Read in August 2017

I received this book on Netgalley from Sourcebooks in exchanged for my honest opinion I completely understand why comparing this book to Grisha books I also understand why some comments on start of book but I will say this... give it a shot get pass a few chapters and you will love Sal and will be cheering on for them to be standing at the end of the competition. Sal is a gender fluid character I honestly didn't know much about it and it was explained plain and simple by them in order for me to understand it I also think is not the main focus of their character since this looks to be accepted in this world. I would had like to see more of this world however I do feel that Linsey Miller gave us the amount we needed for us to understand and relate and then move to the next part same goes for characters we got to know enough of them and then moved on to concentrate on the ones we needed this was done effortlessly I got to love all the Queens left hands Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst and of course the runner ups to be Opal... There is enough of a love story I realy like Elise in this book but the focus here is all the assassin competition and all of the nail bitting action all these characters experience i order to become the new Opal. We get to know Sal and the suffering that was experience by them when their city was destroyed you can feel the love for what was lost and their drive to move pass I don't want to give much away considering this is not out yet but I will say give this book a chance if this is what Linsey Miller was able to do the first time around let me tell you I can't wait to see what comes next for witty, smart, funny, caring & deadly weapon Sal or number 23 as you will get to know them this time around. Linsey keep them coming...

I went into this book hesitantly because of all the mixed reviews so far, but I have to say I’m one of those who really enjoyed it!

Sal Leon is a thief who is given the opportunity of a lifetime–the chance to become the next Opal and part of the Left Hand.  As one of the Queen’s own personal assassins, Sal’s life would change over night and they’d be able to exact revenge on all those who wronged them in the past.  However, they must first survive the auditions.  For it’s a fight to the death and Sal must call upon all their talent and wit in order to survive.

What first drew me to this story was the fantasy element of it.  Plus, they said any fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo would enjoy this.  HELLO—I’m so there.

I wasn’t sure how the author was going to deal with the gender fluid thing, but honestly it wasn’t that central a thing in the story.  I mean, it was to an extent, but it just went with the character. Sal explains it right off the bat that they like to be addressed by the what they’re wearing.  But as I was reading I didn’t really refer to Sal as any gender (he/she/they)–Sal just became Sal to me.

I felt out of all the characters, Sal was the most dynamic, followed closely by Maud, their servant, and the young noble, Lady Elise.  I would have liked to have seen a bit more from the rest of them–especially Ruby, Emerald, and Amethyst, the other members of the Left Hand.  They were meant to be aloof, and we do see more of them toward the end, but not to the extent I would have liked.  I have a feeling we’ll be getting that in the next installment.  The Queen is such an enigmatic character and I loved her interactions with Sal.  Their scene at the end? Loved it!

The plot moved rather well, however I was a bit confused as times because I felt that the pacing was a bit off.  We learn more about Sal’s history and that of the country, but at times, it felt like it was coming out of nowhere.  The last chapter I literally had to go back and reread the first page or so because the transition wasn’t the smoothest.

Certain things were not explained very well so you’re really left trying to figure out what happened by a few vague references.  (You do get it by the end, don’t worry.) I just felt it was a bit of a cheat-out.  The ending was really great in terms of the twist and dark humor.  I really enjoyed that.

Miller sets up the next installment perfectly and I’m dying to get my hands on it. I definitely have some predictions as to what will happen and what characters will show up again. If you have a chance to read this, go for it.  Sal is a great character and the story is the perfect addition to any Fantasy lover’s collection.

I am sad to say that this was a DNF for me. I was so excited about this book, and while the world building is interesting the characters just didn't come through for me. I struggled to follow along with where this book was headed and who the heck was who. I get the numbing system was meant to depersonalize everyone, put them o n an even keel but when you aren't going into great detail in terms of character development anyway throwing away names and giving everyone a number just makes them ALL a blur. I wanted more, I hoped for o much more but it just became another YA fantasy/dystopian with a 'twist' of the MC being gender fluid but with out anything to make that character trait important to the book in the end. :-(

I was initially really excited to get this book from Netgalley, but I was seriously disappointed. I don't like typing out reviews on length about how I didn't enjoy a book, because sometimes books mean different things to different people.

For the, one of the issues was not being able to care about the charachters. For one, they are all called by a number. Five. Six. Seven. It was so hard to connect with them because of this. I was confused most of the time and it made for a frustrating read. Not only that, the dystopian nature of the book has kinda been done over and over again.

The gender fluidity was really interesting and I was happy to see it in the story, but this book was pretty much a miss for me.

