This was a good, yet uneven tale of a mysterious lawman. Initially I was annoyed that Helena was the narrator due to the lack of strength in her voice and role but that as it progressed she started to shine through and it worked in the book's favour. Some very interesting meditations on the law and morality in a quasi-Witcher setting. While its strength was in the investigative side of things, the Empire plot comes colliding in a bit early and muddles things to mixed effect. The climax was strong to make up for it, but with Vonvalt's staunchness on resolving the case before moving off, I kept getting impatient for the case to resolve while the the threat of the Empire loomed. Also, there were some conveniences taken with how Helena escapes the kloster, which broadly was a strong arc in the book, among my favourites, as well as annoying death fakeouts for Vonvalt and Bressinger both.

Keeping a remove from Vonvalt added to his mystery. I do think Claver has overstayed his welcome but I'll hope I am proven wrong. 

RE: the magic. It kept it minimal to begin with and began to build with brilliantly creepy effect. Some portents to come.

My final criticism is that while it's largely sparse with strong dialogue and good prose, there were some sections that were overlong, like the battle in Galen's Vale. Too many descriptors between plot beats and it dragged a little of an otherwise great scene.