Review: The Runemaster Homicide by Dan Jolley

The Runemaster Homicide (The Demon-Sleuth Scrolls, Book 1)

by Dan Jolley

Release Date: December 9, 2021

2021 Falstaff Books, LLC

Kindle Edition; 306 Pages

ISBN: 978-1087994017

ASIN: B09GTM2BHT

Genre: Fiction / Fantasy / Mystery

Source: Review copy from author

4 / 5 Stars

Summary

The all-human Valconian Empire has used bronze blades and powerful rune-based magic to rule for three hundred years. But now the horned, violet-skinned, reclusive Sethyds have been forced from their island-nation home. Given no choice but to seek refuge on Imperial land. Tall. Graceful. Beautiful. Possessed of an unholy, terrifying strength.The humans loathe them. Fear them. Call them "demons." Yet the Empire's fate is about to come to rest on the shoulders of Nysska Stonegate, the first Sethyd member of the Imperial Criminal Investigation Ministry, known as the Thaumetallicon.

 

My Thoughts

The Runemaster Homicide is a great blend of fantasy and mystery. The first book in a series, this one focuses on developing the characters and their relationships as well as building the world and its peoples so you get a sense of the political and religious systems that are creating conflict and how this impacts our heroes. While the opening scene was fascinating, I did think it took a while for the mystery itself to get going, but once it did, the story moved along quickly, throwing twists and turns along the reader's path that were interesting and significant to future books.

First of all, I thought the plot moved along rather quickly and was really engaging, even the slower section at the beginning.  To be honest, I didn't fully understand what the earlier section had to do with what happened later other than to introduce a bit of Nysska's character into the story as well as introduce the way consequences work in this society, which was quite brutal. I thought the rune-based magic was interesting and liked the concept of how the runes were used in every day life as well as for solving crimes. But what I found particularly interesting in this story was the way the author used it to question belief systems that have been held for hundreds of years as Nysska's team members grappled with developments in the magic system they have never seen before, developments that were going to turn their entire worlds upside down. For so long, the rules were just the rules and people obeyed them through fear of the consequences, and even Nysska's team leader had difficulty grasping new concepts or new ways of investigating. I thought this was fascinating.

There were many themes in this book, but two the author began to explore, and ones I think will be explored in future books, are ageism and ableism. People who can't work have no use to society and are ostracized, living in squalor, setting up the perfect setting for revolution and resistance.  Ignoring those who are disabled as well as devaluing the elderly as contributing members of a society can be any culture's downfall, and I look forward to exploring more of this.  To be honest, I wasn't prepared for this in this book, and loved this development.

The characters were interesting although it was definitely Nysska who had the most development.  She was strong and powerful, but definitely had a softer side to her which made her empathetic and relatable. I did think there was too much secrecy surrounding Nysska and while I don't object to some things kept hidden as it helps with plot development, I am not necessarily a fan of keeping everything a secret as I didn't feel as empathetic towards the characters as I should have, and began to dote on the two cats, Flax and Jax, instead.  So, while I found the other characters interesting, I wasn't completely invested in them. However, I was invested in those cats!!!!

Verdict

The Runemaster Homicide was an interesting blend of fantasy and mystery, and the author created a tale that was suspenseful and fascinating. I like the world-building and thought the character development was good, but perhaps allowing the reader to know the characters a bit better would be beneficial.  There were some good twists and turns, even a few that caught me off guard, and overall, I enjoyed the story tremendously. I am looking forward to sinking my teeth into book 2, The Black-Horned Grave.