I just could NOT get into this one... I found the characters unbelievable, the plot thin, and the pacing uneven. I tried picking it up a couple of times to see if it improved or grew on me, but each time I would flip through a handful of pages and quickly find my mind wandering. This was not a book for me...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1940383698?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

This book had so much potential but fell flat for me. Lately, I have really been in the mood for diverse books with a wide array of characters. This book focuses on Sal who is this amazingly strong, independent person. They also happen to be gender-fluid. For me this was the strongest part of the book. Linsey Smith does an incredible job of making sure Sal's pronouns are not they only part of their character. They are not their gender or lack thereof. I really appreciated that the focus was on the competition rather than the character.

That being said, I really struggled with the writing in this book. I love being able to visualize the worlds I'm reading about and place myself right by the characters as they go on their journey. However, I really struggled to do that with this book. The world building was severely lacking and even simple details and descriptions were lacking. Now the character descriptions could have been intentional to add to the idea that gender does not define a person. I just personally struggled without the descriptions I'm used to in various books.

As for the actual plot, I really enjoyed the idea of the competition to become the Queen's assassin. It was a great idea, but for me the execution was lacking. There were many parts that were predictable to me and again the visualization problems made it hard for me to really involve myself in the story and immerse myself in the world.

This book had the right idea, the execution just did not work for me. I'm sure they will be other people that love this book, I just could not get past the writing.

3★★★ stars

Genre: Fantasy Young Adult
Type: Book 1 in the Mask of Shadows Series
POV: First Person – Male

Sallot Leon aka Sal a twenty three year old male; was an orphan. He survived in the streets by fighting and becoming a great thief. He was the last children of Nacea; he had a goal, it was to become the next "Opal" aka the right hand of the Queen. He wouldn't stop until he accomplished it.

Honestly, this book was a bit hard to follow like I understood the story and overall it was good. However; it was a bit confusing because it did not give me details of the past to help me understand exactly Sal's actions and purpose. I knew he wanted to be the next Opal but didn't exactly understand why. The story was interesting; Sal had to win a lot of auditions, test and tricks in order to earn the Opal title. It was like watching the hunger games but at the same time it wasn't.

I really wanted to connect in a deeper level with Sal but I found myself unable to; perhaps the lack of back history prevented me to get attached to him and the rest of the characters. There was a lot of death which didn't bother me. And one character in particular I really enjoyed; however when that character died I didn't hurt for him because It happened so quickly and I just didn't get it.

I feel the story has potential and I would love to continue the other book in the series. I hope there's more background on it and more feels. Overall, I enjoyed the story and it would be appealing to readers who enjoy fantasy genre.

Mask of Shadows has a gorgeous synopsis, and to top that, one of my favourite authors of EVER ([author:Tamora Pierce|8596]) loved it, so there was no way I was walking past this one and I was THRILLED when Sourcebooks approved my request for an ARC.

<b>This book is a complex game of deceptions</b> combining a deadly competition to become the newest member of 'The Queen's Left Hand' (an elite group of assassins) with the intrigues of court life and a land in turmoil after a war.

Our protagonist, gender fluid Sal, is far more than a thief and an orphan - they are quite possibly the last of their people and the only one who could possibly avenge the decimation of an entire country and extract the blood debts that are owed.

The beginning was a little rough for me and the narration and the world only just seemed to find it's legs and get off to a rather wobbly start after quite a number of chapters. Once I was into it though, I found myself drawn in deeply and I was intrigued with the competition and the revenge that Sal sought.
<blockquote><b>
Only difference between robbery and murder was what you stole
</b></blockquote>
<b>There are echoes of many worlds and plots that I have read before, but that is almost inevitable when it comes to reading a YA Fantasy and I thought that Mask of Shadows managed to hold its own well enough</b> . I could tell that there were so many aspects that were so well thought out, from the history of the world to the various aspects of the competition and I appreciated how much effort the author went to with world building and creating realistic political situations.

Unfortunately, Mask of Shadows was slated as being "<i>Perfect for fantasy fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo</i>" and I hate it when people do that to books - it can set some very high and often unrealistic expectations, especially for ACTUAL lovers of the authors or the books you are comparing to.

