[Received Mask of Shadows as an ARC back in April. There are possibly changes between my copy and the published copy.]

Technically 1.5 stars.

Here's the thing: Mask of Shadows gets points simply for existing.

I feel like novels featuring minority characters receive an extra critical raking over from reviews. "It's basically [Title Here] but with a [minority character]. It's not original." Books with white hetero cis leads don't get this level of flack. Especially male white hetero cis leads. This extra level of criticism is probably unintentional bias, although it doesn't excuse it any.

So, the thing is, these books are original simply for existing.

But, unfortunately, Mask of Shadows isn't very good.

(I could bring up Sturgeon's Law at this point, since the overall quantity and quality of available LGBT+ is unfortunate all around, but that's a Whole Other Thing.)

Sal has the potential to be likable and dynamic. The world is ripe with complicated history and political conflict between the nation(s). There are tons of characters bright with personality; characters I'd love to learn more about.

That's the core problem with Mask of Shadows: it is brimming with potential.

But the potential is beyond the author's ability to execute.

First thing: Writing memorable characters the reader can cheer for, even if only out of the curiosity to see what happens next is a hard task for any writer. It's nearly impossible when most of those character have number or gemstone aliases instead of names and their faces are obscured by masks for most of the book. Without any real visual cues from the text, it's hard to conjure scenes and easier for the reader to disconnect from the book. We need a visual on the main character as soon as possible. I'm not saying we need a description of Sal with gendered words, but height, hair/skin/eye colour, build, how they walk, any scars or striking features need on the page. They should not be dribbled through the first half. The physical descriptors were so lax I struggled to picture characters like Elise and Maud, who never wore masks.

Due to their bloody memories of their ruined birth nation, killing doesn't bother Sal, even when they kill for the first time. This is a little creepy, but mostly feels like a gloss-over so there isn't any actual moral struggle on Sal's part. Actually, there is so much to unpack in terms of the history of Igna/Erlend/Alona/Nacea, mages and shadows, and Sal's own personal history simple to understand the current situation and Sal's motivations. The author has mapped out hundreds of years of history for these nations, varying appearances, cultural differences, etc. Love and work are clearly present, but the skill to unpack efficiently and elegantly it is not.

What we do have is poor exposition (Sal explaining everything), and plain old bad writing in general. This is not the sort of book which thrives in first person in the first place and Mask of Shadows is not a well-executed good first person narrative. The writing is raw and amateurish, full of filter words and extraneous words weighing the sentences down: just, had, still.

Setting the Royal Assassin thing aside, the rest of the plot drags. No one wants to read dull training scenes--they're mostly filler--no matter how accurate they appear to be. While a gentler, open-minded approach to the concept is different, it seems like a waste of time to train the candidates. I understand testing a candidates ability to fill a gap in their training, but uh, isn't the whole point of hiring someone for a highly skilled position for them to already have these skills?

I wanted to read this book (the concept sounds sooo good), but the ebook wasn't formatted in the slightest. I know eARCs aren't usually fully formatted, but many others are at least legible. Reviewing this as a neutral 3-star to get it off my list.

Hard to believe, but I found this book to be rather dull despite being near constant action. Additionally, all the talk and praise surrounding the gender-fluid protagonist in this novel, the inclusion felt inconsequential. It did not really add to the story, it was just sort of was. It was overall pretty generic, along the lines of most other dystopian YA novels that have come out in recent years. Nothing super novel, but I didn't hate it either.

A quick, exciting read. Though in the beginning the gender-fluidity of the MC, Sal, seemed to be something that you were being beat over the head with...that eventually faded into a background fact. I really liked this story, even as dark and brutal as it could be.

Rich world and characters. I do love me some YA dark fantasy (a bit of an addiction of mine). Enjoyment wise I give it a 10/10 but there were a few issues with the overal storytelling.

You know me I'm a sucker for a book with children killing each other. Something about the total loss of innocence in such a visceral and brutal way is catnip for me. I dunno what that says about my mental health, so we will talk about that later.

I jumped at the chance to read this book, but ugh what a let down!!

Sadly if you've read The Hunger Games or Battle Royale then you've pretty much read Mask of Shadows. There is nothing unique here. Maybe if the competition had been I dunno left open ended and not had trainers and communal eating and things like that it could have veered into its own lane and became something more, but it was wholesale murder contained.

However a unique choice employed by Miller, she hid her characters behind masks and numbers. We didn't get to connect with any of them, so their deaths meant nothing. We didn't care if Sal killed them or someone else. Yes I want murder and mayhem but I also want to care about who is dying and who is doing the killing. When Rue died in the Hunger Games I was gutted. I mean we only met the little spirit like 3 chapters before her death but damnit it still hurts, and we aren't going to talk about her death scene in the movie and the entire place in tears either.

Character death have to mean something! Take it from the master of character deaths, George R.R. Martin. Yes he loves killing off our favorites and sending us to our therapists in tears, but those deaths moved the story forward and a lot of those deaths had far reaching consequences we didn't see for 2 or 3 books.

This was just wholesale murder.

Now let talk about Sal. There was honestly no point to them being gender-fluid. It meant nothing in the book and it meant nothing to the character. So why is it there. What line is Miller pushing? Where is she taking us with this?

Nowhere fast is all I can say, and that's a shame because gender fluid characters need to be written. They need to be represented and celebrated. Miller really dropped the ball here.

This book was so dull, which is weird, for a book that contains mostly action and not much else.

