This is the best Fantasy book I've read this year! Edge of your seat the whole way! I was hooked, can't wait for more books from this author or this series.

The summary was what caught my attention about the book. The plot was very interesting and I liked the way the characters interacted with each other. the only thing I found confusing was knowing whether the main character was a boy or girl. There was references to both and that Sallot went by both depending on how he/she dressed. The story itself was okay being based on trying to be the next assassin. There are four Queen's personal assassin's: Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst, and Opal. It mostly focuses on the test of becoming the next Opal. I liked the different ways that the participants tried to kill each other. The details that Miller gives sets the book great depth to make the plot run along smoothly and I could picture everything clearly. The idea of assassins is clever and gives a different perspective on how assassins do what they do.

I requested this book on cover alone. Many of my teens do this when browsing for books, so I do so every once in a while to see the results. From the cover, I saw fantasy, sci-fi, and action in my future. After reading, I wasn’t sure exactly what I got, but it wasn’t what I had expected.
This story started with a strong opener. It was a thrilling robbery that introduced the main character and gave him a witty attitude that I was sure would set the pace of the novel. I enjoyed his interactions and dialogue with the lady he was robbing and looked forward to seeing her in the future (it was an easy premise to see). Unfortunately, after that scene, everything went downhill.
Our main character, Sal, was presented as a tough ruffian with a good humor and ambition to make something of himself. Throughout the book, all that remains is his ambition. There is simply too much going on with this character to understand him fully. He is cutthroat, yet doesn’t want to kill. The idea of him being gender fluid is fine, but it is only brought up two or three times when he dresses in a dress and is asked about how he wants to be addressed. I assumed initially that he was wearing the dress to conceal who he was and became confused with the conversations initially. This preference is only touched upon briefly and does not affect the story in any way which makes it seem like an afterthought, thrown in to make the book edgy and current. Most other characters are attempted to be given a personality, but fall flat. Without clear distinction between characters, names that are only brought up here and there are unclear and create confusion for the reader.
The writing was very muddled, making scenes and plotlines unclear. Sal’s thoughts are all over the place, thinking of Nacea, wanting revenge, wanting to win, planning to defy the queen, and feelings for his tutor. He is never very focused or detailed with his thoughts and actions. As for plotlines, they were very thin and often lacked a strong foundation, which led to disinterest. There was a gap when Four accused Sal, lying to get him kicked out. It starts a large part of the book that is supposed to be a huge turning point, but his words are missing. Sal accuses Four of lying, but it was very unclear as to what the lie was.
For this story to work, there needs to be more detail and backstory added to allow readers to accept Sal for who he is and what he stands for. There is a brief description of what happened to Nacea and him, yet it is not enough to sympathize with his taste for revenge. The writing needs to be focused and thought out. There needs to be clear transitions and proper set ups. If the idea of a gender fluid character is to stay, it needs to be clear and hold meaning in the book.

(This review will not be published until 30 days before the release of the novel)

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The book started out decently. It begins with a robbery as we are introduced to our gender fluid main character Sal, and the competition that would change their life. Notice I used ‘their’ instead of he or she, for Sal chooses to be addressed as whatever they dress. If he dresses as a man, he will be addressed as such. If she dresses as a woman, the same applies. This was interesting as I never read from such a POV.

Everything else went pretty downhill from there.

If I could use one word to describe how I felt about this book it would be this: DISAPPOINTED.

The Goodreads synopsis for this book says, “Perfect for fantasy fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo”. And you know what? They technically weren’t wrong. If you like assassins and shadow monsters that kill everyone, this is the book for you. Seriously, if Throne of Glass and Shadow and Bone got together and had a child, it might be Mask of Shadows. Just remove the compelling characters, fluid writing, and vivid world building.

This book is about Sal, one of the last few survivors of Nacea, a land that was ravished by wars and monsters made of shadow and magic. Sal has decided to get revenge on those who abandoned Nacea to die, and to do so, Sal joins a competition to be the Queen’s next Opal. The Opal, along with Ruby, Emerald, and Amethyst, are all part of the Queen’s Left Hand, a group of assassins ready to do the Queen’s dirty deeds in secret. And if this doesn’t sound a bit like Throne of Glass, or Hunger Games, or any of the hundreds of YA with similar plots, I don’t know what does.

Anyway, this competition has very few rules. The objective is to kill all the other contestants without harming civilians and without getting caught. Simple enough, right? Wrong, not where there are twenty-three other people also ready to kill for the title.