Linsey Miller’s Mask of Shadows is a unique look at gender, vengeance

MASK OF SHADOWS, by Linsey Miller, Sourcebooks Fire, Aug. 29, 2017, Hardcover, $17.99 (young adult)

I read a lot of books — like more than 200 books a year. I receive books from publishers in exchange for my honest review. Some of the books I request, others just arrive in the mail. Because of this, I’m exposed to a huge variety of genres, and when I review, I try to give each category and honest look. That’s why I requested Mask of Shadows, by Linsey Miller, via NetGalley.

While I’m not a fantasy connoisseur, I do enjoy it. I find it a nice break from reality. So I set about reading Mask of Shadows with no expectations beyond the book’s synopsis:

Sallot Leon is an honest to goodness highway robber. It’s not the job Sal’s always wanted, but it pays for food and a warm place to sleep. What Sal really wants is to get back at the nobles whose inept selfishness destroyed the land and wiped Sal’s people from the face of the earth.

When Sal inadvertently steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of the Queen’s personal assassins, Sal sets in motion plans to infiltrate the court and get revenge.

But becoming a member of The Left Hand — so named after the rings the Queen wears — is no walk in the park. Only the person left standing will take on the role of Opal, and death is literally around every corner. As a common street criminal, Sal is decidedly less prepared than the other auditioners, or so they think. Street savvy might just be the key to the Queen’s inner circle.

In some ways, Mask of Shadows reminds me of Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass. I think this comes in tone and in keeping with the competition to become an assassin thread.

One of the major differences, however, is the gender fluidity of Miller’s Sal. Sal becomes who he/she wants to be and would prefer not to be known or judged by anatomy. Truthfully, Sal is written so well that I never really wondered about gender. It wasn’t until it was brought up that I had to sort of stop and think about it. For me, Sal was just Sal.

One of the defining elements of Mask of Shadows is in fact the use of masks. Every member of The Left Hand wears a mask to protect his or her identity. That means that all of the auditioners must wear one, too. The auditioners become faceless numbers. In any other book, this probably wouldn’t work, but I found it fascinating. Instead of relying on facial expressions, Miller counts on body language, and it works for the most part.

I’ve seen a number of reviews critical of Miller’s world-building. Many cite a long list of characters that are hard to keep track of. While I admit I struggled with remembering a few of them, I never found it particularly worrisome. I was too immersed in the story to care. Another criticism has been its similarity to other YA books of this genre. That could be true. Although, if the writing is good, this doesn’t tend to bother me either.

Mask of Shadows is an intense read. It’s dark. There’s a lot of death, mostly murder — as you would expect with assassins. But it’s also fast and compelling. I didn’t want to put it down, and though the ending wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped, I’m looking forward to its sequel.

A fairly typical story with a unique gender fluid protagonist. Good.for discussion groups, but is fairly violent. Not great for middle school.

Mask of Shadows was written by Linsey Miller I was lucky enough to get an ARC from NetGalley. And I would like to say thank you NetGalley for giving me this book.

Mask of Shadows is a book that is a very interesting book itself. Here is the summary off of Goodreads.

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, Emeral, 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.

Now on several reviews, i read this book one of the strong points of this book was the gender fluidity of the main character. Now I am a girl who really only like guys but I won’t stop you from being you and I hope you don’t yell at me for saying this but, I felt that the gender thing was confusing. Now maybe it will make sense more to other but I did have a hard time saying wither Sal was a girl or a boy. And I like to know. It’s minimal but it was a point of mine.

But besides that point this book was entertaining. The idea of assassins and a test/ contest to see who will be the next one is right up my ally. I really did enjoy the point of view of Sal and just the plot line. I have read a lot of assassin book and this one was pretty good. Not my favorite but I will most likely be buying a copy for my shelves. But also the cover is so pretty.

Now I don’t want you guys to not check this book out, everyone has different minds and what we like and we don’t. Check this book out if you like assassins and well kind of Thorne of glass feel tests and contest feel.

But till next time here at the nook,

E.

This book will be able at book stores and online on August 29th.

It has everything that would appeal to me: fantasy, politics, assassins, thieves, gender fluidity . . . and yet...I don't know why, but there was something about this book that just didn't really click with me.

I never really connected with Sal, or understood their motivation or driver because it seemed misshapen and bound to change. TBH, I didn't really like Sal at all, mostly because their character flip-flopped all over the place, from poor little waif to awesome thief to shitty fighter to the bestest fighter to crafty mastermind to crappy executioner and everything else in between. Not that I have to like a character to enjoy a book, but I like the character to have a little. . .consistency (and no, I'm not talking about the gender fluidity here) instead of being all over the damn place.

