I really enjoyed reading this book. It kept my interest throughout and I found Sallot to be relatable. I loved the journey the author takes the reader on and thoroughly enjoyed reading about Sal's experiences during the Audition process. The ending also sets up the next book nicely. I can't wait to read what happens next!

Orphan Sal is a thief who enters a competition to become one of the Queen's new Assassins. During this fight to-the-death, Sal builds relationships and trust in unlikely places, while plotting to use the position to take revenge for their family's death.

The genderfluid main character was handled in a very matter-of-fact way. This character could have been any sex/sexual orientation and it would have been the same story. Although the competition is reminiscent of The Hunger Games, I felt it was justified to have this type of event, with the candidates killing each other, since in fact they are auditioning to be assassins. Nothing pretty about that profession.

Although I liked the book, there are some things I think needed tightening up. My biggest problem was that the history of this country was not more fully developed. I was doing a lot of filling in the blanks with the bits of information given - Why did the countries go to war?
Who were the magicians and what is the source of magic? How did the runes factor in? How exactly did the queen "save everybody"?, (I was never sure if Sal's loyalty to the queen was misplaced because I was so confused about the history of their (extinct) country.) Most importantly, I would have liked more thorough information on the shadow earlier in the book.

This was a "can't put down" read and I look forward to further adventures of Opal!

Sallot Leon, better known as Sal, is a street fighter and an excellent thief. Sal, however wants more from life than robbing nobles and fighting. In the midst of a robbery one day, Sal finds a flyer for auditions for the position of Opal in the Queen’s Left Hand- her personal assassins, named after the rings on her left hand, and decides to go for it. The auditions turn out to be not only training, but a fight to the death with the other contestants. This is a fight that Sal may not be prepared for, but is determined to win and get revenge for their country that was destroyed by the nobles that are in the capitol and the heart of Elise, who they are growing closer and closer to. Will Sal survive to live out this dream?
Guys, I finished this book, and immediately said that I needed more! Seriously, check my Twitter feed! This is that wonderful rare occasion where I have trouble believing that this is a debut novel. The characters were so well rounded and fleshed out. I absolutely loved that the main character, Sal, was gender fluid. It made this character all the more interesting, and definitely an underrepresented community that we should see more of. Miller writes characters that you want to become invested in. The world building was so lovely, and easily visualized. It had enough romance in it to add to the story, but not so much as to make it the focus. This is written as a YA Fantasy, but truthfully it is just a very well written Fantasy that would appeal to anyone looking for that type of escape. I can’t wait to find that escape again in the next installment!

I'm going to just get the obvious out of the way, and say what everyone else is saying about this book:  This could be called "Hunger Games with a Gender-Fluid Hero." It could be...if books were that simple.

But they aren't. So I'm not going to call it Hunger Games with a Gender-Fluid Hero. Does it have some similarities to that series? Sure, absolutely. They are both about battles to the death in post-war countries. There's a love interest with some sparky sparks elsewhere. But I find myself annoyed that Hunger Games is now a very narrow genre of its own, and if any other book is remotely similar to it...it is undesirable. Unpopular Opinion Alert.

Now for some unsimiliarities (that's not a word, Haley):  This is more high fantasy than dystopia. The world used to have magic, but it has been broken. This definitely isn't a modern society, and that's the biggest break from the HG dystopian genre. Also, these aren't kids. Sal is youngish, but the audition for Opal is seen as a legit job interview. We aren't sending 11 year olds to do this, and it's not an annual sacrifice. Not everyone has to do this, it's totally optional, and it's not seen as a game.

Definitely not a game. These people are not messing around with their tasks and their rules. It isn't an audition for the lighthearted--you're gonna die if you don't take it seriously. I loved Maud and how she kept pointing out to Sal how much she was doing everything wrong. I'd want her in my corner always.

Sal's gender fluidity is a big deal, so I don't want to skim over that, but I also realize it is very much not my lane. I admit that I was a bit confused by the pronouns--I've never seen anyone go by all three before, and I haven't been able to find anything online about that. In the book, they prefer which every pronoun suits the clothes that they are wearing:  'he' when wearing masculine clothing, 'she' when wearing feminine, 'they' when wearing both. For some characters, this was absolutely no big deal and accepted. For others, they were called she all the time--either out of confusion...or mostly spite. Again, this is absolutely not my lane, and because the book hasn't been released yet, there aren't a lot of own voices reviews yet. I will say that I am glad that there is some gender fluid main character rep in the market, and I will keep my fingers crossed that nothing problematic comes out of this. I want very badly for this to be a good thing for people.

