A Review of "In Numina"

Introduction

In Numina by author Assaph Mehr is a thrilling, magical mystery set in a time and place very similar to Ancient Rome. It is the second book in the "Stories of Togas, Daggers, and Magic" series, but a reader does not have to read the books chronologically in order for the novel to make sense. Mr. Mehr approached me with a .epub file of In Numina for free in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis: "This is the second story of Togas, daggers, and Magic - for lovers of Ancient Rome, Hardboiled detectives, and Urban Fantasy.

A rich landlord finds tenants are abandoning his apartment buildings, spouting tales of horrific events and whispering that the old gods - the numina - came alive and cursed the buildings.

Enter Felix, a professional fox. Dressed in a toga and armed with a dagger, Felix is neither a traditional detective nor a traditional magician - but something in between. Whenever there is a foul business of bad magic, Felix is hired to sniff out the truth. Now he must separate fact from superstition - a hard task in a world where the old gods still roam the earth.

In Numina is set in a fantasy world. The city of Egretia borrows elements from a thousand years of ancient Roman culture, from the founding of Rome to the late empire, mixed with a judicious amount of magic. This is a story of a cynical, hardboiled detective dealing with anything from daily life to the old forces roaming the world." (via Goodreads)

Thoughts and Comments

Pros

The novel is very well-written, with lovely, formal language that captures the feeling of Ancient Rome but at the same time does not alienate the modern reader.
The fantasy world of Egretia is fascinating and well-developed, and the maps at the beginning of the book are beautifully designed and very helpful to the reader when any geographical placing confusion occurs.
The plot and the hook are immediately engaging--I'm happy to say that I was captivated with the novel from the start, which is always personally important to me.
Throughout the book, there is the idea that scents are mixed with different types of magic, and I wanted to note that I found this especially unique and interesting--for instance, it makes sense that evil magic would smell foul, but I'd never thought about it like that before.
The Latin words peppered into the narration and the dialogue gave the story life and authenticity.
It is obvious that the author has a vast knowledge of Ancient Rome and its culture, and this knowledge shines throughout the text.

Cons

There were some typos in the text that could have been fixed with another round of proofreading, but these typos were not distracting at all, as they only occurred a few times.
This did not take away from the rating at all, but I believe it's important to note that there's some disturbing gore in the novel, which may concern any readers that are sensitive to violence and the like.
This also functions as more of a caution than a "con", and again, it does not effect my rating of the novel, but this book is not a quick beach read. It has a vast universe and geography, as well as many different names and terms unique to its own world, so this novel may take some time to finish for those that don't have a lot of time to read in their daily lives.
There are times when the first-person narration speaks directly to the reader without any sort of forewarning, and it pulls the reader out of the story and the setting. I found this to be a bit off-putting.
Finally, the fact that Felix, the main character, had relationships with both Cornelia, who was implied to be the main love interest in the first novel, and Cornelia's daughter Aemelia, who was also in the first novel, made me extremely uncomfortable. Call me old-fashioned, I suppose, but I did not like this love triangle one bit.

Conclusion

Overall, I loved this novel and the beautiful world that it entails. I loved that I liked all of the characters, which is a rare occurrence for me, and I am excited that In Numina is a work in a series of books rather than a standalone novel. I'm definitely going back and reading the first book in the series at some point because I enjoyed this one so much, and it will be interesting to see the origins of Felix the Fox and how his shady detective business came to be. Mr. Mehr, thank you so much for the opportunity to review your work. I hope to see more from you in the future!

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