Plus, I took issue with the masks. Petty? Perhaps. Nit-picky? Certainly. But for goodness sake, are the masks half-masks? Full masks? Hoods? Do they cover their hair? What is going on here where I can get a visual of facial emotions one minute from a person supposedly wearing a full face-mask with no slits and yet the next minute they talk about not being able to eat because of a mask covering their mouth? Also (view spoiler)(view spoiler)

Parts of it I did enjoy. The competition. The in-fighting and relationships between people. And I liked the final "twist" at the end. And I really did like Maud and the Left Hand. I'm not terribly certain if I'll continue with this series. Again, this book has everything that I should like. I just . . . didn't really enjoy it but didn't dislike it.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

I've tried for over a month to read this book and I just couldn't get into it. The writing felt very stunted to me, as if it were unpolished in a way I would not expect of an ARC. The characters felt boring, one-dimensional, and quite frankly, something I'd read before. It felt like a fantasy world setting of 'The Hunger Games' to me and to be honest, I wasn't enthralled as I had expected to be. I did love the fact that the MC was non-binary in their gender and do hope that this inspires other budding others to produce works with that.

Sal is a gender fluid character who auditioned to be the queens assassin. Not only is she an assassin but she's also a thief. She has other plans other than being the queens assassin, she wants to find everyone involved in a killing in Nacea.

These assassins are super cool with their mask, it made me want one of my own. I really enjoyed the writing in this book it flowed well. The characters were easy to get a long with too and the fact the main character is gender fluid madenit more interesting.

I really can't wait to see what the rest of the series entails. I know I will enjoy it.

*thank you so much netgally for providing a copy of this book*

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Per Linsey Miller's Twitter:
"There are new ARCs out, so bringing this back. Sal explains it in text, but please use they/them pronouns for Sal in reviews & discussions." @LinseyMiller
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Sallot "Sal" Leon is a thief. After robbing a noble lady and discovering a flyer advertising an audition to become a member of The Left Hand—the Queen’s four personal assassins, named after the rings she wears—Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court. If chosen, Sal will be able to track and kill the nobles involved in the destruction of their home.

However, the audition turns out to be a fight to the death in order to prove that they're the best suited for the job. As becoming the Queen's assassin means giving up your individual identity (both in name and face), the contestants are required to wear masks that showcase their number.

"I was Sallot Leon—one of the last children of Nacea, orphan and street fighter, highway thief and Twenty-Three."

While the overall concept reminds me of both Throne of Glass and Hunger Games, the execution and writing style are different enough not to be directly compared. Unlike Throne of Glass, Sal volunteers to become the assassin (rather than being nominated by a prince with no choice) in order to serve the Queen they believe in and exact revenge on those that caused the destruction of their home. Unlike Hunger Games, the fights are to be done stealthily (not for the government's entertainment) for the ultimate goal of supporting the Queen (rather than against a tyrannical government).

With that out of the way, one of my favorite things about this book was the symbolism behind The Left Hand. They are nameless and faceless—each position and mask reflecting the color of rings worn on the Queen's left hand. Thus, they are an extension of her. Even so, the group has individual personalities, are obviously close knit, and are a colorful bunch that you grow to love.

This symbolism extends, in part, to the contestants themselves where they are reduced to masks and numbers. While this was a little hard to follow initially, the author did a great job of quickly eliminating a number of them in the beginning. It didn't take me long to identify the numbers I should be paying attention to: 2, 3, 4, 5, and 11.

The book itself starts at a quick pace and maintains it throughout. While the history and world building were a bit confusing or lacking, I didn't mind overly much. However, to call this a fantasy is a bit of stretch since all magic had been banished to eradicate the "Shadows" (IMO, more of soulless remnants than magically created and controlled creatures). It played no direct part in current events.

While Elise and Sal had cute banter, I wasn't sold on the romance. I could have easily done without it and Sal's gender-fluidity. Honestly, starting out the book, Sal felt like an adolescent...perhaps fifteen, too young, and with no mannerisms to really stand out as male, female, or other. Neutral. Towards the end of the book, all of a sudden I felt like Sal had aged overnight to became a 23-year-old male. While this could be the result of personal bias (unconscious or otherwise) it was enough of a difference to feel weird to me. My personal (and probably quite unpopular) opinion is that the gender-fluidity is a marketing ploy to bring in minority readers because it had absolutely no bearing on the plot and yet has been hyped by pretty much everyone.