YES, this book has a protagonist who goes into a competition to become the monarch's assassin, which does sound familiar now, HOWEVER - almost every single circumstance is different. You may as well say it's also similar to Harry Potter because they are both orphans and live in a magical fantasy world....

I've also seen this book being compared to the Hunger Games and the same arguments apply here: YES, there is a portion of the competition in which the auditioners are told to assassinate each other (but it was to be done in such a way that noone knew who made the kill) however it's not exclusively a rivalry to become the last auditioner standing and each and every task/test that was set for the auditioners made sense to me in an attempt to select the best person for the job (which, may I remind you is to become a part of an <i>elite group of assassins</i>).

I loved Sal's voice. The book is written in first person and Sal has a slightly coarse and rough voice that is just so true to character. The fact that Sal is also gender fluid was both good and bad for me. I loved that the rep was there for the sake of diversity and making things like gender fluidity normal, especially for the younger generations that will read this book. I was a little frustrated though in that it was never mentioned what gender Sal was actually <i>born</i> (while this was probably intentional, I just wanted to KNOW!! Although I decided for myself after a few passing comments in the book, I still would have liked for it to have been spelled out for me!) and I do think that, although sexuality in general wasn't a big deal in Sal's world, it would have been nice to have been educated a little more in what it means to be trigender and what the person actually experiences.

There was a romance and I thought it was a really sweet and realistic portrayal of a first crush and first love although it wasn't really integral to the plot at all it was a nice addition.

Probably my biggest complaint was not so much the pacing of the story, but the fact that all of the elements straight after the outcome of the competition was announced seemed a little rushed. In the last fifteen percent of the book there was a pretty large reveal, a devastating plot twist and the set up for the sequel all squished into the final pages. An extra thirty or forty pages could have gone a long way to building a little more tension and making the last few events hold even more of a punch.

Mask of Shadows had some ups and downs for me with many 'debut moments', but overall it is <b>a wonderful, intricate and well thought out story with a fast paced plot and more than a few gory incidents. It is complex and compelling and left me waiting desperately for the sequel</b>.
<blockquote><b>
I wasn’t killing because I liked it. It was a job. Eight, Seven, and Four had all signed up to die, and we all knew the risk. We’d agreed to serve Our Queen in any way she saw fit. We were keeping her on the throne.
Peace had a cost and we collected.
</b></blockquote>

This book was ok. It was entertaining enough to keep me going, despite some drawbacks. I didn't buy that Sallot - a thief with no training or previous inclination towards murder - would last a day in a competition of assassins. So right from the start, I'm not fully on board. Throw in some insta-love, positions named after gemstones, and knowing (of course!) how this book #1 will end, and it all felt a bit juvenile. Still, Sallot was an interesting character and the hints of world-building we get in book #1 could be built upon. The way the author handled gender fluidity was well-done, too. I'd be interested to see if this series and Sallot mature with book #2.

[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]

When I finished this last night I immediately gave it four stars. I was coming down off the high of enjoying (mostly) a book I didn't think I would like. But I've had some time to think about it and reflect, and I've looked to see what others are saying about it, and I understood and agreed with the points made so decided to knock a star off.

The good thing is that Linsey Miller was able to get me absorbed enough into the book to enjoy reading it, without me obviously noticing things that could be considered less-than-stellar until much later.

I'll be honest here - I was not going to request this book. "They" say that people like to be able to see themselves reflected in what they read, which is why having main characters of other genders, races, orientation, etc. are important. I agree with this sentiment, and will acknowledge that I like being able to project myself, or see myself reflected in the characters I read. I am a straight white woman. When I read romance, I like it to be straight. When I read any book, I automatically assume "white" unless told otherwise. That is my life experience. Lately I've been trying to broaden my horizon and read more books by and about minorities because I feel like I'm doing myself and the reading world a disservice by sticking to what I know. So even though I had decided I really wasn't interested in a book about a genderfluid main character, when I got the invite to read it I figured, why not.

