
The inclusion of poc and lgbt/nb characters in a queer-norm society is, as always, the cherry on top for me. 

Reading this was definitely challenging because of the novelty of the setting and the tiny font so I definitely took more time than usual. 
Also I felt the book was a touch too long, some descriptive/dialogue parts could have been trimmed down especially in the flashback scenes as it made the plot move too slow for most of the story but towards the end felt rushed. 
Overall this was a very good read and I'm looking forward to read the sequel.