I really enjoyed this debut for Linsey Miller. It's a solid high fantasy series starter. I'm super interested to see where the rest of the series takes us!

I was really disappointed by this book. I was really excited to check this book out and I got it from netgalley so I'm doing this for an honest review.

The description of this book sounded amazing - honestly, but reading it, I never felt a connection to the characters, I had to force myself to keep going and read, and it wasn't as amazing as it sounded.

I hate HATE giving bad reviews. I hate not liking books and I hate not giving a book another chance.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review, which has not altered my opinion.

As soon as I read the premise of this book, I knew that I had to give it a read. I feel as though there have been some very different and very good assassination books as well as some very different and very good lgbt+ books over the past year and this book can be added to both. I’m actually going to quickly start with the second part of that sentence because our main character is openly gender fluid and I have to say that I loved the fact that this world just took that all in stride. Literally, everyone totally respected that Sal would chose their gender each day (take note real world!). On the other side, Sal was a complete and utter badass! They knew what was wanted and did just that, damn what everyone else thought.

The entire concept for the story didn’t remind me as much of Hunger Games as I worried it would, but there was for sure that distinct possibility lurking in the back of my mind. But this story was so well thought out and well planned, and surprisingly the politics did not bore me at all. There wasn’t a huge lull that caused me to get bored although I did lose track briefly at the beginning what the jobs of each of the Queen’s Hands was. I remembered Opal is the assassin but I couldn’t recall Ruby’s job for the life of me until the next chapter and I nearly hit myself in the face with my kindle for forgetting. The biggest plot for this entire book, however, is for sure revenge. Basically, it’s about getting revenge and not letting anyone figure out it was you. Talk about some brutal death scenes, this book really had them!

As far as the sequels go, I’m really hoping that there is going to be more information on Sal and their family. It will also be exciting and interesting to see how Sal’s change in views affects their performance in the future. I can’t wait to see what happens!! Five out of five from me!

Ok, a strong story with a unique and complex character to lead it. The story would have benefited from a strong editor, as there were several places where the main character acted in ways that made no sense or it was unclear about why they were acting that way. Each time, this was a distraction to the story. The magic system absolutely needed more clarification and the (mostly) off-screen characters that the protagonist wanted eliminated due to their actions in the war were poorly drawn, when they were drawn at all. However, the on-screen characters were well-drawn and given personalities and motivations that were easily understood. The love story was rather hollow but clear and made sense in the context of the story. The amorality of the entire group, except for two characters, was rather disturbing but completely in character. Overall a good story, but it could have been great very easily.

***Link not active until 1 week before book's pub date***

Assassins are popular these days.

His Fair Assassin trilogy, which I thought was going to be stupid but which was a dazzlingly well-researched historical and religious drama, and Godsgrave, which was a crazy-cool assassin rock concert at full blast. Hit is about corporate assassins, and Throne of Glass is a competition for the best assassin. I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the latter, and I was ready for a new take. Linsey Miller is taking up that challenge with Mask of Shadows, also about an assassin competition, but more like The Hunger Games in that the competition involves picking each other off to win.

Sal is our assassin, a bandit who has larger and darker dreams than ripping off carriages by the side of the road. As a child, Sal witnessed the bloody end of a bleak and cruel war, and now they want their vengeance.

Yes, they. Sal doesn't hold to one gender, and they are male or female or neuter depending on how they feel. For the sake of convenience, they dress according to the pronouns they want others to use. Mask of Shadows is a great exploration of gender but it's not about gender. I see a lot of stories focused on self-discovery—and that's awesome!—but not everyone has the luxury of protracted self-examination. Sal found out who they were while under the thumb of a ruthless gang lord, and asserted themself as safely as possible while also having to make concessions to make their changing gender identity apparent to others. They had so much to cope with, and they found a way. That's an important story to tell too, and I applaud Miller for doing it so well.