And I was pleasantly surprised by how much it was a non-issue for me in reading. I was not being beaten over the head with Sal's fluidity, and it was so much of a non-issue that it seemed almost natural that I didn't know what was under their clothes. It just didn't end up mattering. I was happy for Sal that their gender wasn't a big deal for anyone else, either. Although I admit to being curious during the very intimate scene with Elise later on, but still nothing was mentioned.

But then I looked at other reviews, and noticed they were pointing out similar things: Sal's fluidity was such a non-issue in society, that it didn't make sense for them to get all emotional when someone accepted them as genderfluid. There was also no description of any of the characters. They were completely faceless and nameless (perhaps the point?), which made them completely unmemorable. The only contestants that made any impact on me besides Sal were Two, Three, Four and Five. The others - I couldn't even tell you who did what and when. And even Two is ridiculously bland considering how far she made it.

There really wasn't much world building either. I know we get a small bit of history throughout the book, as information about the war is trickled out. But as others have said - what were the other kingdoms like? Why did they go to war? Why were they united? What the heck even happened? [For those who did not finish, there is a brief historical timeline at the end, "written" by Elise as part of her scribing job, but the level of detail is minimal and does not provide much more information than is given in the text.]

And yes, this is a fight-to-the-death dystopian-style fantasy. It's pretty obvious (considering this is #1 of who knows how many) that Sal is going to win and become Opal, despite not having any skills beyond thieving and sport-fighting. They do seem able to sneak around, but they also get caught, they're sloppy, can't seem to pick up sword-fighting or archery, skip all the lessons on medicine, and the only thing they learn quickly is reading. And I'm pretty sure that's only because they have a giant crush on the teacher. So how Sal managed to beat out 22 other people, killing at least two that I can recall, I don't have a clue.

Then we have the rest of the Left Hand. All are also faceless. Even when they reveal their faces once Sal becomes Opal, we get zero description of them besides any runes that may be on their bodies (one of them has scars across her face and a fake eye, but I can't remember whether it was Emerald or Amethyst). In fact, the dead runes and I think some people's hair (like the queen) are the only things described about anyone. And even personalities aren't fully developed. Ruby is the only one I sort of liked, because he at least had a sense of humor and liked to play hardball with the contestants. Amethyst and Emerald were both very bland. And Isidora... I quite forgot who she was every single time she was mentioned, until the next time her name came up. Also, Five comments on predictability between Isidora and Ruby, and how they have a close relationship, but I never once noticed it elsewhere in the text. So that part didn't make sense to me.

Even the big reveal of Ruby's identity at the end made me go, "Huh?" Because I'd completely forgotten about the person he actually was, since the names are so out-there that it was impossible for me to remember who was who.

Now despite all these flaws, I did genuinely enjoy reading the book. There is a lot of potential here to be something new, different, and better. I sincerely hope the second book in the series builds much more on character development, world building, and maybe even emphasizing more about Sal's fluidity. I think if you're going to make a big deal about how the world isn't accepting of them, but then have every single person they meet accept them instantly, there is a huge disconnect there that needs to be explored. Are the streets much more hostile to this kind of issue than the court? Or is there something more at work?

I would probably pick up book two if I were given the opportunity. This one is recommended, with reservations. If you want brand new and different, there isn't much here. But if you're interested in fiction prominently featuring characters that aren't straight and white, you might get something out of this.

Mask of Shadows was absolutely brilliant. Perfect for all fans of YA fantasy.

Sal's homeland was destroyed by shadows, and the nobles used her people as bait to slow down the shadows so that they can escape. Forced to become a thief at a young age, Sal is used to sneaking around and fighting to the death, so when an opportunity comes up where Sal can audition to become a member of the Queen's Left Hand, Sal immediately seizes the opportunity to get close enough to kill those who have wronged Sal's homeland. Sal is named Twenty-Three and must outsmart and outlast the other twenty two competitors in order to become Opal.

