The first thing that drew me to this book when I first heard about it was that the main character - Sal - was genderfluid. Right away I knew I had to get my hands on this book. It wasn't until several chapters in that Sal described their fluidity and the type of pronouns they preferred. Just depended on what they were wearing that day. Sal even preferred "they" if someone couldn't grasp it or if someone kept misgendering them.

Now time for the parts I didn't like about this book. So much information! It was just too much from the get go, so much information and history that it was hard to keep track of even until the end of it. I managed to understand bits and pieces of it but it's just too much! There are times when the pace of books starts slow and runs so fast you're left wondering what happened to make it go so fast?

As I was getting to end it didn't feel like there was much of a climax. There was just no pizzazz leading up to the nail biting moment of this book. Maybe it's just me but that's the way I found it to be. This is the author's first book so hopefully by the second book things aren't as confusing and the information and history isn't flung at you so hard you can't remember most of it.

<em>Mask of Shadows</em> was just some random fantasy novel I requested on NetGalley in exchange for a review, and then I started hearing all about it elsewhere. Linsey Miller’s debut novel features a genderfluid protagonist trying to become the next assassin to the queen. Sal is a thief and one of the few survivors of a massacre that wiped out almost all of their countrypeople. They view the assassin position as a chance to align themselves with the queen who ended that war and drove back the shadows—but by getting involved in nation-level politics, Sal might have bitten off more than they can chew.

One of the central elements of <em>Mask of Shadows</em> is a trope I really enjoy and one I’ve built into my own eternally-WIP fantasy novel: the story takes place <em>after</em> the Big Bad is vanquished. In this case, the Big Bad are the shadows that infiltrated this world. It’s about a decade since Marianna da Ignasi kicked the shadows out of the world by getting rid of all magic. That in and of itself might have been an epic story to tell, but for whatever reason, Miller didn’t choose to start there. Instead we start with Sal, embittered by the slaughter of their family and countrypeople by the shadows.

Sal’s spur-of-the-moment decision to try out for a role as royal assassin might seem strange to those of us who are just meeting them. As the book continues, though, and we learn more about Sal, it starts to make more sense. It’s as if Sal’s entire life since the destruction of Nicea has been an interim period, where Sal has been floating as this thief and highway robber, waiting for an opportunity to become involved in something bigger.

The assassin competition itself was OK. These types of stories, to be honest, seldom do much for me. The repetitive nature of having to eliminate the various members of the competition until only a few remain for the climax gets dull for me, fast. Miller does a lot to make it easier. In particular, the other members of the Left Hand are a delight. Similarly, their rules for the auditions make sense; I can actually imagine this type of assassin-audition setup working.

I’m a little ambivalent about how Sal goes in with almost no experience in this field and very few other skills and the Left Hand is basically all, “Yeah, we will train you at whatevs.” But I think that’s Miller trying to show us that this world has slightly different mores than the cookie-cutter fantasy we’re used to. There is a sense of compassion running through the social interactions in this story: almost all of the upper-class characters respect and treat servants well, and people in authority, like the Left Hand, generally want to level the playing field. This is, of course problematic in and of itself, as it is framed paradoxically within a feudal society wherein social mobility is very limited and imperfect. I’m willing to cut Miller some slack here—it’s hard to interrogate all these ideas in a single novel, especially when limited to one person’s perspective. I’m curious to see where this goes in subsequent novels.

<em>Mask of Shadows</em> is steeped in conflict, and not just the violent kind. Miller does a good job presenting people who are, on the face of things, reasonable people whose goals merely conflict with Sal’s. In some cases this leads to compromise; in other cases it is more … fatal. Similarly, we encounter situations where Miller invites us to disagree with Sal’s beliefs, goals, or actions. This is an imperfect protagonist. Sal’s drive and determination to become Opal and then to use the position as a way to enact revenge is powerful yet very unhealthy, and Miller does not hesitate to underscore this latter fact. I really appreciated the frank conversation between Sal and the Queen near the ending of the book and for the glimpse it offers us of Marianna da Ignasi’s character.

As I said earlier, these types of competition plots seldom interest me. This was true for this book—but I still had a really good time! I was so interested in what Sal would do next, in what mistake they would make or plot they would hatch. Overall the character development is very uneven: there are some twists and reveals that seemed mainly there for dramatic effect, and some of the characters are very flat. The same can be said for the worldbuilding. Miller errs on the side of less infodumping rather than more, and while that is the correct side of the line to be on, in my opinion, sometimes she veers a little too far away from giving us information that could deepen our understanding of this world. I don’t want to have to wait for a timeline in an appendix to give me that.

Critiquing the presentation of Sal’s genderfluidity isn’t in my lane. However, I did like that Sal’s gender identity is not a big deal in this book. There are a couple of instances of unintentional misgendering and at least one instance of intentional misgendering, but by and large, even the people who have a problem with Sal take care to use the correct pronouns and apologize when they mess up. Similarly, Miller includes numerous other queer characters. We even learn, near the end of the book, that one character is aromantic—she mentions it in passing (does not use the term), so it’s easy to miss, but it got me really excited. So, in general, I like how Miller handles the diversity of her characters by making it a foregone conclusion that they are <em>everywhere</em> instead of people who must be announced, discovered, or otherwise explained.