Miller likewise pays attention to the realities she has set up with her world—the flux of commerce and power, the economic consequences of the loss of magic, and the difficulties of peace. The setting is solid: two nations uneasily united under one conqueror-queen, a woman whom Sal worships as the woman who ended the war. This almost chivalric devotion is unusual in modern fantasy, so it's pleasant to see such uncomplicated faith and optimism.

The queen has empowered her Left Hand--her closest confidants and deadliest assassins--to choose a new member after one of their number is killed. The Left Hand calls for "auditions," and Sal volunteers, thinking it will get them closer to both the queen and revenge.

The members of the Left Hand seem vaguely likable and interesting but not terribly distinct from one another as characters. Other auditioners are likewise hard to distinguish even when Sal begins to know them a little. They die quickly but (with a few exceptions) not very notably. There are no gruesome or heart-wrenching details of their deaths, no impressive feats like getting killed in a locked room or a bare field. And since Sal has no emotional connection to any of them, they barely make any impact. That's not really what you want when you're telling a story about a competition to become the next Super Awesome Death Ninja.

Their successes and failures also feel muffled by the writing. Some authors are adept at throwing you into situations and then gradually peeling back the layers, making the whole book a mystery you're constantly examining. Gene Wolfe is a master, and Genevieve Valentine isn't far behind. But to do this, you have to reveal what but not why. Unfortunately Miller stumbles at times with revealing what. There are frequent instances of scenes that do not properly introduce the action, and I don't just mean the fighting. I mean that I had to frequently page back to determine that, yes, people were suddenly reacting to things that had no antecedents. Let me give you an example: some of the candidates are eating dinner and then suddenly they are reacting to someone talking about important notes. We don't see these notes described and we don't understand how (or even if) they get from one person's hand to another's until specific characters react. And the conversation does not reveal the action in any way--they could be hiding these notes, passing them out, having servants take them to hand out, etc. I may get the gist (sooner--or later) but I can't actually picture things.

Now, I sympathize with this impulse. You don't want to over-describe, and snappy scenes feel good to write and to read. There's also perhaps a certain new-writer shyness or embarrassment around writing too much and having your prose seem purple or amateurish. But Miller is leaving us out of basic mechanics, making it harder to picture the flow of the action, not easier. She's also shooting herself in the foot a little, since mechanical actions are just as useful as dialogue or emotional descriptions at conveying mood and intent. As she settles into writing I think this tendency will fade, but right now, it's really distracting.

The narrative as a whole is also bumpy. The auditioners' training is oddly protracted, and I'm not sure I like the structure—it seems unfair, and not terribly interesting on top of that. Perhaps it's a good way to gauge candidates' ability to learn and adapt, but it seems rushed. They're supposed to learn a huge range of skills, but only the basics, and we don't even get to see most of those basics. We don't learn cool or interesting things along with Sal, we just hear that Sal learns about archery, or poison, or what-have-you.

Sal seems more lucky than skillful—they depend very heavily on their servant Maud despite frequent assertions of mistrust, and they find ways in and out of places without anything going wrong or putting in much time or work. I like to see characters who either work harder than everyone else, or who are cleverer or more talented than everyone else in a tangible, demonstrated way. We understand that Sal is a good thief, but we don't see a whole lot of it. At several points they pick locks on buildings within the palace or owned by very dangerous people—yet they are able to overcome these locks with equal finesse and blasé. How did a highway robber learn how to get through the best locks that money could buy? Their former master didn't seem the teacher type, and lockpicking isn't always simple.

The politics of the realm are also far from simple, yet Sal doggedly persists in assuming they are. Vengeance can make a person myopic, sure, but even as Sal learns how complex some situations and people can be from their romantic interest, they fail to apply that lesson elsewhere. They murder nobles and believe it will help the realm, yet they have no idea what kinds of long political games the Queen they profess to adore is playing. They could be ruining things and would never know—but of course, they aren't. Things work out for Sal. Sal gets to be the hero, even when others have to be borderline incompetent for it to happen. And Sal gets to keep their illusion of righteous vengeance while also sidestepping the hard questions of compromise and the greater good.