And so, it begins. There are ‘plot-twists’, dangerous politics, court intrigue, and of course, murder. The problem was that I didn’t care about any of it. I couldn’t care less if Sal, or any of the other characters, all got blown up or shot in the face. They did not bring forth any emotion from me. Maybe it had to do with the fact that we got no physical descriptions whatsoever, or that everyone was called either by a number, Sal being Twenty-Three, or the gem they represented (ex. Ruby, Amethyst, Emerald). Also, the supporting cast was a cluster of clichés, including the strong headed, determined handmaiden/servant, and the generically evil competitor who has it out for the main character and also wants revenge for something or the other. I honestly feel like Miller thought that she was giving these characters personality and depth, and I appreciate her effort, it just didn’t translate to me as I think she would have hoped.

As for the gender fluidity of the character, while interesting, seemed unnecessary. Now, before you get mad, let me explain. Sal’s sexual orientation is a major selling point. And that is it. It doesn’t factor into the story, whatsoever. Is this a world where being gender fluid is acceptable? I don’t think it is. If so, why does Sal get emotional when people accept this as a part of them? How does it affect Sal as a person? The other competitors? The story as a whole? What do we learn from this? Nothing, that is what. It was there to be one of few hints of originality in the story.

So, why 3 stars? Because I am a nice person. Also, because I was entertained, and that is really what I want in a book. To be entertained for a couple of hours of my life. Also, it left me interested enough that I might actually read the sequel.

This book had a mixture of throne of glass and hunger games. I would like to know more about where she came from.Sal's character is a little off and takes time to like. Overall an alright book

When I started reading this book, honestly, I was disappointed because I expected too much of Bardugo's and Maas' way of writing in the story to begin with. However, things changed as I go along with the book and the story got really fascinating. It captivated me. The gender fluid character was COOL! (I’m just going to say it informally rather than formal) It is something different and uncalled for. That is what made this book attractive and bad ass (sorry for the language but I that’s how I feel about this book) This book is dark and emotionally captured me in a way that I felt lonely when I finished reading the book knowing that I have to wait for the next book to come out since this one hasn’t been released yet. Linsey Miller, thank you so much for writing such a wonderful story and sharing with the world. I can hardly wait for this book to be released. I have so many more to say but I’ll keep it to myself because trust me it will be never ending.

A high fantasy about assassins and a gender fluid MC? The synopsis of this book definitely piqued my interest. Unfortunately it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

I was intrigued by the gender fluid MC since i have yet to read a book in which gender fluidity is discussed. I'm not educated enough to comment much on that aspect on that aspect of the book but I will say that it felt rushed and was not explained very well.

In parts of the book there was a lot of info dumping, so much so that some events are still unclear to me.

I also found that the character development was lacking a bit. By referring to the competitors as numbers it was very impersonal and hard to keep track of who was who. I found it quite improbable that our MC went from being a thief -who had not killed anyone- to being this assassin who kills a bunch of people without feeling any sort of guilt.

I'm going to be honest here, I absolutely was drawn in by the premise of the book. The idea of a gender fluid character was intriguing, but it was the base of a competition for assassins.. I'm a sucker for assassin themed books. But...

The book was beyond tedious in my opinion.



Sal was a thief, a darn good thief and when the option to become more, to become one of the Queen's skilled assassin's presents itself, Sal leaps and takes a chance by throwing themselves into the competition. Yes, Sal is indeed a gender fluid character so they are frequently addressed as He/She/They depending on how they are dressed or how they prefer to be addressed at the moment.

Each competitor is given a number which is confusing because I cannot keep track of One, Two, Three, Five, Eight, Twenty-Two. All I know is that Sal is Twenty-Three and everyone else is interchangable, forgettable and flat. There is a disconnect between all the characters, I do not feel for Sal's plight, I did not feel for any of the characters. There is no depth, no insight and coupled with the lack of explanation in multiple situations as well as history it made the book a chore to read.

There were also so many things that I just could not make myself believe, even though this is a fantasy book I just found myself shaking my head in disbelief. I wanted to like this book, but for me it was just not there and I found myself constantly stuck whilst reading it.

OMG ! I loved this book ....I want my own Opal now. The story kept me wondering what Sal's next move was going to be right to the end and yes i loved the ending. Hopefully I can read more about Sal's adventures in the future.

Mask of Shadows introduces a new breakthrough in the fantasy world with a character in the LGBTQ+ society. I liked how the author was able to write about a gender fluid character and it has definitely opened up my eyes into the wonderful community. The storyline in this book intrigued me and surprised me with characters you can't help but feel for. It is a perfect mix of a fantasy version of the Hunger Games and Throne of Glass. I will definitely be getting copies of this book on release day!