Sal was a wonderful main character. This was my first time reading a book with a gender fluid main character, and I absolutely loved it. At first I thought I would get confused when other characters were speaking to or about Sal but I was never confused, I also love how it was kind of similar to how our current time period is with the GLBT community, where a lot of people are accepting and understand, but there are others who chose to challenge this and be disrespectful, which one character in this book was. I feel like the author did a great job writing this (although since I'm not a part of the GLBT community, I can't be a true judge of that). I truly loved Sal's personality, Sal was always kind to the servants and other staff, but was also very smart and knew how to be ruthless and when to kill. Sal definitely reminded me a bit of Celeana Sardothien from Throne of Glass, especially since they were both so confident, yet kind in the right moments.

This book started off very fast. It basically just jumps right into the competition within three chapters. While this is good because there was tons of action right from the start, it also kind of sucks because we don't get to know the world and the character as well in the beginning.

The plot is wonderful, yet very generic when it comes to YA fantasy books. It has a lot of similarities with Throne of Glass series and Hunger Games. While I love those types of books, I really do wish that there was something about Mask of Shadows that set it apart from the other books in this genre.

Most of this book was fairly predictable, the ending did surprise me a bit, especially within the last 2-3 chapters. While I have a feeling I know how the next book will turn out, I'm still super excited to read it, and see what Sal does next.

I received Mask Of Shadows by Linsey Miller thru NetGalley for free for an honest review. I was a bit skeptical of The Mask of Shadows. I truly loved this book and knowing that this is the first book in series, so character growth will happen, but not 100%. Mask of Shadows follows Sallot Leon, a contestant to become the newest Opal in The Left Hand,( an elite group of assassins for the Queen). In order to become an elite assassin for the Queen, Sal must go thru training, lessons that are assigned, and survive from being killed by the other contestants. As the book moves along, we only know the others by their numbers that are etched in their masks. Not knowing them by name, makes less personal, and no grown attachments to one another, Sal may seem like a lost cause by others, but that is their mistake. I truly enjoyed getting to know Sallot Leon, the others members of The Left Hand, the Queen and very much looking towards the next book.

The moment I heard that Mask of Shadows had a genderfluid main character, I knew I needed to get my hands on it, whether for reviewing purposes or just pre-ordering it to have and to hold. Then when I learned Mask of Shadows was a fantasy assassin fight to the death story, I was already in love.

Fantasy is a genre close to my heart, one I’ve always loved, but the lack of representation and diverse characters is glaring. In a world where magic and dragons are real, why shouldn’t there be queer characters? Why is a queer main character so unbelievable? Well, that’s a discussion for another blog topic.

I had some hesitations about Mask of Shadows, in that Sal would have been the only queer character and that the book would have used their identity as a marketing ploy; it wouldn’t be the first time books or movies have tried to garner queer readers, simply because we were starved for representation. But in reading, all my hesitations were thrown out the window at how well the representation was handled.

Sal was never only identified by their genderfluidity; they were a thief and an assassin first, a fierce competitor, clever and flirtatious and had terrible aim. The subject of pronouns was brought up, showing how natural asking or presenting pronouns should be, something we in our modern day world can’t seem to handle. Characters asked, “How should I address you?” and when characters that didn’t respect Sal’s pronouns tried to misgender them, that character was corrected (or punched in the mouth, depending on which character was doing the correcting).

Miller’s writing was lyrical and bright in many places, but sometimes I found certain passages confusing and ended up having to read over those several times. It was never enough to throw me out of the story, but it did slow me down. The only reason I can’t give Mask of Shadows five stars is because of the worldbuilding. The little worldbuilding we got left me wanting more, a little confused and sometimes frustrated.

We get a timeline of the history of the world towards the end of the book, but what I would have loved the most is having a map. A fantasy world is hardly complete without a map for readers to peruse and explore, or to reference when it’s brought up in the story. Especially since Mask of Shadows was rife with politics, a map would have been crucial to have. Barring a map, then there could have been better descriptions regarding the nations and the state of the world around the characters. Miller does a fantastic job of painting an intriguing character, but the setting often felt like a vignette: detailed the closer we were to the character, but fuzzy and empty the further away we got.