A hypocrite would be an interesting flaw for a character—so often we have characters who are conflicted but ultimately honest—but I think it's not one Miller meant Sal to have. We're supposed to sympathize with Sal's purehearted vengeance, but they were willing to kill strangers on command. That's morally grey at best. Sal doesn't get to condemn other's hard choices and retain credibility as a paragon of virtue, and it's a huge misstep for Miller to demand our continued sympathies for them in that light.

The ending sets up a sequel, which I will probably read so long as it comes out next summer. Mask of Shadows was a good beach read, enough for a weekend away. It was fun enough and diverting enough, but the next book will have to be more than enough to compete.

Mask of Shadows comes out August 29th.

You know that feeling when a book jumps out at you and the rest of the world fades away? MASK OF SHADOWS by Linsey Miller did that to me and getting to the end had me thinking, now that’s a great story! Imagine Fate dumping the opportunity to better your life, gain the respect of others and get a long awaited revenge on those responsible for the death of Sallit’s people. Sallit is all that is left, a skilled thief, living in poverty and filth. This is Sal’s chance to change that, but first the auditions must be survived…only then can Sal become a member of the Queen’s Left Hand, her personal assassins. Skilled in the art of bringing death when one least expects it in ways too numerous to count.

Ms. Miller has skillfully created an almost dreamlike atmosphere as we witness the making of an assassin, the best of the best, the one who outwits and outlasts their fellow auditioners by any means necessary, even killing them. Feel the tension of distrust, the wariness of every action, every look and the loneliness of knowing you are all that is left of your people. Know how desperate and determined Sallit is to bring down the monsters responsible for the genocide of good and trusting people.

Dark, violent, mysterious and brilliantly executed, Linsey Miller has created a fantasy that will raise the hairs on your neck and actually trying to devise means of helping Sallit stay alive to win the title, Opal, the masked assassin for the queen. Sometimes justice and revenge can be a driving force to one’s own destruction, yet it is also a powerful motivator. Sallit is proof, but is it worth possibly losing your soul and your life? You decide. Linsey Miller makes a powerful statement in the fantasy world that begs to be read!

I received an ARC edition from Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire (August 29, 2017)
Publication Date: August 29, 2017
Genre: Fantasy YA
Print Length: 352 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

This book is a masterpiece that was cleverly written on a plot that we have seen in a few different ways. You got a character who describes herself as " Thief and a killer, trained by childhood of fear and violence" who sets out in a competition to take a prized position. I loved that we jumped into the story with little knowledge of how our wayward character got to where she is. Sometimes I feel the first book of a series gets bogged down with filling us in with backstory that it takes to long to get to the meat of the story. Since this is a book one we got more books to fill in backstory with as the main character continues on her path beyond achieving what she wants to in the competition.

Some may hold issue with the love interest in this story as it two females but I did not feel it was overly weird or that it distracted from the action filled story. In fact I not sure it could of played out well or at all if it been a male and female relationship.

My favorite quote came right at the end of the story when the now crowned opal tells the queen just what she thinks of her. " I used to love you. I adored you. I would've died for you. I thought you were lady sent to save us, to pull us from the chaos magic and greed brought down upon us, but your just like us. Your not any different from them, maneuvering people to keep your power". What a powerful thought and accurate description of how the political leaders actually think and work. Makes you wonder if the magic was ever truly banished? Makes me intrigued for book two.

The book ends on rousing cliff hanger with our love interest being stolen away and the new opal taking on the task of her the previous opal. "They'd taken my country and my life, and I would take their heads". Gives me tingles.

This was a DNF for me. The action writing was good to a point but the limited character descriptions (in both the physical and personal senses) became frustrating and kept taking me out of the story. The similarities to other fantasy/dystopian stories (mostly other YA and even Once Upon a Time in the intro) also took away the motivation to keep reading. That said, I appreciate the opportunity to read an advanced copy and am sorry I was unable to give a review of the complete story.

I totally love this novel. The characters were fantastic and loved the plot twists. The author did a fantastic job creating a different world. Salad lost everything when he was young, with no parents to protect and guide him, he was forced to become a thief. When he stumbled upon a poster found in one of his targets purse he found the perfect opportunity to change his life. Can he outsmart all the other candidates to become the next opal?

