Behind the Curtains is a Comic Fantasy novel published in 2019. Combining elements from the Detective Drama and the wide variety of magic and fantasy races that the previous genre provides, it pokes fun at anything from its characters to its setting.
The setting is the capital port city, Fortressia, heart of an unbelievably bureaucratic empire, diverse, but not too united. The story looks into the inner workings of the many law enforcement branches, including their own petty squabbles in the face of a bigger threat. The main characters have to get past their own faction, as well as reluctant citizens and the ever-fragile line of legality.
The story follows Scry as he joins the Emberhand Legion for reasons best known to himself. An aspiring detective, he joins the Inquirae branch, though he quickly finds their office is no place for such a person.
This work provides examples of :
- Action Girl:
- Minucia is quite capable of handling herself, despite her position of authority
- Wyxea, while at first seemingly meek, eventually not only defeats Ryund Cyclos, but also shows off her Umbromancy at the end of the novel.
- Anti-Hero: Scry might not be close to the anti-hero stereotype at all, but he is even further from a traditional hero.
- The Chessmaster: Sai'khan is the responsible entity for the story's main conflict, and has set things up that, no matter the outcome, he stands to gain from it.
- Church Militant: The Holy Servants enforce the will of the Gods, no matter how vague it is, and they have no qualms with sparing Them the trouble of punishing the astray
- Defective Detective: Megaronides has turned to overeating and alcohol, as well as having terrible sleep. The competence only comes in the second half of the novel, though.
- The Dreaded:
- Minucia and her branch strike fear into most legionaries' hearts. Minucia goes as far as striking fear into her own men's hearts.
- Ole Hector, to a lesser degree, makes legionaries quite reluctant to barge into his office too.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Megaronides, despite lazy and lacking devotion, still draws the line at bribery very early on
- Hector tries to sidestep the gruesome methods his branch employs on known mages, specifically umbromancers. Robertus plainly states them despite his discomfort.
- Fantastic Racism: A world where humans dominated the other races has, obviously, not bred a very friendly outlook towards said races.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Emberhand Empire's bureaucracy and usage of fire weapons bears some similarity to the Byzantine Empire's.
- Interservice Rivalry: The various branches of the Legion are quite reluctant to work together, even when dealing with a threat that targets the Legion as a whole. Most soldiers fear and thus hate the Vigilum, the Inquirae is looked down upon by everyone, and for all the talk Ole Hector invokes about himself, none of it is pleasant.
- I See Dead People: Wyxea helps Scry interrogate the victims of the murders.
- Karma Houdini: Sai'khan gets through most of the story unscathed, despite being to blame for almost all of it.
- Lovable Coward: Megaronides shows reluctance to almost anything Scry tries to do, but he goes with him anyway.
- Manipulative Bastard: Scry shows off his talent for manipulation both with the people he interrogates and his own superiors. People are able to catch up to his manipulation after enough time, though.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Megaron earned his social status by acting stupider than he actually is.
- Smug Snake: Sai'khan goes even further by actually being a humanoid lizard.
- Street Smart: Megaronides is Scry's main guide through Fortressia.
- Talking Animal: Justified as Communion Berries enable different species to exchange words and understand each other. Minucia uses these to establish a spy network of mice.