To mention this book in the same breath as Sarah J. Maas or Leigh Bardugo is just laughable. I don't even like Maas' books, but she has a writing style that makes her books easy to follow, and easy to read. This book is composed of too much action and dialogue, with little introspection and no art. Had I not read the blurb for the book, I would not have known what it was about, even after reading it 1/3 of the way through.

I guess one of the main "selling point" of this book is that we have a gender-fluid protagonist. I really didn't notice the gender fluidity at all, nor did I understand the point of it, if there is a point to it at all? Am I being obtuse? Offensive? I don't really know.

At the risk of being politically incorrect, and I will put the disclaimer here that I am a raging liberal, and pro LBGQT rights and I don't give a fuck who you are and what you fuck and what your identity is as long as it's legal (and even when it's not legal, cause some countries are ass-backwards), there really is no point of the main character's gender definition or lack thereof. I didn't notice it, and if it hadn't been specifically stated MAIN CHARACTER IS GENDER FLUID, I honestly would not have been able to tell whether he/she/they were or not.

I guess it's good for the sake of representation and political correctness, but that's about it, as far as my impression goes.

Their gender fluidity was not well-written, for instance, during a discussion of killing people and introductions and shit, all of a sudden, out of nowhere.
“And you can call me ‘she’ when I dress like this. I dress how I am.”
Huh? Where did that come from? I had to go back to read that entire section again because that comment was just so random. And then there's moments when they tell us "I dress how I like to be addressed—he, she, or they. It’s simple enough," and I'm just thinking in my head well, aren't you a special little thing." I would like to be called Khanh, First of Her Name, Eater of Brunch, Slayer of the Stairmaster, She of the Awesome Legs, and Mother of Bunnies, but I don't walk around telling people that.

My bunnies are damned cute, by the way.

Whatever, gender whatever is not the point of the book. The point is that a book should have a point, a clearly defined plot, excellent writing, compelling characters, believable dialogue. This book had none of the above, and that is my sole reason for the one star rating. It didn't draw my attention at all.

The first thing that hit me about this book was the gender fluid character. As a non binary individual myself, this was incredible to see. The concept of competition is really compelling and adds a sense of urgency that really pushes the story along. The numbered characters were a little hard to keep up with but I did get accustomed to it. The numbering didn't come off as underdeveloped characterizations but did well to drive home the point of dehumanization. It came off in a really sophisticated way especially because I found myself wanting to know more about these people and their names but also becoming really comfortable with the anonymity. Incredible book!

Unfortunately, I don't have much to say about this book because I could not finish it. While I appreciate the diversity that it was attempting to include, that wasn't enough to keep me reading. The book was confusing, boring, and not something that I wanted to spend my time with.

I sadly missed on downloading this book but was able to read certain chapters from a bookstore. From what I've read, the first three chapters, it gives major Hunger Games vibes but in a new way making the book half-familiar and half-new — and I hope it shall live to this til the end. I cannot say much about my liking of Sal but Sal is a character that doesn't rub me the wrong way at the beginning, and that's a good thing, I guess.

My rating is for my impression of the first three chapters only.

This was the first book I read with a non-binary main character and I really appreciated how they were treated, as well as the world-building. It was a seamless story and wonderful introduction into this world. I can't wait to read more from Linsey.

I did not realize how much I was going to love this book! The summary had me intrigued but holy cow!! Sallot was so easy to grow attached to really drove the story home for. This book was EVERYTHING!

I received an advanced copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

First, I would like to say that this was not a bad book at all, I just do not feel like it was for me. I did love the political court intrigue and the assassin training/competition, but there was just something out this book that I could not get into. The novel was well written for the most part, I think the biggest thing that bothered me about this novel is the author seemed to want to keep focusing on the character seeing themselves as gender fluid. I don't have an issue with that, more I feel like it was just continuously brought up when it was NOT necessary and I think that put me off to the novel.

Not bad, just not for me.

I wonderful, well thought out young adult fantasy novel that will leave you wanting more. The pace is set perfectly, it never feels over detailed or too wordy, it does not go on and on without cause and each riveting page is written to further enchant the reader.

This was a let down and I feel like it was sold to everyone as a gender fluid story but I did not get that from this book.

An absolutely brilliant book that I loved reading! I forgot to put up a review for it when I finished it here but I really thought it's a fantastic fantasy novel and I absolutely loved the sequel!

There is nothing new or exciting about any of this. I suppose it could be the familiarity of it all that made this book a total snooze for me, but I also think a distinct lack of character development definitely didn't help.

For me, Mask of Shadows just read like generic YA fantasy. I didn’t hate this, I just didn’t really enjoy it either. I for sure did enjoy some parts, and a few of the side characters, but I felt the story was too tedious for me to ever fully immerse myself and to simply let myself just enjoy it. Again, I do think the next installment in this series will be much better, and I do want to cut the author some slack for this being their debut novel.

This story fell a bit short for me but it was good.
Looking forward to read more from this author. Thanks Netgalley

This fantasy was not what I was expecting. I am so use to reading books from Sarah J Maas and the Harry Potter series that I think my judgement is clouded by those. I think it is kind of a play on Throne of Glass and The Night Circus. This was an interesting story, but I didn't like Sal as a main character. They kind of got on my nerves.

I absolutely love when books are action-packed and fast-paced! This book was that and more! The plot did fall a little bit short but it was still so good and engaging!