As a fan of Dishonored, Call of Cthulhu, and The Magnus Archives, I'm so glad I found this ARC. The synopsis grabbed my attention, and the novel really didn't disappoint, with beautiful artwork and a story that hooks you right from the start. As the blurb mentioned, this story really makes you question what makes you human or a monster.

The color choices, lights and shadows, and even the layout with its borders adapting to the scenes manage to shape the story, even on pages without any words.

Jude is an interesting protagonist, headstrong as he follows in his mother’s footsteps, and unshakable whenever he’s faced with things that shouldn’t exist. I loved his interactions with Isa, but my favorites were with Cecil, as I got to watch them grow closer through mutual trust. As a law student, he’s willing to fight for others, even when the odds are stacked against him, not caring how powerful an enemy he’s making for himself. The story also shows that the law isn’t about being innocent or in the right, but about having power over the right people and knowing how to play the game to win.

I could have easily read another 300 pages and was sad to see the end approaching; the world Riotbones has created could easily host so many more stories. However, there were certain parts that confused me and raised questions I didn’t get answers to, making me wonder if I hadn’t paid enough attention, like how the first fire came to be, and sometimes the dialogue between two characters overlapped in such a way that it seemed like just one person was speaking. The ending also caught me off guard as I was wondering where he would decide to go after working through the cases; it felt pretty fast-paced and unexpected, but he lives by his choices right up until the ending.

I’m looking forward to seeing more works from Riotbones and have already managed to get my friend hooked as well :)