Even so, I enjoyed the read. This is a great debut for those that like fight to the death plots and don't mind a bit of cross-over with some of their favorite series. Though the book personally feels more like a standalone rather than a duology, the ending left me entirely satisfied. It will be up to me whether I stay in my happy bubble or expand my world view with the sequel—just the way I like it.

Great book. Fascinating characters and intriguing plot.

My Thoughts:

First off thanks to Netgalley for the copy of this book. I was excited to read based off the summary but I was disappointed. It felt flat and not very well planned out. I wished I could have enjoyed this book more but I could not get into it. If you like assassins and twists in the story this is for you.

Plot:

The plot starts out with an audition to become a member of the left hand a group of assassins. It is full of tests and tricks to prove who is perfect for the job out of the candidates. Sal decides to enter and become a member of the left hand. The book and the plot is just how they get through the tests and what happens. I felt like that was the reason the book dragged and was slow to me.

Characters:

The main character was okay I was not a big fan of them. Sal really fell flat to me. The other candidates were more interesting to me. The characters were okay but not great.

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller was confusing. It had really good potential but it got lost in details and history. I am willing to give the sequel a chance because the ending made it all up a little. One of the things that bothered me is that I felt almost nothing for any characters and they were hard to picture (they do wear masks).

*Thank you NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire books for this ARC copy. This is an honest review.
Mask of Shadows is a well written dystopian book. It is a good book, but something is missing. The main character is a gender fluid character which I really liked the concept of, yet it didn't help this novel. Sallot Leon is interesting character, but that is sadly where it ends. I love diverse characters that have flaws. Sallot's character covers that it is when you have to care about them and root for them it just didn't make it. The story misses on making you cheer or care for the characters. I hope her second book can pull more feeling into making the reader want to care about them. I really like Linsey Miller's writing I hope to read the next book and try again.

This was a fabulous read that was fast paced and hard to put down. The world building could maybe use a little work, it was a little confusing with the different cultures and countries being brought together under one queendom, but if you go with the flow it doesn’t interfere with the story too much until the end. I will admit the ending confused me a little with all of the politics thrown in, but with a reread it got a little clearer.

Sallot Leon is a unique character that I really enjoyed. I think this is the first book I’ve read where the main character was gender fluid. Their gender was handled well and I liked Sallot’s explanations of how to address them, depending on dress. It was not used as a plot point however, just who Sal was. You could tell that there were some that were confused or angry about Sal’s gender, but it was not a theme or focus of the plot. Sal is who Sal is and that was that. Sal’s orphan and thief status are very important to the plot. The thief instincts help with survival and how Sal became an orphan is important to the plot of revenge, which is the real reason Sal enters the competition.

The plot of an audition was well done with lots of death and stabbings, and attempts at poisonings, although the outcome was predictable, how it is done is interesting. There is a little romance thrown in, but it does not overpower the main plot which was nice. Some of the other competitors were interesting and some I even didn’t want to die and it made me sad when they were killed. I liked that they went by numbers during the audition, it made it less likely that they would get to know each other and have a harder time killing each other. The masks were a nice touch as well, although I need a better explanation of how they worked, especially the Left Hands, which were more advanced and seemed to mold to their faces. I loved Sal’s servant Maude too, she was brilliant and clever and a nice addition to the book.

Overall this is a very clever and well done book that I enjoyed immensely. It is lite fantasy, not a lot of magic, although that appears to be a part of the past of this world, with interesting characters and a plot that will keep you turning those pages.

I loved this book! It was amazingly written, interesting, engaging and relevant. The history is given just enough so that the story makes sense in context but not too much that it becomes heavy and boring. The characters are dynamic and well thought out although some are better portrayed and represented than others. You can't help but root for Sal and enjoy his/her adventures, determination and self-discovery.

