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.

I think I "kind of" get what the author tried to do here, but it wasn't really well executed. I didn't make it halfway through, hence my blank rating.
It was confusing, I didn't even really know what was going on...I don't care to read books to get frustrated.
I hope other readers enjoy it more.
(The cover is beautiful, BTW.)

I was really excited about this book, because the description stated that it was perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo & Sarah J. Mass. And since I am a huge a fan of both authors, I was really excited to read this book. However, I have to say I was fairly disappointed with both the writing and the story and the writing and world building definitely weren't on the same level as Bardugo or Maas.

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 steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand, the Queen's personal assassins, named after the ring she wears, Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge. But 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 and as Sal succeeds in the competition and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe at court, they start to dream of a new life and a different future, but one that Sal can have only if they survive.

I feel like I have read this story before. I feel like this is a mix of Throne of Glass and The Hunger Games, except the writing and world building is nowhere close to the level of those series. I didn't really enjoying the writing or the pacing of the plot and during the competition, all of the contestants are referred to by numbers, not their names, which became a bit confusing. I also never really found myself getting invested in the characters themselves. The gender fluid aspect of the main character Sal is something new to any YA books I have personally written, so the diversity in that was interesting. Otherwise, I really wasn't impressed at all by this book and nothing really held my attention.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC of the book.

Okay I think that I figured Sal out.She is a female but like male pronouns. UGH Granted at times I thought that he was a man. While I understand this is gender fluid , but why is everyone okay with this ?? I'm surprised that he only mentioned it once . What's up with the numbers ? They are all going to die anyway. A tutor ...that's how you bring the girl back .

I was really excited to read this book and I was sadly disappointed. Even though I loved certain aspects of the novel, I just found it a little flat. It was just lacking. This book is going to be released in September of this year but I don't think that I will be recommending this book to anyone.

So this book has a gender fluid main character, which would be really cool if the character had any substance. I ended up getting bored with the character, Sal, and found the quest for revenge tiresome. I feel like the character should have been further developed and because they weren't, the book just fell short of anything above 3 stars.

That being said, there were some interesting parts in the book that kept me interested in reading, even though I already knew what was going to happen. That's another thing, this book is incredibly predictable and that kind of made me want to consider it a DNF book. But I kept reading. Can't say that it would have made a difference, though. I basically figured out the end within the first hundred pages.

Throughout this book, there is a seemingly forced and unrealistic romance between the main character and a young noble. To me, this seemed like an attempt from the author to get the reader to feel more connected to the character. It really didn't work. I found both characters to be boring and 2-dimensional. Neither was particularly interesting and I found myself skimming their dialog.

Then there's the plot about the kingdoms and revenge and all this stuff that isn't talked about enough or made important enough for the reader to care about. It was such a yawn to read about the politics of the kingdom because I just didn't care. I could see in some areas that the author would try and get the reader interested in the politics and the corruptness of the government but it fell short. It never kept me interested. I never felt the anger that Sal feels, I never felt his need for revenge. That is the biggest flaw with this book I think, the inability for the reader to connect with the main character.

I really doubt that I will be reading any other books in this duology because I could really care less about the characters or the plot of the story for that matter. While I hate talking bad about a book, I just found this one to be boring and forgettable. For this reason, among others, I will do not recommend this to anyone unless they don't mind boring characters and a predictable and boring plot.

SADLY... THIS WAS A DNF @ about 54%

I dont know like books that make me confused. THIS one confused the fuck out of me.
As it was stated that if you love Leigh Bardugo this book is for you. Yah. No. Not
Not that I expected Six of Crows but I did expect to get invested into the characters and I didnt. Sadly.

It's a great premise, could have been hands down the best thing to hit 2017
Assassins
Gender fluid
Murder

But it fell to the wayside.

Sigh. If only wishes were genies....

Mare~Slistread

I have to admit that it took a bit for me to really get into the book because of all the information and dialect in the dialogue. But once you get past all that, the story really progresses.

If you likes Throne of Glass then you'd like this book. A group of dangerous people competing to become one of the Queen's assassin's, a kick ass main lead who doesn't blanch at what needs to be done, and a little bit of romance thrown in there just for good measure.

The world building and history of Mask of Shadows is a bit intense. I wish the -Arc had a map in it because, not only so I adore maps, but there's so much information about territories and wars and places that it can get a bit confusing to me. It's not necessarily needed since most of the story takes place in one area, but I still like to imagine the places Sal mentions.

There's a side plot going on besides Sal trying to become the nest assassin, which is the revenge at court part. It took me a bit by surprise since I just didn't think that thread would play such a big part until the next book, but it was jumped into at the same time as the main plot thread. It blended together well in the end though, so I can see how it all works out now, but when reading it I thought it was a bit much.

