Second paragraph of third chapter:

“Who briefed you?” My own voice sounds distant as a stranger’s.

My first Hugo book since the 2026 ballot was announced, this is one of the finalists in the Lodestar category, and turns out to be the third in a fantasy trilogy. I enjoyed it for the frenemy relationship between the two central characters and the convoluted magical fantasy plot; I felt I did not lose out too much by having missed the first two books. The breathless first-person present-tense narration annoyed me, as did the many mistakes in German in what is explicitly a Bavarian-based world; and I wondered how it comes about that teenagers get given senior law enforcement responsibilities in this particular society. So I suspect it won’t get my top vote in the category, but it was a good start. You can get Holy Terrors here.