This was a new author for me and I would have to say I really enjoyed the book, I thought I would not like it when I started it but I really started to get hooked I hope Linsey Miller will write another book soon. I can't wait. I loved the plot and characters it just grabs you.

This was a really good book. I didn't know what to expect coming into it but I was pleasantly surprised by the character development and pacing of the story. I could hardly put this book down. I can't wait for the sequel.

The synopsis for Mask of Shadows says "perfect for fantasy fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo". I think whoever wrote that set this book up to fail in comparison to those two writer's books. Comparing a book to the likes of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo is a very bold claim and I feel like because of that claim and the epic sounding synopsis, I was let down by this book.

The plot is kind of boring and unoriginal. It felt a lot like The Hunger Games and by a lot, I mean almost an exact copy. I'm not really into reading books that are very similar so the plot really wasn't for me.
I liked the writing. It wasn't Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo level but I liked it. It felt like the writing of a debut novel but I think there's a lot of potential for the author.
The diversity in the main character is what held this book together for me. I'd never read about a gender fluid character before and to be honest, I don't know a lot about gender fluidity. I was very interested to learn about Sal and see a new perspective. If the main character wasn't diverse, this would be a two star book for me.

Overall, Mask of Shadows was okay. I liked it for the most part but whenever I think about this book being compared to Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo, I roll my eyes. That line is clearly a marketing ploy and shouldn't be taken seriously. If you don't mind books having similar plots, you might really like this book. Or if you're on the hunt for a gender fluid character, Mask of Shadows would be a good one to pick up. But, if you're looking for amazing writing and an original plot, you'll want to skip this book.

The best part of this story was probably Sal, the gender fluid main character. They were compelling, knew who they were and what they wanted. It helped to include a female romantic interest. The whole story in itself wasn't entirely original, but the way the writer played it made it feel a little more interesting. The idea of the Queen having a left hand of assassins named after jewels was creative, and I found myself wanting to know what happened next. Would read a second book, for sure!

This book was very confusing and the characters were inconsistent.

I liked this book! The exploration of Sal's compelling gender fluid identifiers were indeed the highlight of the book. The explorations if the character as Sal navigates through being a he/she was basically the only reason I wanted to finish the book. The storytelling was less compelling and the plot was highly reminiscent of the Hunger Games to which this book hardly offers anything new to this genre of writing. The book does not compare to that of Leigh Bardugo or Sarah J Mass's writing style nor does it come close to the complex characters and world building. Although I enjoyed the read I would probably skip reading the sequel.

An excellent novel, the treatment of the main character as a gender-fluid individual was fantastic and quite tasteful in my opinion. The action and storyline were quite good, though as this is an advance review copy the segues between scenes seem a bit unfinished and were a little jarring. I loved the characters and found the writing quite engaging

Sal became a thief to survive when his family was killed. The day he stole from a Lady, to the Queen, his life changed. For she held an special invitation to win entitlement of becoming Opal, one of the 5 of the Left Hand to the Queens inner court. If Sal can win Opal then he would enact revenge against his family. Could he also win the Lady's heart? But before doing so Sal would have to battle life and death till the very end against 22 others who are not only stronger but better trained in killing. Could Sal go from thief to killer or would he be able to outwit everyone without killing?

This was not my typical book I would sit and read but I found myself rooting for Sal. He was common man going up against so much more evil. As the pages turned I couldn't wait to get to the next chapter to find out what would happen next to Sal. What was the next challenge and who would be eliminated next. Would he have enough street smarts to win. I hope you find this book as captivating as I did.


I received the book from Netgallery for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

Having picked this out almost as a whim, I found I was really gripped - set in a medieval surrounding, the ways of his/her/their's world is a hard one and they are aimed at being Opal the closest protector of the queen with a band of sworn fellows, hard as they are, but with agendas of their own. 'Sal or number 23 as 'they' become picks her gender as she feels it in the moment. their escapades are hard ones, and there is much thought given to the moral ramifications of killing. (I like a bit of mental grit.) the dialogue is sometimes terse, but they are speaking different languages among them etc. Engagement with murder is much respected in this world, and toleration for each other uppermost since they face brutal foes. Sal takes revenge freely after impressing the Queen and being given leave ... we always have that underlying drive from this outsider pushing on .. very persuasive and timely and the whole thing is captivating.