Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller is an intense fantasy adventure with a unique protagonist, Sal, a thief competing to become an elite assassin for the queen. Sal’s journey is filled with action, intrigue, and moral complexity, and Miller weaves in themes of identity and revenge. Perfect for readers who enjoy dark, character-driven YA fantasy with high stakes!

A Gripping Premise

The concept of a competition to become a royal assassin is a captivating hook. Miller throws Sal into a brutal world where survival hinges on skill and cunning. The fast-paced action sequences and the high stakes keep the reader engaged throughout the story.

A Complex Protagonist

Sal is a compelling protagonist. Their fight for survival and their desire for revenge are relatable motivations. Their genderfluidity adds a fresh perspective to the fantasy genre, though it isn't always explored in great depth.

Room for World-Building

While the fight scenes are vivid, the world around them feels less fleshed out. The history and inner workings of the Left Hand and the surrounding kingdom remain somewhat shrouded in mystery.

Uneven Pacing

The relentless focus on action and competition can overshadow character development at times. Some readers might crave a deeper exploration of Sal's motivations and relationships with the other characters.

A Satisfying (If Predictable) Resolution

The conclusion offers a sense of closure while leaving the door open for a sequel. However, the overall plot might feel predictable for readers familiar with coming-of-age stories set in fantasy worlds.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review - for a full review check out my YouTube or Goodreads account

Till this date (2024/3/10), I still DO NOT understand what people's problem with this book is. I love the book, and later its sequel. When I first read it thanks to NetGalley's ARC, I have not read works by the two author the back of the book suggested (that this book being perfect for readers who liked them), by February 2020, I've read one of the author's work, and went to GR to add the following:

I now have at least read works from one of the authors this book was compared to, and I find said books entertaining, and STILL don't think this book was any less pleasant or fascinating comparing to them. IDK if fans of those series were just having fairly high expectations, or just unwilling to consider that, just because something else was also passable (or beyond) doesn't mean "hey there's nothing special therefore it sucks because it's unoriginal." Of course, for those who truly did not enjoy this book, I respect your opinion. It's just that, from a lot of the reviews, I keep on getting the vibe "how DARE they compare this book to my favorite books!!!!!!!!" and it's just rather sad. Like, no one's asking you to replace your fav fandom with this one, and thinking it okay isn't a betrayal to your beloved book series.

At the end of the day, this is just my honest opinion and perhaps really, the majority of readers on GR all think this book sucks, regardless of what books it was compared to, but seriously, I think it'd be a good lesson for publisher to compare new books with old ones a little less often. It's with good intention and could actually be true, like some fans might really like both, but all it takes is a small number of fans of the old ones to declare how they personally think this book is nothing like it was made out to be, to prevent potential readers who might actually enjoy it from reading it.

If you are one of those people who take average ratings into account for whether or not you'd give a book a go, do you really think books below 4K ratings can truly reflect how most people think about the book? To me, it just says not a lot of people have read this book at all, and the pool of opinion is on the small side. I am glad I got to it before it... sad to say, kinda went nowhere, because I know myself well enough to know I probably would be one of those people who decided not to read "because nobody's reading it and for the people who did, the ratings weren't exactly good" had I only found out about this book years after its publication, which would have been my loss since I ended up liking it alright.

And yes I am completely aware that the rant above is unhelpful if you wish to know what this book is about, but just indulge me since I previously couldn't comment on the comparison, and now at least I do have an opinion on the matter.

Also published on:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1897731580

It took me a couple of tries to get through this book. This book was hard to understand. There was a lot of information left out that would have been helpful to know. I felt that there were plot holes throughout the book. The book was slightly confusing when it came to world-building.

I read this book years ago when the ARC was provided but wasn’t an avid NetGalley user then and never reviewed this. I appreciate NetGalley having provided me with an ARC! This book was hard to follow, not as easy as let’s say Sarah J Maas’s writing. The one positive thing was the gender fluid character. But aside from that, I don’t care for this book.

This is a hard one to review. Linsey Miller’s debut novel truly did have a lot of potential, and I do believe that the following installments will be much better than this first book that was laying the groundwork for this world. Unfortunately, this book read very slow and it makes the story in general feel very underwhelming.

Thank you for the arc, unfortunately I did not finish it, I just wasn't the right audience for this book.

Unfortunately, this book didn't download properly and I was unable to read it.