<i> Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy </i>

This started off a little shaky for me. I couldn't get into the story and I thought it would be a DNF. But after a few chapters the story started to pick up and then I couldn't put it down.

Initially I picked it up because the description said it's for fans of Sarah J Maas and Leigh Bardugo, so I was instantly intrigued. I wouldn't say this is on the same level writing wise as Maas or Bardugo, but it was still highly enjoyable and written well (if a little confusing plot wise at times). I also got 'Nevernight' vibes when reading this, which isn't a bad thing as I adored that book.

There were certain characters in this that I loved (Maud) and wanted more from -- and the killings were a lot more brutal than I was expecting for a YA book about assassins, which I enjoyed. The fact that the main character was gender fluid was refreshing to read about too.

Highly enjoyable read and I can't wait for book two.

The story is quite compelling and one finds oneself rooting for the main character, despite the gruesome nature of what he is trying to achieve. However, the story kept building and building, but the end was somewhat confusing and leaves the reader very much hanging. While I'm all for cliffhangers, I would have liked a little clearer resolution to this book. That having been said, I would likely read the next one!

The author (and even those who describe the book) do a great job with the gender-fluidity of the main character and I really liked Sal, but I found the shadows confusing, and the numbered contestants made the story less enjoyable to me. At first, I wasnt sure I was going to read the next book in the series when it is published, but as time passes, I find myself looking forward to more of the series.

A few months ago, I started hearing about a debut novel featuring a gender fluid assassin protagonist. Since that sounded amazing and the writing was being compared to that of Sarah J Maas and Leigh Bardugo (two authors I adore), I couldn't hit request on Netgalley fast enough. Cue the happy dance when my request was approved and I was ready to read. However, it soon became clear that this novel could not live up the high expectations I had set for it.

The plot follows Sal, the protagonist, as they audition for the position of Opal, one of the four members of the Queen's Left Hand - her personal assassins. At the beginning of the auditions, each contestant is given a number and told that only one of them will make it out alive. They are free to kill each other, as long as they don't get caught. What follows next is a long montage of training and murder scenes, occasionally interspersed with scenes where Sal interacts with her maid or the love interest.

Since the majority of secondary characters in this novel were only given numbers, I found it incredibly difficult to keep them straight and to connect with them. Most of the characters don't really have any backstory. Even Sal's backstory is piecemeal, leaving much to be desired. There weren't really any character besides Sal and her maid who stood out to me until the last portion of the book. In the last few chapters, many of the previously amorphous characters coalesced into interesting, unique individuals with dark backstories. However, this change occurred much too late in the story for me.

The world-building was pretty mediocre. The characters keep mentioning the past but it's never explained. Additionally, there is a lot of political intrigue toward the end but there wasn't context for me to truly understand or enjoy it. I was never quite sure of the role magic played in this society. This world had the potential to be incredibly interesting but needed a lot more depth to reach that potential.

I thought that the author did a good job of explaining Sal's gender fluidity. I am thrilled that we are starting to get more diverse characters in books. I don't have any experience with gender fluidity so I learned a lot throughout the course of the novel. It was very helpful that Sal explained it in a clear and understandable way toward the beginning of the book.

Okay I loved the premise of this book and I love the fact that it features a Genderfluid MC but I did have a few problems with this book. Lots of times I was confused on reading it. It just jumped around so much that I had to reread parts many times just to try and grasp what the heck was going on.

I loved the character development with Sal. I felt that was very well done. Though some of the side characters didn't get that. I do think this was marketed correctly to SJM fans, as it follows that trope very well. To the point where sometimes I felt it was too much like an SJM book.

The action is very well done, and I do love the plot. I love how the member's of Queen's hand are named after rings. I know that sounds silly but I just love that little tidbit. I really enjoyed just following Sal around while they did their thing. Sal is pretty damn badass.

So overall, I did enjoy this book, the parts I could understand and hope the next books fixes these issues so that it is mind blowing amazing!

The whole premise of this book was that there was a competition of assassins and the last one standing is to become one of the four Queen's assassins that went out and did her biding/dirty work to protect the Kingdom. Haven't we seen this exact storyline before? That's what was bothering me throughout the book but I quite couldn't put my finger on. I've seen this exact trope dozens of times in thinly-veiled YA fantasy novels, and at some point in time they stop becoming interesting to consume.