My Review: Excitement has been building for this book for some time, and even though I was approved for this book on Netgalley several months ago, I wanted to wait until close to release day before picking it up. I am glad I waited so that I would be able to rave about it and discuss it with other readers while it was still fresh in my mind. Now please bear with me, even though I finished this book last week I still have had a hard time putting my thoughts (and there are a lot of them) about this book in to some kind of understandable order and concise statements. I must admit that I was originally attracted to Mask of Shadows because of that stunning cover (I am looking forward to it gracing my shelves) and the synopsis drew me in with it's high fantasy element yet the brutality of a Hunger Games like battle to the end, sounds about perfect to me. And it was exactly what I was expecting in that aspect, there was a lot of brutality, stabbing, plotting and scheming. The world building was fantastic, it was developed throughout the story but in a way that you weren't confused until things were explained, it was well integrated with the plot. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a map, which I am sure will be included in the final versions. Now on to the characters, I did not notice or think twice about the gender fluid main character until I got closer to starting this book. I started to worry that this would be a book that is about making a statement that it looses its story or was possibly just going to be banking on the current push for more books with LGBTQ+ characters. I shouldn't have worried, Sal is Sal and their orientation just fit the personality and the story so well that you didn't even really notice the statement of it. With that said I did learn some interesting things about gender fluid and how they should be referenced, and I am hoping that this is accurate information. The Left Hand were fantastic! I want to hang out with their crew but yet I am somewhat terrified of them. I did find the romance element with Elise to be a little forced, it didn't seem to fit fully into the story and felt like a bit of a side note or a plot device for the next book, but honestly that was the only real draw back for me and it wasn't that big of a deal. The romance if read by itself was beautifully done, and slow to develop but it just didn't feel right in with the development of the rest of the story. All in all this was a great book and I can't wait to read the next book! When does it come out? Oh and also, the marketing of this book by Sourcebooks is brilliant and I am enjoying every moment of it!


My Rating: Yup, another really long review there, sorry. I really enjoyed this book, it had so many elements I enjoy and even some new to me that I discovered I enjoyed. I will admit that this story does have a slow start, but I promise it is worth it to continue! I can't help but give this book a rating of Four Paws and a Stump Wag!

I really wanted to like this book more. It had so many aspects that I usually love in books: fantasy, a cunning main character, political intrigue, and espionage! And yet… Parts of it worked, but others didn’t. While I appreciate the gender fluid main character, especially in a fantasy book, other aspects such as confusing world-building and the main character’s goal did little to push the book higher in my esteem. I also think marketing it as Leigh Bardugo meets Sarah J. Maas makes the audience expect a lot more than what we’re given. Does that sound harsh? I’m sorry. 😦 I love both Bardugo and Maas, but to compare a debut author to those two can either increase or decrease a book in my esteem.

I struggle a lot with liking cocky characters. Sure, I understand that’s part of their personality, and I can appreciate that, but I guess it’s a reflection of my own life in that I don’t care for arrogant people. Maybe Sal’s confidence in their abilities came across the page as cocky. Some people might not mind it, but I do. I guess I wanted more information about Sal’s abilities rather than the character repeatedly telling us that they were good at certain things, with very little showing.

What I did find intriguing was the entire competition itself. The Queen has lost one of her personal assassins, a key member of The Left Hand, and Sal is quick to jump at the opportunity to become the new Opal. The competition itself is rather gritty, and reminded me a bit of The Hunger Games in the way the competitors kill each other. Nothing is really out of bounds, and I actually found myself drawn to the other members of The Left Hand–Emerald, Ruby, and Amethyst–more than I was to Sal. Actually, I quote like Sal’s servant, Maud. She was sharp, witty, and definitely has an agenda of her own. It’s almost like she uses Sal to help herself as well. I can dig that.

As for the world-building, I found myself a little lost. I get there were once two countries who are now united under one ruler, the Queen, often referred to as “Our Queen.” But her reign is still in its infancy, and there are a handful of people who would rather go back to the old days–filled with magic and dark killer shadows. Yeah, so there’s no magic in this kingdom. It was used for evil. (In any future books, I hope it returns, but is used in a good way.)

In terms of the romance between Elise and Sal, I wasn’t convinced. I wanted to be so bad, though. I guess this sort of falls under the trope of “I’m not like all those others” and I couldn’t swallow it. I did, however, feel bad for Elise, especially when we discover how her father works his way into the overall plot.

Truthfully, the last few chapters really bumped the book up in terms of star rating. I planned to give it only 2.5, but we see some characters unravel, and a deeper part of the plot unfolding. For that, I give it 3 stars. I’m not sure I’ll add this book to my collection, or keep an eye out for the sequel.

Linsey Miller does a phenomenal job telling the story of Sal, a gender fluid teenager auditioning to be one of the queen's assassins. From the very beginning of the book I was hooked. The pace is just right, the plot isn't cliche, and the characters are well developed. The gender identity of the main character is an intriguing characteristic that fits well within the story, instead of overshadowing the plot. I read this book in one day and have been telling everyone I know about it ever since. I can't wait until it is published so that I can recommend it to all of my customers. This is a must read!