This is a shame as I definitely loved the premise and felt I would have really enjoyed the story!

An interesting premise for a fantasy title, I especially appreciated the gender fluid character and how they were incorporated into the story line.

*I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to love this book. It was compared to Sarah J Maas in the synopsis, but it fell short for me unfortunately.

You’re thrown right into the thick of things with this story. It was a little confusing at first to figure out the hierarchy and logistics of the fantasy realm. It almost felt like this book was a sequel because I was missing so much back story. I got half way through and was still confused by the history and politics. I wish more background was sprinkled in to give me a better concept. It’s hard to keep track of the characters because each is a number with no other identifying features. You really can’t get attached to anyone because you don’t know enough about them. I did enjoy the relationships of Sal, Elise and Maud. Their person connections helped break up the fighting and gave the story a more personal connection. There is a timeline at the end but it added to my confusion and didn’t clear anything up. Overall this book has major hunger game vibes but is missing the background information and character development.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to netgalley for this ARC!

The synopsis of this book makes it sound more exciting than what it really is. Who doesn't love theives and assassins?! While there were both in this book, there was way less then I was originally expecting and caused this book to fall short on the high potential that I had for it when I originally came across it.

I found this book a bit confusing and had a very hard time following and keeping up. There was so much information dumped on me all at once that it was hard for me to keep up. I kept on forgetting some pieces of inport information and kept finding myself going back to the beginning on of the book to re-read parts in order to find the pieces of information that I was confused by or had completely missed. I found this a bit tedious and started to get frustrated because it ruined the flow of they story. Don't get me wrong, I love a book that gives you a ton of information and back story, but not all at once. It was not spread out evenly enough throughout the book.

This book put me in a reading slump. I was looking forward to diving into this world, but was sadly let down. The premise was intriguing, but the execution… not so much. Everything felt dull. The plot was vague and seemed to imitate other popular YA books. There was a lot of action, but it still managed to somehow be tedious. Frankly, the characters were not very compelling either. They were one-dimensional and distinctly lacked character development.

In my opinion, Sal was not well-written. Representation is important and including a gender-fluid character is great, but doing so in such a lacklustre fashion is disappointing.

Overall, this was reminiscent of The Hunger Games, but without any of the enjoyable parts. This book was riddled with one-dimensional characters, strange dialogue, and a generic fantasy plot.

Mask of Shadows was one of my most anticipated releases for this year and it did not disappoint at all; in fact, it actually exceeded my already-pretty-high expectations.

One of the reasons I was drawn to Mask of Shadows is because I love deadly competitions. I mean, there’s a reason why The Hunger Games is one of my all-time favorite series. This book centers around a competition where auditioners compete to become Opal, one of the queen’s assassins. Everyone is there voluntarily, but some are much better at handling the competition than others. I loved the high stakes, loved seeing the characters battle it out, and loved the tension and suspense of who was going to attack and when. It kept me on the edge of my seat, flipping the pages as rapidly as possible because I had to know what was going to happen. There were parts of the competition that were less focused on killing, where the competitors are expected to learn things like how to detect poisons or how to heal themselves, and those parts were just as interesting to me. Basically, I loved everything about the competition to become Opal. Literally everything.

A good read - read it a while back then I was back off netgalley for a while. Three stars - solid read, not as memorable as some others. Thank you for the chance to read and review.

Great dystopian YA Fantasy story. Sal who identifies a both as a she or he depending upon the attire of the day is an orphaned stealing what is needed to survive. When robbing a noble, Sal acquires a flyer that talks about auditions for Opal which is the high security position protecting the Queen where Opal's kill at the will of the Queen. Good story overall.

5 stars for a genderfluid main character and and dark, twisty plot. Gritty and violent with plenty of action, but also thoughtful and well written.

I requested this title back before my blogging break. I have ended up with a number of titles that are overwhelming to catch up on now I am back from my blogging break. I am regretfully not going to be reading and reviewing this title, but now I am back from my blogging break, I am looking forward to reading and reviewing some of your future titles. Thank you so much for the opportunity and apologies.

Overall, an average YA novel. As others have mentioned in reviews, I also found this one to be slow going, and at times a little too violent/gorey.

It's nice that Sal is genderfluid, but I don't feel that it being put on spotlight is helpful at all, this fact doesn't do much to enhance the story - and it shouldn't be a "ooh look how progressive we are" talking point.