<em>Mask of Shadows</em> feels like a debut novel. The writing, particularly the characterization, is uneven. It recycles a lot of common fantasy tropes. Parts of it are clunky. At the same time, however, it tells a great story, has a satisfying arc to it, and it leaves me wanting more. Parts of it are brilliant. I’m curious to see where Sal goes from here, and whether their responsibilities will conflict with their personal goals.

(Review to be published on Goodreads on August 30, 2017).

Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class and the nobles who destroyed their home.

When Sal Leon steals a poster announcing open auditions for the Left Hand, a powerful collection of the Queen's personal assassins named for the rings she wears -- Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst, and Opal -- their world changes. They know it's a chance for a new life.

Except the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. But Sal must survive to put their real reason for auditioning into play: revenge. (via Goodreads)
I received an eARC courtesy of the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I also received a signed physical ARC through a giveaway!

Reviewers Note: Sal is genderfluid, which means that their pronouns change to suit their gender at the time. For clarity and to not be an asshole, I will be referring to Sal with they/them pronouns throughout this review. I will also be warning for classism, murder, violence, explicit violence, drugs/poisons, misgendering, and self-harm.

I want to start off this review by saying that I adore the cover and the artwork inside this book. It's perfectly suited for the subject matter and it. is. stunning. Y'all ought to know by now that I am a sucker for good art in any form, and this book was a delight to the eyeballs in all forms.

Secondly, Sal was a really interesting main character to follow. They were very driven to their goal, ruthless when they needed to be, but still polite and kind whenever they could be, which was a nice change. I loved that we got to know all of the minor characters, to know their ambitions and needs.

I also enjoyed the worldbuilding. We discovered things along with Sal, and we also learned what they already knew before they got there. The world, and the plot, were familiar enough to keep us seated, but intriguing enough to keep us on the edge of it. My only complaint was that the ending was very abrupt. I am interested to see where the next story takes us.

I won't speak to the genderfluid representation, but I have others who have spoken to it. I loved that nearly everyone asked Sal what pronouns they should use, and Sal expressed anger every time it was incorrect. It was normalized for so many, and I loved that. You can read Avery's ownvoices review here! You can read Dill's review here! You can watch Kav's review here!

If this sounds like the book for you, and I think it may be, you can pick up a copy on Amazon or Indiebound.

I've been having a really hard time writing a review for Mask of Shadows, mainly because I so badly wanted to love it and in the end I just feel pretty ambivalent towards it. First I want to say how much I love the fact that Sal is a gender fluid main character, I love that this was just a part of who they were and wasn't used as some kind of cheap plot device. I was also really pleased that in general most of the other characters didn't make a big deal of it, the only one that really mentioned it in a negative way was the group bully who was just looking for anything negative to say and since theres always one that didn't bother me. Most of the characters initially asked Sal how they wanted to be addressed (Quote: I dress how I like to be addressed—he, she, or they. It’s simple enough.) and then happily went along with their choices.

Where the story fell down for me was in characterisation, I don't actually feel that I got to know Sal that well even though the story was from their point of view. I know they're gender fluid, I know they have a plan to get vengeance against the people who killed their family and that's about it. The world building was seriously lacking, I needed more history of the world. I needed to understand exactly what had happened to Sal's world and why they were so keen on vengeance. I still don't quite understand how the queen saved Sal's country. Was she the reigning queen when the massacres occurred or did she come along from somewhere else entirely and put a stop to it? How is the world structured? How many different countries are there? What caused things to go wrong in the first place? I'm so unclear about all of it that if it was included in the book then I completely missed it.

This first book focuses on Sal's attempt to become one of the queen's elite assassins so perhaps we'll get more answers to those questions in the next book but to be honest I'm not hooked enough to really want to continue the series. If I'm this confused now then there is no way I'll be able to jump into the second book in a years time without a reread and I just don't have enough interest for that. The auditions to become a member of the queen's left hand are basically a fight to the death as a group of candidates battle against each other to come out on top. Apart from Sal we don't get to know any of the side characters well enough to become invested in them which is a real problem in this kind of story. Books like Hunger Games work so well because even though you know going in that Katniss is almost guaranteed to survive the games you care enough about side characters to feel the fear of something happening to them. If you don't feel the intensity because you're not worried about anyone potentially dying then nothing has the impact it could have.

The same goes with the romance in this story, Elise could have been a fantastic addition to the story but I never felt the connection between her and Sal. It all felt too instant and unbelievable for me so I didn't really care if they made it as a couple or not.

This book really seems to be a polarising one, two of my friends gave it five stars but I struggled to finish it (it took me 8 days to get through and I usually read 4-5 books a week!) so don't let my review alone put you off trying it. I'd recommend checking a mix of positive and negative reviews and perhaps trying the free kindle sample because who knows you may end up being one of the people who loves it. I'm so disappointed that I wasn't one of them too.