Mask of Shadows was still an entertaining read and one I think I’ll come back to again and again. If more fantasy books had the representation this one did, I think we queers would be alright.

Mask of Shadows is full of action, suspicion, lethal fights, and retribution - all good things in a fantasy novel.  The action sequences are exciting, well-written, and played out easily in my head.  I also applaud Linsey Miller at writing a gender fluid main character, a very underrepresented demographic.

I struggled with the world-building and character development.  The beginning of the book was a bit confusing, with the explanation of Sal's world almost an info dump, and I never felt as if I had a good grasp of that world.  I understood Sal's need for revenge after living through such a horrid experience, but the decision to audition for Opal seemed quite sudden.  The other contestants are referred to by numbers  only, and with so many, it's difficult to keep them straight or even imagine them as actual characters, with zero information given. 

Mask of Shadows contains a good story, but a familiar one.  

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

This book has been compared to Throne of Glass, but that is honestly selling this book short. It was so much better and certainly more diverse than that book. The comparison to Six of Crows is much more accurate. I really loved so much about this book, and I flew right through it. Sal is a wonderful protagonist, and I really found myself admiring and rooting for them. I cannot wait for the sequel to this book to see how things turn out.

This review first appeared on http://fictionistmag.com/

Before there is any other discussion, about the book or about the LGBT community, I want to say this:

Representation matters. Representation matters whether you’re in the group represented or not. Literature is meant to broaden your horizons (that’s right — even fantasy). Yes, you can still read about a genderfluid main character if you’re cisgendered. You can still read about an Indian main character if you’re a white American. I could go on.

Anyway, onto my actual review:


Thank you, thank you, thank you, Linsey Miller.

I loved this book. I loved it for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was that I couldn’t stop reading it.

When I was at work, all I was thinking about was when I could get home to keep reading. I stayed up longer than I probably should have for a couple of nights to finish Sal’s story.

This story follows Sal, a lowly thief trapped under a slum lord’s (thief lord’s?) thumb. When Sal robs an Erland lady in a fancy gold-trimmed carriage — rich people. Sigh. — they find a flier. For auditions. For the Left Hand… AKA a group of highly-trained warriors that fight for Our Queen, no questions asked. Our Queen trusts the Left Hand completely, and they are named for her rings (guess what? They’re on her left hand) — Ruby, Emerald and Amethyst. There is also an Opal, but the previous Opal recently died. A rough audition process awaits young Sal, who is determined to audition for Opal after finding the flier.

Sal cuts off someone’s hand, heads on over to the castle (after wrapping the hand, obviously, they’re not an amateur) and it wins them a place as an auditioner.

I can’t give too much away without giving up major plot points, but this book was a delight. Miller’s writing lets you sink into Sal’s mind and stay there until you stop reading, and the nature of the Opal auditions makes sure there’s always something happening. There’s even some sinister court politics involved, which I’m always game for because I’m a messy b*tch who lives for drama.

I also loved the training scenes, because they were at least mostly realistic. They were harrowing, and tiring, and even at the end of a week or so of training Sal didn’t have the hang of archery or sword fighting. They’re hard skills to master in years, let alone a few training sessions, and I appreciate that even by the end of the book Sal is told they’re “awful.”

Now, I personally love that Sal is genderfluid because we don’t see characters like that too often anywhere, let alone in YA. Representation is important for lots of reasons (you can even hear me rant about it in podcast form), and I’m glad there’s one more LGBT+ book available for young readers.

Some of you might be wondering, how “obvious” is Sal’s gender-fluidity? Or, how big of a part of Sal’s character is it?

It’s honestly not a part of the book’s plot, and Sal doesn’t focus on it too much — they’ve been like that as long as they remember, and they know who they are. Sal has to explain it to a couple of people — to them, their gender is based on how they’re feeling day-by-day, so what they’re wearing makes it pretty obvious (since in court life, women generally wear dresses and men generally wear pants/tunics). They’re only really misgendered in one part of the book (twice in a row by the same character), and another character corrects it immediately. I can only really recall Sal mentioning their gender-fluidity about five times, all very brief, throughout the whole 384-page book. It’s easy to forget, but somehow still a presence.

