Magnus Nights is an adult fiction dystopian crime/thriller, following the adventures of two cops in the futuristic city of Magnus. Thomas Craddock is a new recruit to the Magcon force who’s been assigned to work with James Augustine, an older detective who is placed in charge of training Craddock to be a proper detective. The world built around these characters is very well thought out, with a lot of slang thrown around that is easy to make sense of but also adds to the sense of being somewhere else in time.
Magnus Nights book shines with the many characters that the viewpoint bounces between, each switch always adding to the story. Whether it be through providing new information for the mystery, furthering the plot, or delving into the characters themselves, the points of view are all varied and interesting. Each character is different and all have their own small quirks here and there to provide spice to the narrative.
The crime and mystery portion of the text is excellent, with the final reveal of the criminal being masterfully done throughout the book. It is one of those reveals that makes sense in hindsight, and flows smoothly with the narrative. The main villain also has completely understandable motivations, despite their heinous acts, and the story seems to have something of a cautionary tale to it against militarising crime-stopping agencies.
The descriptions and pacing of Magnus Nights are great. The prologue had my intrigue and held it. It was from the first action scene of the main two characters that I became truly invested in this narrative, and the consequences of that fight are felt throughout the novel in that Craddock himself gains what appears to be a trauma response to some of what he had seen there, which is a very interesting touch to his character.
Magnus Nights: The Helios Incident is a futuristic, crime noir that hooked me in from the first page and didn’t let go.
I’m tossing up between 4.5/5 or 5/5. If it gets the film deal I hope it gets I’ll definitely bump it up to 5 stars!
You can buy Magnus Nights: The Helios Incident here.