Source: Received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Bes, I just want to say I am so confused about this book. I had an idea what’s going on but I still find myself confused. I don’t even know how to review this because I felt like I didn’t read any of it.

First off, I don’t feel comfortable reading a book with the main character as a gender fluid. That’s just me, personally. However, I would’ve looked past that if the book itself isn’t confusing. I don’t even know why I find it confusing.

Aside from the confusion I felt towards this book, I’m also not feeling it. The book didn’t catch me. I’m already on 30% and I’m still waiting for it to have a hold on me. It didn’t happen. I wasn’t hooked and I wasn’t feeling it. So yeah, you’re right, I DNF-ed the book. Hehe. There’s just nothing in the book that made me think again my decision of DNF-ing this. I hope there is but there’s none. I tried pushing more but it’s just not working. I’m not feeling it so I’m not forcing it.

And because I DNF the book without feeling anything towards it but confusion, this review will only be this. Haha! I know, I created a book review post for this and it only consist of less than 500 words. I just want to put here my thoughts about it, so here it is.

To wrap this up –ha. There’s nothing to really wrap up. Still, if you bessies found yourself curious upon reading the blurb of the book, go ahead. Read it. As for me, it didn’t work.

Foreword: I had received an ARC(Advanced Review Copy) of Mask of Shadows from the publisher to do a review on it. This kindness in no way affects my opinions or how I viewed the book. This review is to be honest and state my opinions on the matter.

"You shouldn't kiss people who could kill you."
- Linsey Miller, Mask of Shadows

4.5/5 stars

Linsey Miller writes her debut novel, Mask of Shadows, a wonderful book full of twists and turns, a gender-fluid character, and a story anyone could enjoy. It all starts one day while Sal is out robbing and flirting with rich ladies, and Sal steals a flier that grants them admission to a prestigious event for becoming the Queen's Opal with just a price of a life. Unlucky for Sal, they gets in, and survives through attempted assassinations and kills their competitors for a chance to become the desired position of Opal. It all goes perfectly to plan with Maud becoming a trusty friend and Elise becoming a love interest to Sal until shadows start reappearing. Sal keeps telling everyone of the troubles Erlend may face, but no one believes due to the competition at hand and the Queen's loyalty of her people at stake. Killing is not an option anymore for Sal but a necessity to keep her new home safe as she ascends to becoming Opal, as long as she does not die first by the hands of one of her many enemies in and outside of the competition.

Discussion:

While I was reading Miller's Mask of Shadows, it reminded me a lot of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. It has the audition for becoming the ruler's assassin, the tasks that need to be completed when enrolled in the auditions, and swoon-worthy scenes of a romance with a noble-born that made my heart stop and made the story just right. Plus, this book has a kick-butt character who can rob people of what they want, disarm in a flick of a wrist, and kill while making it look like an accident. Now, enough chit-chat since it is time to talk more about the details and plot of the story.

First, Sal was the main character in Mask of Shadows, and is so awesome, period. This is all I really need to say to describe Sal, but there is a lot more to they than just that one word. I loved the aspect of a diverse character who is gender-fluid, which is a person who does not associate themselves with just one gender or no gender at all.(Even though I like seeing this diversity in a character, I am scared that I may be getting the pronouns wrong or may not be addressing Sal in the correct way.) Sal starts out as a thief in the beginning and makes their way to the top when they applies to become an assassin. I loved Sal's sass and ruthlessness when they goes to the beginning of the auditions and every time they talks to someone. I also really like how relatable Sal was, especially when she was running since I am also a runner and when she would try to play off things as cool or okay when they never really were while their temper was running wild. There were many characters in this book, but Sal stood out the most to me due to their diversity and how we are similar due to us wanting to be tough and having to hold back a lot of emotions to complete a goal.

Just because a book has a lot of action and suspense that keeps the reader guessing what is going to happen next, there needs to be a little romance for the reader to be rooting for. Mostly, there are many romances in a book, but in Mask of Shadows, there is only one: Sal Leon and Elise de Farone's. I loved this relationship and the sexy scenes between them. I loved how Elise told Sal how she does not like just men and also how their lessons were full of playful flirting. They were so cute; I wanted their relationship to work out so badly, but of course, bad things always have to happen that separate them. I was so heartbroken when Elise's dad took her away since Sal found out that Elise's father was conspiring against Nacea with Horatio del Seve.

Even though I enjoyed reading about Sal and their many adventures, I did not like how they got away with murdering a man so easily. In the middle of the auditions, Sal says enough is enough and decides to kill a long-time enemy of theirs named Horatio del Seve. Seve is just having a grand time with his late night tea and brandy when Sal kills him for abandoning and conspiring against Nacea when the shadows went there when Sal became the last member of her family and possibly her home country. Through the whole audition, Nicolas del Contes is spying on all the contestants and this event just happens to slip through the cracks. I am sorry, but this is not how the world works, even though this book is set in a different world, which is in a different universe with different rules. So, Miller has got me there. Also, I did not like how much concentration it took sometimes to read a passage. It is very easy for me to get distracted while reading, and a couple times I found myself reading without absorbing any of the information. I would have to reread sections to find out what was happening at that point in time. This is all I really disliked about the book, though, so that is why I gave it four point five out of five stars.

