Fast paced story full of action and mystery.
A competition to be part of the Queen's hand has taken place and all competitors may loose their lives for a chance to get a better life.

Full of plot twists, this book will keep you reading till the end. It has romance, action, murder and a mystery that is waiting to be discovered.

Loved the pacing and characters, there is so much to this book that is not predictable, and can't wait for book two.

I enjoyed this fantasy of a would-be assassin in training and competition. I tend to like training stories and seeing the progress characters make in developing their skills and knowledge. I might be getting a little tired of the lethal competitions, however. Anyway, my main take-away from this book is that it was pretty good, but a bit disappointing. The protagonist is supposed to be gender fluid, and I was looking forward to the first book I'd read about a gender fluid character, but other than occasionally wearing a dress and other times wearing pants, there was little exploration of this aspect of their character. In fact, there wasn't much exploration of any aspect of their character or that of anyone else in the book. I prefer character-driven novels: I have to grow to care about at least the main character and preferably others as well in order to really like a book. The way this book was written, however, there wasn't any cohesive character building for any of the characters and no chance for me to get to know them well enough to care much. The plot was decent, though, and perhaps the next book in the series will develop Sal's character more.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free eARC of this book.

Witty dialogue, loveable main character, and a killer plot!

Sal wants revenge for the death and destruction of their village and family, and the only way to do this is to infiltrate the Queen’s court by becoming Opal, a deadly assassin of the Queen’s The Left Hand (assassin group). To become Opal, Sal must go against other deadly killers to win the contest of assassins. I loved the smart, witty dialogue and layers to the main character’s personality. Overall I loved the story, the plot may seem complex but the characters are amazing, there’s depth, layers to the characters which I absolutely love. It’s been a while since I have really enjoyed a humorous, loveable and witty protagonist like Sal who has heart, the smarts and guts.

Story line was very well thought out. It was a little hard to follow at first but once I got past the first chapter, things fell into place. One of the things I loved the most was the main character didn't have a specific gender identification. He/She/They was respectably used throughout the entire book. Having a main character that people can relate to is what I feel keeps a person reading. Lots of twist throughout. The main character, Sal, doesn't take no for an answer and pushes through some moral dilemmas as well as physical ones. I almost skipped the very end and I am glad I didn't. I assumed this was a series type of book however, reading the entry from Elise at the end provided closure to the book in a very unique way. Don't skip it, otherwise you will feel like you were left on a cliff hanger!

Mask of Shadows is exactly what fantasy should be. Instead of an imaginary world which carries over all of the worst aspects of our reality, this book has no patriarchy and no stigma, regarding mental health or gender. It is so important to have this kind of representation available for readers. There is absolutely no stigma about the main character being non-binary. It is a simple fact accepted by those whose opinions matter. Similarly, there is no stigma about mental health and fear. Anyone having gone through that same situation would have been afraid. There is nothing to be ashamed of.

I've been singing the praises of Mask of Shadows and can't wait for the sequel!

Loved the concept and the non gender binary character but didn't enjoy the story itself.

I tried to get into this book, but it was such a tedious read. The book lacked a clearly defined plot, believable dialogue, and interesting characters.

I didn't click with this book at all. The blurb was good but I didn't really find a point to the gender fluid and I had a really hard time following what was happening. It was a dnf for me.

Mask of Shadows is a different sort of adventure; it is not one for you if you can't handle the nature of what an assasin does, the fact that A LOT of people get killed, I mean George R.R. Martin might even get a little blood shy here, and if you're not willing to open up your mind set about what a main character can be, over what they should be. Sal is highly motivated not only to better their self, but rather to avenge a series of sensless deaths; ones that even to their family from them. There is a no holds barred series of tests and tasks for the auditioners, and very few rules for them. Sal becomes known only as Twenty Three and plans to become the biggest bada** of them all. Fighting is second nature to Sal, and they are given more than refined killing abilities. Sal is given an education (which spirals into a whole other level of finding and choosing your true identity.) Linsey Miller created a new world, and I need the rest of these books because there are a few things at the end that make me want to punch people in their masked faces. I'll leave it at that for now, but I'm going to go work on being an Emerald.

“Mask of Shadows” is another diverse book in the young adult category, and I am thrilled to see more representation. Sal, the main character, is gender fluid. Unfortunately, the book seemed to drag in quite a few places. The plot is good. It is the execution I found lacking. That being said, it will still appeal to many readers and there is a lot of promise that the next book in the series will improve. I have my fingers crossed.

In a lot of ways, Sal is your traditional sort of hero/heroine. They’re from a poor background, attempting to find a better life while gaining revenge on the people who put them into that sorry situation in the first place. For Sal, this means eliminating everyone who had a hand in the death of their people. On the other hand, Sal is also not like any other hero/heroine I’ve ever run into because they are gender fluid and move easily between their male and female identities. Which, if you’re training to be an assassin, can be extremely handy.
<i>Mask of Shadows</i> is an exciting and entertaining novel, taking you through the auditioners’ trials and tribulations as they strive to become the next Opal. I hope that in the next novel we get to learn more about the world that Sal and their contemporaries are living in. What we learned in this novel only made me more curious about the history of their world. I will admit that I felt like the story dragged at times due to all the constant attempts on each other’s lives, but I also understand that was the entire point of the story as well. That said, all these incidents help highlight Sal’s intelligence and adaptability to the situation.
I’ve been a fan of fantasy novels for a long time and it’s always nice to find something new and refreshing to read. Something that isn’t like every other novel. <i>Mask of Shadows</i> gave me exactly that.

So. Where are the stakes? Where is the action? For a novel about a competition for the position of the Queen’s personal assassin, Mask of Shadows certainly fails to deliver the fast-paced, high-stakes story that you’d expect.

