I'm currently reading The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi. I'm liking it a lot!

I love the cover! So much fancier than my edition. Have fun!

Yes, it's so strange to point out issues in something that an author has no ability to change. Not to mention that many of the "issues" are probably subjective and just an indication that they aren't the target audience.

Yes, often the beginning is what needs the most work! Partly because it's hard, and partly because it needs to not have any extra fluff.

Such great advice!

If you want to branch out into fantasy mysteries, consider The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, which is Sherlock Holmes-inspired high fantasy. And Adrienne Young's Spells for Forgetting, which centers on a murder mystery cold case but is also a romance novel with a magical realism setting.

I don't know the answer to your question, but on the bright side, romance is the genre where indie authors are finding the most success. So while self-publishing is a lot of additional work, if you go that route, you'll be in the best genre for it.

Try Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir or The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. They're similarly good, though more on the fantasy side of things.

My take is that there are no rules, but readers expect magic when they pick up a fantasy novel and may be disappointed if there isn't any. If it's a great book with enough other fantasy elements, it may not matter. But I have read books that I know I would have enjoyed more if they'd had more magic.

The Lord of the Rings is my favorite book, so we might have similar tastes. My two favorites I've read this year have been Gideon the Ninth and The Fifth Season.