I especially loved the world Mask of Shadows is set in. I really liked how the world was built up and how little snippets of information coming from Sal's flashbacks or other people describing their past began to erect a new world I am ready to see more of in the future. The pacing was fantastic, and I loved how the story started in the middle of action when Sal was doing their usual job of robbing and making quick comebacks with people who were interesting enough to play a part in this story. I cannot wait for the second book in this duology, if I am correct, and any other books Miller puts out into the world.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Love,
newbookcats

The premise sounded so cool (Assassin school! politics! revenge!) and I was really excited about the genderfluid MC, but sadly this is no Nevernight.

I usually really like flawed/morally ambiguous main characters, but Sal was borderline psychotic, so I had a hard time rooting for them. Mild spoilers, but all of this is mentioned in the premise/back-of-the-book-blurb, so I think it's fair game to talk about. Within the first chapter or two, we've established that Sal is an excellent thief and is great at sleight-of-hand. Somehow an advertisement flyer is enough incentive for Sal to violently kill someone and audition to be one of the Queen's elite bodyguards. Wtf, Sal, how did you think you would make it through the audition with a bunch of trained killers when you've been a common thief all your life? And even suspending disbelief on that, it was so hard for me to swallow how easily Sal justifies the murder and never acknowledges it again. And the clincher, you don't even find out Sal's true motivation for all this until much later in the book. I spent so much of the beginning questioning why Sal was making the decisions they did, which made it really hard for me to get on board with the whole premise. There were a bunch of other "wtf" moments for me throughout the book, again mostly stemming from Sal doing things that made no sense and not responding like a normal human being to disturbing situations.

And now to talk about the genderfluidity of our main character. I love that this book features an LGBTQ main character, and the book definitely helped me understand what it's like to identify as genderfluid. I also really liked that gender fluidity was accepted in this society, since many characters were familiar with the concept and what pronouns to use. And yet, there are still the assholes that refuse to make the effort to use the correct pronouns and acknowledge gender fluidity. I liked that these detractors existed, because it highlights the all-too-real struggle of minority groups of all kinds fighting to have their voices heard and identities acknowledged.

On the other hand, I was irritated by Sal's irrational anger towards people who made pronoun mistakes. Her reason behind the anger? "I dress like I am, plain as day." This rubbed me the wrong way, because it reinforces the idea that men and women must dress a certain way. There's no concept of people having the freedom to dress/present themselves as "femme" or "butch" depending on how they are feeling that day. I get that this book takes place in a medieval-inspired setting, and that women wear dresses and men wear pants in this world, but if we can bend historical truth a little to make gender-fluidity an openly accepted part of society, why not gender expression?

Now that I have my main complaints out of the way, I can talk about what I enjoyed. I loved Maude, who was extraordinarily resourceful. She was a fully realized and important character with her own agency, which is so rare in servants and minor characters, especially when they are women. I also really liked how slowly the romance developed. It wasn't one of those cases of instalove or star-crossed romance (well...maybe a little bit of the latter), which was refreshing. I also really liked the different personalities of the elite members of the Queen's guard. Despite being masked and generally aloof, Emerald, Ruby, and Amethyst had distinct and lovable personalities. They are all dangerous but none of them are needlessly cruel, which was interesting given their job description. Just brownie points all around for featuring so many women who actually interact with and have bonds/relationships with one another, which is so rare in fantasy.

Overall, a quick and fun read. I definitely want people to read this because of how it brings in diversity to the usual cis white male-dominated fantasy world, but at the same time I had substantial reservations about the plot and the main character's sanity. I guess this is one of those see-for-yourself books!

A free eARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

When I first heard about this book I didn't care about anything except the genderfluid character. It was the only reason I added it to my TBR. Unfortunately, after reading it, I don't feel much different.
Sal is a thief who wants nothing more than to escape the life they were given. So, Sal enters into a competition to become part of a team created by the Queen. The audition is a fight to the death and Sal has no choice but to make it.
Ok, so I had a couple problems with this book. The main one being there was absolutely no world-building at all in the story. There was all this talk from them about this huge war from before and how it killed all their people, but we (the readers) KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT. There wasn't even a foreward to tell about it. This made it impossible to care about something that Sal cared about so much, because I had no idea what was going on. I just totes went with it because it was in the story. It made it feel choppy and definitely made me lose interest in the story.
And then, for there to be SO MUCH MAGIC in this story, there is no explanation of it at all and I'm still confused on what happened and why it was even relevant. I gotta say, it seriously made me think I missed out on a prequel or something because I have (and still have after I've finished reading) so many questions. I really need Miller to release a prequel with some of these answers.
And then, this may just be my opinion, but for the book to specify that Sal was genderfluid, it was hardly mentioned. I get that it was to show that it was a "more accepting" time, but there was nothing there, for an already underdeveloped character and it made me lose more interest in them. It would have been nice to know a little more information about them.
The only reason I didn't DNF this, was the killing, and action, and overall stabiness of the book. That part was done so good and I REALLY wish the rest of the book had been done the same way. It would have made all the difference.
In short, this was nothing like I was expecting and that made me extremely sad. It really fell short for me. I was expecting so much more. Hopefully book 2 will provide these answers.

