A Sense of Murder: Magus PI

   Last year, I reviewed Sigils, by the overblessed-with-first-names Sam Robb. I enjoyed it, finding it a genuinely refreshing street-level urban fantasy, written by a Christian without preaching, written with young protagonists without being YA, written clean enough I’d let my kids read without being middle-grade…altogether admirable. So, I was optimistic picking up A Sense of Murder, hoping I’d find another pleasant read.
   I found something rather more than pleasant.
   First, though, I shall begin with my biggest gripe. I open up this fantasy novel, and what do I not see? NO MAP. I understand why, having read the thing, but it’s going to be something I flag every time I (don’t) see it. The reason why it’s understandable is that the action here mostly takes place in a single city, so there’s no roaming around a vast territory here, just a point-crawl “market district”, “docks”, “embassy”, etc…if I were running this as an RPG scenario we could mostly do it theater-of-mind. But I’d still rather have a map for my players to point at.
   So is this another urban fantasy novel? Well, maybe. There are four main context-and-character combos you get in fantasy novels, the Wild Man in the Wilds (some Conan), the Wild Man in Civilization (some Conan, Edgar Rice Burroughs), the Civilized Man into the Wilds (Tolkien, Lewis, B. K. Gibson), and finally the City Man in His City (Dresden Files, most Sanderson, Grey Mouser). Most Urban Fantasy is not just the urban context, but about being the last in that list, City Man in His City. In this case, we start with our protagonist as a rough lawman / travelling circuit justice out in the Fantasy West, drawn into a city by a cosmopolitan figure (the series’ titular Road Mage) who is also more comfortable in the wilds. Although both men are educated and sophisticated, if we’re looking at archetypes then I’d classify them both more comfortable in the saddle. Let’s call it a fantasy cop show and then move along.
   Setting is easy to grok, but also pretty fresh. Multiverse Rome is fighting Actual Satan across a vast network of worlds, traversed by magic. Tech levels are…schizophrenic, with the Multiversal Empire having lightning guns and the wizard using a sword, while the lawman uses a two-shot pistol. There are electric lights and steamboats and sailing ships and horses, so if you’re happy with gonzo then you’re good to go. If you’re not, it all makes sense, just calm down and think about it for a bit. Magic is all about manipulating The Weave, with some mages just able to “do magic stuff” while other people are born with specific Talents…including our first-person protagonist lawman.
   How powerful is it to be able to just tell the truth? Pretty useful for a lawman, and would be pretty useful for the empire to be drafted into their millennia-long war…which is why said mage is brought in in the first place. Lawman has to hide his power while investigating a series of child deaths that leads to a demon in a carnival that leads to finding a warlock in the city. Very nice character setup, and good plot to start with as well.
   A note on content: This is NOT Sigils. My eleven-year-old is NOT reading this. The whole thing starts with multiple dead children, and it’s pretty gritty in its depiction of evil. I found that to be refreshing, honestly, because while it never got grimdark or nihilistic evil is shown as genuinely tempting, not for “mwahaha magical corruption” reasons but because demons offer knowledge for free for their own deceptive purposes. That’s realistic. The experiences also scar the heroes, but nobody wallows in grief or trauma. Everyone has a job to do and so they sack up and go do it.
   Good guys being genuinely good is something rare enough in the space I feel the need to highlight it, and it’s something that happens consistently here. Nobody’s an idiot, nobody’s lawful stupid, nobody is perfect or angelic, but just as the bad guys are all bad, the good guys are all good, being both wise as serpents while desiring to be innocent as doves. Scars and losses will accrue, but that’s okay, and there’s something deeply cheerful about Robb’s heroes that reflect his own faith…in the end, what do they have to fear? At worst, death. All will be made new. Evil cannot win, this is an Actual Factual Ontological Truth, and it’s true in this world as well. Refreshing.
   As this is an action-mystery plot, there are plenty of twists and turns, and the Final Reveal is obvious to the reader only about a chapter and a half before it hits the protagonist, which is the perfect timing. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable romp throughout and my only final complaint is that the mystery is wrapped up but the ongoing drama for the characters has only just begun; I certainly hope more Road Mage books are forthcoming.
   Go read this one so the man writes me some more; you won’t regret it.