My point here is, if you want to read about a genderfluid main character, this is your book! And if you don’t care about, or even don’t really like, the idea of a genderfluid main character, you could easily still enjoy this book. It’s not all about Sal’s gender fluidity. Their character, in my opinion, is even more heavily based on where they were born and what they’ve been through.

I will admit, the promise of a genderfluid assassin originally drew me to this book. But outside of that: A combination of characters, plot, court intrigue and general badassery makes this an easy five stars from me. I want to read more. Like, now.

I really, really wanted to like this book, but it fell short for me in far too many aspects. I had to force myself to finish it out of respect for the author.
World-building was almost non-existent. Whoever said fans of Sarah J. Maas would love this has never read one of her books. I'm a reader who loves detail and has no problem conjuring an image in head. That did no happen here.
Same with the characters. Almost no one has a description beyond male and female and muscle amount, and everyone is named a number. Meaning, I didn't care about any of them at all. Same thing goes for Sal, the main character. It took four chapters before anything about Sal's appearance was mentioned and it was useless. As for the gender fluidness, all I'll say is it did not translate well. In fact, it annoyed me each time it was brought up because it did not fit in.
Finally, the story itself was lacking. Sal's motivation for joining the auditions is barely there in the beginning. It takes so long for it all to come to light that I had almost finished the book before I understood. Most of the time I was asking "What the heck?" because the only names that seemed to be used are for people we never meet and don't understand the significance. A lot of the auditions came across as unbelievable as well. As for the writing, it was often very abrupt and jumpy, forcing me to go back a paragraph or a page to understand what happened.
Like I said, I really wanted to like this story, but the emotion, the imagery, and the relatability was lacking immensely.

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed Mask of Shadows. I’m pretty sure this is the first book I’ve read with a gender fluid character and I felt that it really added to the story. Sal watched everyone he/she knew die and has wanted revenge ever since. Sal decides to try out to be Opal, a member of the queen’s “The Left Hand”. They are the queen’s assassins and the other Opal died while on an assignment. Sal was living life as a thief up until then, not able to read or write, but very skilled. While on their last heist, Sal meets a lady whom they feel something different for. Sal even let her keep a piece of jewelry. Sal found the paper about the Left Hand auditions, kills someone for the entry, and leaves.

While trying out for The Left Hand, Sal is competing against 22 others. Sal is 23 (fitting since it’s my favorite number). The audition includes learning different skills, both physical and mental. I really liked the poison lessons. Sal goes in for a lesson to learn how to read and write and finds Elise, the same girl he stole from. They flirt and she remembered who Sal was right away.

“I was Sallot Leon-one of the last children of Nacea, orphan and street fighter, highway thiefand Twenty Three.”

I loved Sal, but I really found myself loving Maud, the maid. She was funny and a great side character. Elise was bold and smart, always a good combo. I also really enjoyed the rest of The Left Hand.

I won’t ruin anything for anyone who hasn’t read this yet. Sal competes. There is a lot of death, some backstabbing, a little romance, and revenge.

I gave this book 4 stars. It was a little confusing with all the names and places, but the story was fast paced with a lot of action.

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley for review. Mask of Shadows will be released August 29th 2017 by Sourcesbooks Fire.

This novel was reminiscent of/a combination of The Hunger Games, Throne of Glass, and Divergent (sort of).

What excited me the most about this novel was the fact that the main character neither identified as male or female and was fluid with his/her gender. This is an interesting concept and I've never seen this done before. Even though I didn't necessarily enjoy this book, I did enjoy the fact that the author included this aspect in this story.

Now, onto my opinion of the story. First, a big complaint of mine was that the auditioners were named by numbers. This made it hard to distinguish, personalize, or even care for any of the characters involved. To be honest, after reading the only ones that I can specifically remember are Two, Three, Four, Five, and Twenty-Three (our main character). Having these characters named would have increased my enjoyment/understanding of the story tenfold.