If you hadn’t guessed already I really loved this book. When I first read the synopsis I thought it sounded very Throne of Glassish, and I guess in some senses it is, but I found the story to be quite different and really gripping.

(Disclaimer, Sal is a gender fluid character but for the review I’m going to say ‘she’ because it’s easier).

Before I talk about the book I just want to say, those first few opening chapters. Wow, just wow.

The main character, Sal, was awesome. She is so sassy and sure of herself and that means that she never needs to rely on anyone to help her. Despite this she doesn’t shun people or help just because she feels full of herself which was really nice. Even though there were a lot of characters, 23 auditioners and 3 assassins just to start with, each one had their own personality and quirks and recognisable features. I really loved this because it meant that the plot was always fleshed out and attention grabbing.

Speaking of the plot this was just another thing that made this book a joy to read and such an adventure. We aren’t info dumped right at the beginning which was such a relief for a debut fantasy novel. So often we are given a characters full backstory within the first few chapters which leaves no mystery. Instead of this Linsey Miller adds details in about Sal’s past in conversations she has with other characters meaning we learn about her as the plot develops and the other characters are introduced. It is a really great way of telling the story that always keeps the reader interested.

This style of storytelling also means that there are multiple storylines and backstories that the reader learns about which all weave into each other and create such a rich story and setting.

Also, those auditions were crazy and you could totally have created a dumb ways to die video from the variety of ways that Linsey Miller came up with killing off the auditioners. You will never know their names but they certainly died in creative ways.

There honestly isn’t much more I can say about the book without spoiling it, but it is definitely a book that you should dig your teeth into as soon as possible. Especially if you are a lover of kick-butt fantasy stories. I can’t wait for the next one.

I was very excited for this one, even though it has basically the same plot as practically every other YA fantasy at the moment. I was hoping that the idea of a gender-fluid main character would make it fresh and hopefully would mean that the author would bring other fresh elements as well.

Well as you can tell by my rating, I was sorely disappointed. There was nothing new or fresh about this one, and actually it was so poorly done in all regards that I couldn't enjoy it at all. I almost didn't finish at all but I kept hoping that maybe the end would make up for the miserable everything else. But no.

The writing was horrible. There was way way way too much telling and virtually no showing, and nothing sucked me into the story at all. There was no character development and I wasn't able to feel anything for any of the characters. I don't think the book did anything to help the position of LGBT characters in fantasy, since the gender fluidity of Sal didn't even really make sense, at least to me. Sometimes he, sometimes she, sometimes they? Based on what he/she/they chooses to wear?

Anyway, I definitely wouldn't recommend it. So disappointing.

So this is basically like the Selection where winner gets a court position but you kill your way to get there. The end (not really). There's more to it than that, and not any real magic as I was expecting, but it was a good and quick read if you like murder.

This is a hard book to review. I have a lot of mixed feelings on it, but ultimately it fell short. And it felt short, which is it's main problem. It's fast-paced in a way that sort of skips over the meat of things, over the description and over the things that would make us care about the main character and the plot. Normally fantasy books have the opposite problem, being too long-winded, but I think Mask of Shadows could have benefitted from having a little more wind.

Because man, it was kind of hard to care. Sal, our protagonist, felt really flat. Beyond being genderfluid (not that that is presented heavy-handedly, in my opinion for the record), there isn't much separating them from being Generic YA Fantasy Protagonist. Like, how many thief protagonists have you seen? Aspiring assassins? Have lost their homeland? Want revenge? A lot, and fairly often all at once. There's nothing about Sal that makes me want to root for them or like them beyond the fact that we're supposed to because they're the protagonist.

Even though, honestly, I don't feel like Sal is qualified for the "job" they're trying to land. [Or at least not qualified enough to have actually landed it. (hide spoiler)] As the book went on it felt like we were supposed to believe Sal is clever and capable, but somehow it just didn't quite work. They felt like someone playing at thief and assassin more than anything else, like they thought they were clever but they just weren't quite.

There's also our romantic subplot, which I really wanted to like, but like everything else it felt rushed and a little forced. It went from 0 to 60 real fast, not necessarily insta-love but a bit quicker than I felt the characters in question would have been. And I'm not sure I believe there's any reason for the two characters to really like each other, even. It's cute, sure, and I like a cute romantic subplot like a sucker, but.

The writing is also pretty bare bones, particularly in scene transitions. There were several times through-out the story where I had to stop and reread what I'd just read, thinking I'd missed something leading us to our next scene and found I hadn't. I found the descriptions lacking as well, overall making things hard to place/picture and hard to figure out what the heck was actually happening sometimes, sort of just having to shrug and continue on until it made some kind of sense.