Not only that, but this was one of the most predictable plot-lines that I had read in a very long time. Meaning that you knew what the outcome was going to be even before you finished Chapter one, or from a mile away. It's not that I've even read some spoilers about what would happen, it's just a cliche that you know is coming, and I wish that the author could have thrown us for some sort of surprise curveball, instead of the plot being so straightforward.

Do you know what else I really expected from this novel? I wanted the political intrigue and worldbuilding to be much more developed. I'm writing this review roughly four hours after finishing this book and I couldn't tell you the name of the main kingdom in which Sal resides. I couldn't tell you the players on the political chessboard. I couldn't tell you much about the world at all, and coming up with these type of major blanks is not supposed to happen in a well-developed fantasy setting.

Further, you know when a character just gets in easy, or learns all of the world's talents in a week? That's how it felt like the author was writing the development of Sal, after they got accepted in the audition, they suddenly had all sorts of fighting skills and physical strengths developed in an instance, which is so utterly ridiculous and unrealistic that I cringed during displays of Sal's talent that weren't practiced enough.

The only side character who I cared about, as the other seemed like stereotypes of assassins, was Maud, who was the servant in Sal's quarters. Maud is very determined get paid so that she could save her triplet siblings from being scattered and sold by the orphanage. In my opinion she is the shining, yet quiet heroine in this novel.

Another thing is that I wasn't on board with the romance at all. Whenever there is a teacher-is-lover-with-student, I feel all icky because a boundary is crossed and in every situation it makes me not want the two characters to end up together at all.

I don't want to discount that this book could mean a lot to someone objectively, because I identify as a non-binary person and this was the first genderfluid characters that I have ever seen represented on page. Even though I don't have the same experiences as Sal did, I still feel like there was adequate emphasis on explaining their pronoun preferences and who they were interacting with. Also as a note there was a bisexual/pansexual love interest, which made me appreciate the various sexuality that was represented in here.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

You know I wanted to love this based on the gender fluid character. We need so much more of that in MG and YA. It's not that I didn't like this story, it just was too much action for my taste. I wanted to get to know the world and characters more before we jolted ahead at full speed. I will be recommending it to my teen readers- especially all those GOT enthusiasts.

Let me preface this review by saying that I only made it through 3/4 of the book before giving up.

There was quite a lot that I didn't like about this book, so I'm only going to go over the most important points. I did feel like this book had potential, but was poorly executed. It felt like the author had set ideas they wanted to include, but put on page they came out kind of jumbled and confusing.

Firstly, I didn't like how Sal's only interesting quality was their gender fluidity. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely an interesting characteristic, but not enough to make Sal appeal to me. Sal ended up being a very flat character and had almost no growth throughout the entire novel. My largest grievance with Sal was that they were supposed to be this person with no qualms about killing others ("nothing personal," to the guard about to be killed by Sal's hands...), yet when anybody made a mistake about the correct gender to address Sal with, they (Sal) threw a fit. How can Sal be an assassin when something so small causes them to be so upset?

Secondly, the Left Hand - they seemed so interesting, but they were too inconsistent to be believable. The Left Hand were supposed to be impartial to all of the auditioners (and sometimes they were!), but half the time they seemed worried about the auditioners, or very partial to Sal at least. I just don't understand how Ruby didn't care when Four was laying bleeding out on the ground, yet it was a big deal to make sure that Sal wasn't offended by using the incorrect gender pronoun.

The thing that bothered me the most was that there were no meaningful or reasonable relationships. It didn't make sense for Maud to be friends with Sal because they were both only doing things for themselves. Why would Maud put her job on the line to help Sal when that could mean losing her livelihood and her ability to help her siblings? And don't get me started on the relationship between Sal and Elise. There is no good reason that they should be head over heels in love after less than a week, but they totally are. Their interactions only involved a robbing, flirting and tutoring, but apparently that's the formula for love.

The world was not fleshed out, the details were thrown in haphazardly and the book was just confusing overall.
This novel was supposed to be comparable to those of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

TLDR: The author had promising ideas, but the execution just wasn't there. The world/main character were boring and the relationships/interactions completely unbelievable.