Unfortunately, I just could not get into this story. The plot and overall storyline did not seem properly introduced and left me feeling confused and bored throughout the majority of the novel. Admittedly, there were a couple of fighting scenes that did capture my attention because they were well written. However, overall I just felt that I was going through the motions of reading this book with little to no understanding or interest.

As this was an ARC, there were a few grammatical errors as well as words missing from sentences. I hope this will be corrected prior to be publication.

Even though this was not a popular read for me, I hope that others will enjoy it more.

**Thank you to NetGalley as well as the publisher for supplying me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

Orphaned street thief, Sallot Leon, is permitted to enter the audition to become the next member of the Left Hand of the Queen, a group of four assassins who serve as advisers and protectors of the throne. These four are named for the gems of the rings worn by the Queen: Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst and Opal. When the last Opal is killed, Sal and 22 others compete to gain the position, which will elevate the winner to enjoy the riches, security and honor that will come with a new noble status. Borrowing heavily from titles such as Hunger Games and Throne of Glass, the plot follows the Auditioners, who must fight to the death to earn the coveted spot at court. The 22 contestants are virtually undistinguishable from one another with no real character development for any of them– each are masked for the competition and known only by their assigned numbers. Sal, now known as Twenty Three, wishes to leave a life of thievery behind, but also has a hidden agenda to avenge the destruction of her homeland and people. In one of the more original and interesting aspects of this tale, Sal ‘s character is gender fluid and prefers to be addressed by the pronouns of “they” and “them”. Unfortunately, the gender identity for Sal seems to revolve around what clothing they are wearing that day. A romance with a noblewoman who serves as a tutor for the Auditioners, unfolds and the sexuality between the two is presented matter of factly, the only obstacle to such a romance in this world is the Sal’s lower-class status, which would change if they win the contest. Mask of Shadows details the growing violence and intrigue between the Auditioners as the competition advances and many of these scenes are gripping, violent and gory. But overall, the story lacks strong character development and the world building is not fully realized. Sal’s back story is only briefly visited and there is no real explanation or insight into the magic and shadows which caused the destruction of the old-world order, or the war between the kingdoms that led to the current shaky political reality. This YA fantasy with a strong, gender fluid character has an interesting premise and action-packed competition sequences. A secondary purchase for fans of violent fantasy.

You know those kids you see in the mornings lagging behind their parents and/or siblings, scuffing their feet, head down, on their way to school? Looking anywhere and at anything possible to maybe maybe avoid their fate? That's how I felt reading this book.

I was so. so. so. so (x infinity) bored. I'm sorry, I was. I almost DNF'd this at 5%. And again at 8%. And 35%. And 49%. And.. honestly, I should just get to the point, or we'll all be here all day.

MASK OF SHADOWS is generic fantasy starring some genocide and vengeance and dead magic. Which sure sounds interesting. But.. I never felt like Sal cared about retribution, so why should I? Everything felt very flat. Even the reasons for the death of their people. It was like, oops? <spoiler>Also, really, you're trying to tell me <b>you're the only one who survived</b>? I call bullshit on that, snowflake.</spoiler> Oh but we have a genderfluid MC. If only we'd have more than four, maybe five?, casual references to pronouns this might have actually excited me. Because other than being occasionally miffed when someone "didn't notice I was dressed like a man/woman and should therefore be called he/she".. that's all we got from this. Oh and I guess the love interest was also bisexual. So, uh.. yay? If only I cared even a little about anything. Because I did not.

The history confused me, I totally zoned out countless times, I still don't really understand a lot of what happened, and why this thief/street rat/whatever thinks they are better than <b>professional longtime assassins</b> I don't know.

There have been a lot of lackluster (lazy) fantasy offerings as of late and sadly, despite the unique elements that tried to make this different, this one definitely gets added to that pile. I never got so annoyed that I hated it, or any character or event, I was just so uninterested that my ambivalence felt painful. So this one star isn't a rage-rating. I just can't assign anything higher to a read that offered me so little connection, enthusiasm or interest.

Incase you couldn't tell I will not be reading the sequel.

It was so hard for me to get into this book. The protagonist was not very likable because they were so underdeveloped. The history of the setting was also dull and misplaced.