3.5 stars. I don't usually deal in .5s but 3s are so rare for me, and I didn't necessarily dislike this book. I enjoyed some of it, it was just also kind of flat and eh. But it wasn't hard to get through, and I would read any sequels that come out (particularly since the ending does leave that possibility very likely).

Sal is a street thief who runs in a gang. One night he robs a lady and finds a pamphlet in her bag. The Queen is holding auditions for Opal, one of an elite group of assasins, all named after gemstones. The previous Opal had recently died, and these auditions were being held on the palace grounds, to the death. Sal, having never killed anyone before but wanting revenge on the people who caused genocide on on their country, thought this a chance that was too good to pass up. Sal kills the gang leader and takes his hand to the auditions as proof of intent to be the next Opal.

This was a great YA fantasy novel. The plot was original and the characters fascinating. All of the men and women who were auditioning as the next Opal wore masks and were given numbers as names creating gender ambiguity. So, even though they were men and women, they became five, four, and in Sal’s case, twenty-three. Sal was also not gender specific. If Sal wore women’s clothes she was to be addressed with the pronouns she/her, etc. Dressed as a man, Sal was addressed as he/him. Sal’s sex was also kept from the reader, so you were developing feelings for this character not caring if it was a boy or girl, if the relationships and feelings they were portraying were the same as your own. I liked this unique aspect of the story and started paying more attention to the plot based on the person. Not the sex of them.

This book also had a lot of action scenes, including knife and sword fights, that were very well written. The contestants were auditioning with their lives at stake, so their feelings were extreme, amd the outcome could be gruesome, but that only added emphasis to the terrific dialog and plot. I really enjoyed this novel and can’t wait to see how Sal will enact their plans in the next novel. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Nothing sensational about this fantasy read. Nothing terrible either, just an OK book. Needed more world building and a chance to let the characters develop a bit more.

Tired plot line, vague character development, confusing characters (numbers for names got really confusing, really fast.) I really wanted to like this book from the description but it felt uninspired and just a bland reincarnation of the Hunger Games. I felt in no way connected to the main protagonist, Sal, nor any of the supporting characters. I also couldn't really relate to the revenge motive behind Sal's desire to attain a high position. Not enough was explained in a clear way to appreciate the full history of the land or people. I couldn't make an emotional connection to the characters which meant that I didn't care enough about what they were doing to carry my interest throughout the entire book. Hard pass.

There are various reviews roaming the internet about this book. I don’t think any had an issue with representation though, so I decided to give this book a try. The first chapter was amazing! Then it took a step back and did character introductions and a bit of world building, but then we were thrown right into the competition. Non-stop action, revelations, and exploring genderfluid as an accepted form of identification. While this story may not be new territory (think Hunger Games and Throne of Glass), I enjoyed the author’s writing style and the characters presented.

I’ve already started passing this around to friends because I need someone to talk to about this book! I also went ahead and pre-ordered a final copy to have another one to loan out. There is a cute pre-order incentive, which you can find here, and it enters you into a grand prize drawing with all kinds of exciting swag 🙂
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So, this has nothing to do with how I feel about the story contained within, but I do want to mention that Sourcebooks Fire outdid themselves with a really fun promotion that involved social media outreach, prizes, and great emails to the “auditioners” who participated throughout. I did win a random prize for an arc, signed bookplate, and stickers (which in no way affected my honest review), and the creative mask challenge was a neat addition. Here’s my entry! Thanks for putting all that together Sourcebooks Fire!!
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SUMMARY:

Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class and the nobles who destroyed their home.

When Sal Leon steals a poster announcing open auditions for the Left Hand, a powerful collection of the Queen’s personal assassins named for the rings she wears — Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst, and Opal — their world changes. They know it’s a chance for a new life.

Except the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. But Sal must survive to put their real reason for auditioning into play: revenge.

The story sounded interesting, but in the end, I had to quit reading it because I couldn't find any connection with the main character. Now, I realize that lots of people are super excited about a "gender fluid" character, but when it came down to it, that was the exact thing that made it impossible to connect with Sal. Sal felt un-human, because gender is part of what makes us human, it helps define us. I was so unconnected to Sal that I just couldn't engage with the rest of the story. And I got about 1/3 of the way in and realized I didn't care. And when I don't care about the story, there's just no point in continuing.

The writing was decent but not stellar, and the characters were on the surface interesting, but I never felt drawn in by any of them. Overall, a disappointing offering.

*Just to be clear, the main character of Mask of Shadows is gender-fluid, and the author would like reviews to use they/them pronouns for continuity, so that’s what I’m doing.*
Sallot Leon is the only survivor of a shadow war that sacrificed their entire nation years ago. More than anything, Sal wants revenge. When one of the Left Hand—the queen’s elite quartet of assassins—dies, Sal decides to stop being a thief and become Opal.

But competition for the spot of Opal is fierce. It’s more than fighting. The competition also includes lessons in healing, poisons, and even reading—where Sal meets Elise, a scribe who’s also frustrated with the status quo at court. Only one apprentice becomes Opal. The rest die. And meals and lessons are the only violence-free times, so Sal must be alert always if they want to stay alive, while trying to find out just who was behind the massacre of their people so they can finally have their revenge. And winning would be nice, too.