All in all, I had a fun time reading this story and from how it leaves off, I know the next book will be even more action packed and gritty.

I was pretty excited to read Mask of Shadows. When I first read the blurb on the NetGalley posting, it caught my interest. The last fantasy novel I read with a genderfluid character were The Farseer/The Tawny Man/The Fitz and The Fool series with The Fool being the genderfluid character (and before anyone asks, I have read all of those series plus 2 that aren’t listed).

I actually liked Sal. She/He/They thought on his/her/their feet. The fact that she/he/they wanted to become Opal and went for it was great. Her/His/Their other reason for becoming Opal (finding the lords who refused to help her homeland and assassinating them) was pretty valid too. She/He/They thought that if she/he/they became Opal, that she/he/they could take on the lords as a side job.

I did think that the audition was a little reminiscent of The Hunger Games….but only, and stress only when the members of The Left Hand told them that it was a free-for-all. Once the auditioners were whittled down from 23 to 8, the free for all ended and they started to be eliminated by The Left Hand members or the remaining people were disqualified. Any similarities to The Hunger Games were ended. I mean, I read The Hunger Games and they battled it out to the last person (well, last two people in Katniss and Peeta’s case). Not here. The Left Hand members decided who was going to be Opal and let the remaining two people (in this case, it was referenced that there were more at previous auditions) go.

The masks kinda bothered me though. I don’t like masks. I have a phobia about things covering my face and even reading about them skeeved me out. They had to eat with those things on and I can only imagine what the insides looked like….puke. So yes, I spent almost the whole book being grossed out and praying that the masks will go away…lol.

I also liked the romance between Elise and Sal. It was sweet and totally forbidden. I actually had a huge smile on my face during those scenes. Sal really had no clue on how to act because Elise was an Erland and he/she/they hated the Erlands with a passion because of what happened to his/her/their homeland. I also liked Elise’s personality. She was spunky and she definitely not afraid to stand up for who and what she believed in.

The main plot, the audition, ended the way I thought it would (giving nothing away). But the secondary plot about Sal and her/his/their obsession with getting even with the Erland’s took a very surprising, and sad, turn. Want to find out….read the book.

The end of the book was definitely a cliffhanger. As much as I dislike cliffhangers, this one worked and I really can’t wait until book 2!!

How many stars will I give Mask of Shadows: 4

Why: I enjoyed reading this book and it definitely kept me engrossed.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Late Teen

Why: Violence

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

I don’t think there is much to say about a book like Mask of Shadows. In some respects, it very much reflects every single YA fantasy book out there. Specifically, and I apologize if this comparison has already been made by, basically, every single person who’s already read the book, the plot bears remarkably similarities to the Hunger Games concept—I have to point out, though, and sorry if it sounds harsh, that the execution is so much poorer that when you’re reading this, you don’t even notice they actually are rather similar. I, at least, never thought about the Hunger Games while reading Mask of Shadows: there is too much of an abyss between the two, if you ask me.

As I said, not much to be said: bland plot, bland characters, bland—sometimes downright confusing—writing. And speaking about confusing, the world building. I’ll be very honest: I didn’t understand a thing. Take the shadows. I kept waiting and waiting for some disclosure about them, and I got none. Or, also, what’s going on in terms of politics between these various countries, which is explained in such a fragmentary and random way, with bits of it scattered here and there in the least fitting moments in the story, was completely lost on me as well.

Much of the hype around this book, as you probably know, is due to the fact that the MC, Sal, is gender fluid. Now, it’s likely that many of you have picked up or will pick up this book expecting to find in it a lot of fuss being made about the protagonist being gender fluid. The truth is that, in the story, this is actually treated as a no-big deal, which surprised and pleased me a lot. I know that many people were disappointed by this approach, which admittedly felt like rather too simplistic at times, but I like the direction it tried to take and I think the effort must be appreciated, especially if we consider that this is a topic still waiting to be duly explored by literary fiction and subgenres as fantasy in particular.

Seeing what a disappointment Mask of Shadows was for me, I’m not sure I’ll give the sequel a chance. What’s sure is that I was bored to tears and immensely frustrated by the messy world building, and that these are the main reasons why I can’t really recommend the book. But if you think you won’t be bothered by all the things I mentioned and you just want to try out the author’s approach to gender-fluidity, then I think you might even enjoy it.

Overall the book was well done. Some parts of the books lagged a bit in the pacing, but Sal was an endearing character and the author did a convincing job creating the world that produced Sal.