Fast paced and set in a brutal competition, MASK OF SHADOWS offers action, romance, and intrigue. I'm a sucker for "fights to the death" stories. Think The Hunger Games, if it was voluntary, and all the killing took place during the training phase and not in an arena. Sal was an intriguing character and I enjoyed reading about them - I've never read a fantasy story featuring a genderfluid MC before, and I hope to read more!

A deadly audition to fill a vacancy for an assassin for the Queen and an opportunity to take revenge upon the nobles responsible for the destruction of the Nacean people is the focal point of Sal's life in Linsey Miller's Mask of Shadows.

Sallot Leon has a brutally tragic history that drove Sal toward a life of thievery and crime. The latest mark had an interesting note in her purse, indicating the upcoming auditions to become the new Opal for the Queen, one of four assassins to do her bidding. Intrigued by the opportunity to get closer to the nobles responsible for the destruction of Sal's native Nacea, Sal goes to audition to be able to exact revenge when the moment arises. In becoming auditioner Twenty-Three, Sal's identity is pushed to new limits in the attempt to win the competition and serve the Queen while gaining insight and skills to better exact revenge.

The story moves rather quickly and is quite engrossing and enjoyable to read; however, there was a bit of a slow down toward the middle of the narrative while auditions were taking place and it became more of a waiting game for the competition to be killed off. I thought that the romantic entanglement with Elise wasn't entirely needed (apart from moving the plot forward) and it happened a bit too fortuitously for my preferences to be believable. I was excited about the inclusion of a gender fluid protagonist, and although it appeared to be very simplistically portrayed, it was easy to grasp and greatly appreciated as it wasn't the only defining feature about Sal--plus it worked toward building the malleability needed in a successful assassin.

Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

"Mask of Shadows" is an intriguing YA fantasy about Sal, a gender fluid thief who wants revenge on Erlend for the destruction of Nacea carried out by Shadows (which destroy people horrifically). Sal may be the only surviving Nacean. While robbing some royalty, Sal finds a flier which advertises auditions for Opal, one of Our Queen's Left Hand members who recently died. Although Sal does not have an invitation, Sal decides to try to bring an appropriate invitation by killing the man who makes children rob for him (and cuts off their fingers if they keep anything from him).

Sal is soon Twenty-three and in the horrific competition to become Opal with 22 other killers. The competition is fierce and more complex than expected. Not to mention Sal's ultimate interest in getting back at the Erlend nobles who left the people of Nacea to die by the Shadows and the burgeoning friendships and love interest Sal has picked up along the way.

Overall, it's a really intense and intricate plot- one that becomes hard to follow if you look away for too long. The beginning and ending are very intense, and in the middle, it becomes a little less so as they work on character building/romance. I wasn't really sure how much I bought the romance, and I felt like there was so much else going on that it really detracted from Sal's missions of becoming Opal and bringing justice to the Erlend nobles. It felt a bit like a plot point/a little forced. However, it did give a reprieve from the fear/thriller aspects of the competition to the death that each contestant was facing 24 hours a day. This is an intense book with some dark themes of murder and death.

I think it was a promising start to the series and did read all the way to the end. I think the beginning and the character of Sal were really strong and then felt like it faded a bit by the end- however, I am very curious to see where this will go in the future! Regarding the gender fluidity, I felt like this was not the definition of who Sal is and was treated appropriately! It was a nice change of pace from the typical, and Sal was a fantastic character (motivated by a need for justice but not just death and patient/caring in Sal's own way)! Now I will just have (hopefully not too long) to wait until the next book in this interesting series...

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

4-4.5*
SAL. Omg, i loved Sal. I really enjoyed this one. The world building and the history was incredibly thought out and impressive. Highly rec this to fans of Sarah J Maas.
Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this. Lengthier review to come.

This was the first book I’ve ever read with a gender fluid character and I thought Linsey Miller did a good job of capturing Sal’s identity as they were so much more than just what gender they identified with. I felt the author handled this aspect of Sal’s character with some sensitivity.

The story will get under your skin with its action packed plot line that engages the senses making you want more. Miller created a realistic world rich and vibrant in detail that included countries, cultures, politics, and a whole background of historical plot lines. It also has a layer of darkness that will grip you making you unable to put it down as you’re pulled deeper into the story. Thankfully there are moments of humor sprinkled about so you can get an emotional break.

The author’s characters that surround Sal become the kind that you can really dig into and would want as friends.

Miller not only has the ability to entertain but for all those who want to write themselves someday take not of her style because you can learn a thing or two.

Thank you, Netgalley for an ARC of this book. My views are entirely my own.

Action-packed, daring, engaging and romantic, Mask of Shadows was everything I wanted and more! I will definitely be pre-ordering my own copy of this one off of Amazon, and I already can't wait for the sequel!

Absolutely loved it. Was just what I needed for a read right now. Will have a more in-depth review when I can put together more of a thought than just pure excitement.

I was really interested in this one by the book description... The book wasn't even long, but it sure felt like it! Some parts were good and others were a big pile of cliches.