There’s been a big deal made about Sal being gender-fluid, and the novel itself shows a dichotomy of sorts. 1) The characters in the novel really don’t make a big deal about this. Sort of Oh, you’re gender fluid? Cool. Whatever. 2) Sal gets emotional when someone treats them like the gender-fluidity is no big deal, as if it has normally been a big deal in the past. Which one of these things is accurate? Because I don’t think they can both be accurate: it’s either a big deal, or it isn’t. I noticed the dichotomy, but it didn’t detract from the story for me.

That issue aside, I enjoyed this book immensely. I’ve also seen a ton of “Oh, this is just like The Hunger Games” comments. Yes, there’s the whole there-can-be-only-one-survivor competition angle that’s the same, and…that’s the only similarity I saw, so I wouldn’t say just like The Hunger Games. The history in the novel wasn’t super clear to me—I did not get a clear picture of the political climate and what happened with the destruction of Sal’s nation—nor did I find out as much as I wanted to about the shadows, but the book was a great read, with plenty of action and conflict, and a unique main character that I liked a lot.

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

***Full review on wildandwonderfulreads.com ***

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

*Note to those reading my review: In regards to the gender fluid main character, I will utilize gender neutral pronouns, including they, them, and their, as the author previously suggested via her Twitter account. Please feel free to contact me at wildandwonderfulreads@gmail.com should you have any questions about the meaning I am trying to convey.

The description and fierce cover art are what compelled me to read Mask of Shadows (yes, I do love an awesome cover). I am drawn towards Young Adult, Fantasy far more often than not, so it was not a stretch to say that I would likely enjoy this book. This is a book that, for several reasons, though, I believe you need to read with an open mind.

Mask of Shadows is the debut novel from Linsey Miller, a “wayward biology student from Arkansas (Goodreads)”. It is the first book in a duology, and it releases August 29, 2017.

Prior to and since reading the book, I read reviews and have seen the comparisons to, both, vastly popular YA authors and books, but this is partly why I feel you need to maintain an open mind while reading Mask of Shadows. This is not an exact duplication of any other story, although I see the similarities. Linsey Miller is not Sarah J. Maas or Leigh Bardugo. Despite having seen those comparisons, I was able to enjoy this book as its own, individual entity. It seems quite natural for authors to draw inspiration from other authors and books. I also rarely find that ideas, especially in YA Fantasy, are truly original.

In Mask of Shadows, we follow the gender fluid Sallot Leon, an orphaned highway thief and street fighter, as they try to find a way out of their menial life while exacting revenge on those who obliquely had an effect on the deaths of their family members and all those in their home of Nacea. The story traverses the deadly auditions to become the new Opal, a member of the prestigious Left Hand of the Queen.

We’ve got a tumultuous world, a competition to the death à la Throne of Glass and The Hunger Games, cunning characters, and a slow burn romance! Sign me up, right!?! The foundation for a knockout story was there, but, unfortunately, I think the execution missed the mark a bit.

I enjoyed the premise of Mask of Shadows. Not wholly inventive, but certainly intriguing! I liked the hierarchy that Miller created in her fantasy world, but I wish there was a little more world building.

I struggled with the syntax in Mask of Shadows, though. I felt the writing lacked fluidity, and I often found myself having to reread various sentences or scenes because I found them difficult to follow. This is a large part of why I lowered my review rating. Fantasy writing already has so many elements that could cause confusion among readers (i.e. imaginary worlds, characters with inhuman traits, mythical situations, etc.) that I believe the writing needs to be succinct, which Mask of Shadows was short of, in my opinion.

Miller won me over with a lot of her characters:

-Sal was a home run. Their history/story is compelling, their relationships with various characters are endearing, and I could not help but root for them! I probably shouldn’t be so willing to cheer on someone slowly becoming an assassin, but what can I say!?!…I love them! Miller’s portrayal of a gender fluid character seemed appropriate and well-done.
-Elise and Maud were also strongly-developed characters that I happened to adore! Part classy, part sassy, and utterly fabulous! Both of their interactions with Sal were irresistible, and I found myself wanting more!
-I really liked the members of The Left Hand, too. They seemed to feed well off of each other, and their group dynamic is great!
-With numbers assigned, rather than names, I found it hard to emotionally connect with the other auditioners. As the story went on, we did get to know some of them better, for which I was thankful, but for the most part, not knowing who they are or their back stories was a little disappointing. Two of them did stand out to me, though: “Four” and “Five.”

Overall, I did like Mask of Shadows. The suspense was there, and it is a decent YA Fantasy read. Moving forward with the second book in the duology (and her writing career, generally), I think Miller has room to improve. If you’re willing to give it a fair chance, I would recommend this book. So, be on the lookout for Mask of Shadows next week!

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced galley of this book. Please note that it, in no way, had an effect on my opinion or review.

****Huge thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!****

There seem to be a lot of mixed feelings on this book with people either DNF’ing their ARCs or loving them, fortunately I was one of the people who LOVED it! I was very pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed “Mask of Shadows” everything about it was entertaining and it really blew away all of my expectations!

Trigger Warnings: Misgendering and Much Violence (gets pretty brutal at times)

Plot

As you can see in the descriptions right away this is being compared to books by both Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo but let me tell you I thought this book was so much better than those! You can see the similarities to the plot of this book and that of “Throne of Glass” right away, which I did, but trust me when I tell you I thought this was far better than “Throne of Glass”. “Mask of Shadows” was essentially everything I had wanted “Throne of Glass” to actually be: full of action, brutal violence, and a main character who isn’t all talk! So I personally thought the descriptions didn’t do this book justice, or it did in case you’re a big fan of either of those authors I suppose.

I really loved how we are tossed into some action immediately at the beginning of the story and we don’t waste anytime getting into all the action the synopsis promised! Of course considering the fact that Sal is auditioning to become part of the Left Hand there is quite a bit of training in many various areas so those parts can become a bit tedious, I personally found them enjoyable though. I also liked how none of the contestants were messing around either, they were hardcore! I actually really liked how brutal and violent the lot of them were because this means the author wasn’t sugar coating the fact that these people are trying out to be ASSASSINS. That’s what they do.

While the pacing wasn’t necessarily fast and went kind of back and forth a little bit, I still never got bored while reading since there was always something going on. The action definitely wasn’t lacking here! But as I said the pacing did go back and forth pretty erratically.

The plot was very entertaining, even though it seems it could be a run of the mill YA fantasy plot. Sal’s thirst for revenge and the lengths they go to achieve the revenge was interesting to read about and definitely had me rooting for them.

Another thing that was very well done was the world building but I could have used a little more of it as well. I thought one of the most interesting points were the “shadows” which I won’t go into detail about but the descriptions honestly terrified me! I personally never felt like I was being “info dumped” on but I could see some people getting annoyed with the amount of info being spilled all at once throughout reading.

There were quite a few shocking plot twists and that ending definitely has me dying to read the sequel!

Characters

One of the best things about “Mask of Shadows” is the fact that the main character, Sal, is gender fluid, that’s right we have a gender fluid main character in a YA fantasy! While I personally cannot say whether this was represented well or not I read a review from an amazing blogger I follow (Avery @ The Book Deviant) who has an own voices review up that I will link for you to check out!

It’s stated in the book that Sal prefers to use the she/her pronouns when dressed as a woman, the he/his pronouns when dressed as a man, and they/their pronouns when dressed as neither. Since this is just a book review I will refer to Sal using the they/their pronouns.

Sal was a fantastic character and I really adored them, they just had so much spunk and spirit. However, they also came with their flaws as well from the rough past that they’ve had and what they’re willing to do to get their revenge as well. I LOVED that Sal came into the competition with a realistic set of skills and admitted that they didn’t know everything and did their best to learn other skills worthy of an assassin. That is so unbelievable refreshing, a main character that doesn’t magically have ALL the skills!

I’d also like to take a moment here to discuss the cases of misgendering Sal that occurred in the book. This happens in one instance at the beginning of the story and Sal corrects them right away explaining how they liked to be addressed according to what they are wearing and it doesn’t happen again. However, there is a more villainous character that misgenders Sal more than a few times and Sal challenges it immediately, which I loved. There is just one thing that goes along with this that I wanted to mention was that Sal states they like to be addressed as they dress: dresses for she/her and trousers/tunics/leggings for he/him. Now I KNOW this is just a fantasy and most clothing is gendered and that’s accepted but when Sal is misgendered by what they are wearing they state that “clearly” they are a woman/man by how they are dressed and would get very angry (which is understandable of course). I just kind of didn’t like this considering the fact that women and men can dress in whatever clothes they like and not have to identify as that gender based off of the clothes they are wearing, especially since this is a book about a diverse character.

Food for thought and hopefully that made some sort of sense.

AS for the secondary characters I really enjoyed quite a few of them but mostly I adored the other members of the Queen’s Left Hand: Emerald, Amethyst, and Ruby (MOST OF ALL RUBY!). I didn’t have too hard of a time keeping track of the other contestants but it did get a little annoying at times considering they were only ever referred to by number. Elise was also a pretty great character and I loved that she was diverse as well (either bisexual or pansexual) since she states that she’s interested in more than just men.

There is a romance in this story but it doesn’t take central stage and is more of a minor plot device. It really wasn’t anything special though and was more of your run of the mill YA fantasy romance.

In Conclusion

Overall I really did have a great time reading this book and it surpassed ALL of my expectations!

What I Loved:

-Genderfluid and overall fantastic main character
-Stabby plot that doesn’t sugarcoat!
-Interesting world building
-Great secondary characters (mostly Ruby…)

What I Didn’t Love:

-Erratic pacing
-Sal’s outlook (or just the book’s) on gendered clothing

Recommend?

I highly recommend checking out this book whether you’re looking for a fun new YA fantasy or if you’re looking for a great diverse read as well!