Before I get to my criticism, I do want to praise Miller’s decision to make her protagonist, Sallot Leon, genderfluid. This is the first novel I’ve read featuring a genderfluid character, so I appreciate Miller’s effort to further the diversity of Young Adult literature. But, I’m undecided about the actual treatment of genderfluidity in the novel because it seems even the novel can’t decide on the position it wants to take. Narratively, it carries little significance. Sal simply is genderfluid, and I like that. I don’t believe diversity should only exist when it’s significant to the narrative. Although it’s initially not a big deal, Sal does get upset when people misgender them, which means genderfluidity has yet to become fully accepted in this society. I think Miller wanted to present this as a world where genderfluidity simply just is, which would have worked if she didn’t also introduce friction. As such, Miller leaves readers with a vaguely discriminative society with no attempts at addressing the matter. Still, I do think Mask of Shadows is a step in the right direction in terms of diversity.

Plot-wise, however, the novel has a long way to go. Nearly the entire book is dedicated to a competition to the death to become Queen Ignasi’s personal assassin. In theory, the story should be very fast-paced with high stakes, but oh my god, it just dragged and dragged. There is surprisingly little conflict and danger. Sure, Sal could lose their life at any moment, but no one really mortally threatened them. They maybe kind of were in danger once…but not really because everything turned out fine. Even when Sal commits two unsanctioned murders, there are no repercussions even though the authorities are fully aware of Sal’s actions. Simply put, it’s just dull when everything goes Sal’s way.

Furthermore, the story itself just doesn’t make sense. It’s unbelievable that there’s no vetting process for auditioners who would be living and wandering around freely in the Queen’s palace. For a position that requires exceptional strength and combat skills, mastery of most if not all weapons, poisons, and medical techniques, as well as knowledge of court traditions and international politics, I have a hard time believing that there is no established institute that trains people specifically for this position, or that it’s possible to train amateurs in less than two weeks. I mean, most of the auditioners don’t even know how to use a bow (I guess that’s what happens when the best of the bunch are circus performers).

And, on a completely unrelated note, it’s laughable that Sal had plans to write their love interest a letter, yet can’t even read the word ‘Opal.’ What?! That’s literally the position they’re auditioning for. Sal wants to be Opal but can’t read the word ‘Opal,’ yet still thinks they can write a letter. Y’all gotta be kidding me. It makes no sense.

The writing itself is skeletal. If the book was beefed up with more details, the story would be much less disjointed and confusing. I had to re-read sections multiple times just to figure out what was going on, where they were, or why someone was mad. Readers shouldn’t have to work this hard to understand a story. At times, it feels like even Miller herself doesn’t know her characters or the story world because characterization is volatile and inconsistent (R.I.P. character development), while the world-building is just lacking, which is disappointing because there is an extensive historical timeline at the end of the novel which means Miller did at least partially develop her story world.

But, extensive history maketh not a believable world. Or something like that. History is just facts, and facts rarely make me feel anything more than a passing delight. More important than facts are people. People build countries. People make up the world. Culture, blood, quirks, passions, grievances—these are the elements required to make a fantasy world come to life because human experiences are what readers connect with, not a list of facts. So, while Miller may write about the Erlend-Alona conflict and the tragic loss of the kingdom of Nacea, I simply can’t bring myself to care because Erlend, Alona, and Nacea are nothing but names to me. This is why Mask of Shadows is so difficult to invest in: there is little depth to the world and the people in it.

I hope Miller is able to improve upon the second installment because Mask of Shadows was a letdown. The story is generic and predictable but, with exceptional writing, it could have made for a good YA fantasy. Unfortunately, in this case, it simply didn’t pan out.

It took me a couple tries to start the book, but once I got started and passed my drop off point (page 45) I got to page 145 in no time. It is a very quick read. The writing is enjoyable for the most part, but I did have some issues with it. There are diverse characters. Like the Hunger Games, there is a competition to the death. I am going to be trying out the same format that I did my last review in. I am going to warn you I may be arguing against myself in this review. I am very conflicted about this book. I really liked some things, but at the same time, they also bugged me.

Not Very Unique
The idea of a group of people battling to the death isn`t a unique idea, there are so many other books that have that same bases. Since there are so many with a similar theme it is important to make yours stand out. There are also a ton of young adult assassin novels, so that is two very popular topics that somehow have to be different. While I enjoyed reading it, it didn`t stand out from its competitors. That being said Linsey Miller did add some twists that I really appreciated.

World Building and Pacing
While we do get a bit of what happened in the past I feel as though some parts were very info-dumping and others left too little explained. We do learn a lot about the war that happened and the shadows and how magic is no longer in the world, but for some reason, I am left wanting more explained. The pacing felt a bit off for me, there would be long descriptions on how to shoot a bow and then shorter descriptions on something that was way more interesting. This book tends to be a bit slower than expected since it is a book about being an assassin.

Problematic Writing
Some parts were just confusing. I would find myself reading a page over and over trying to figure out what was happening, but the wording was just so confusing I hard a time making sense of what was happening. There were also instances of something happening one way and then a page later it happened a different way as though the previous way never existed.

Characters
While there is this overall feeling of the characters being underdeveloped and classic YA character stereotypes, I found myself really liking a couple of them and being intrigued by others. The main character Sall is genderfluid, I have never read a book with a genderfluid character before so it was nice to have that diversity. The topic of genderfluidity is mentioned briefly throughout the novel, but it seems the way it was brought up irritates people for different reasons. I am not an expert in this topic so I don`t have any strong opinions on how it was brought up. Throughout the story it was mentioned a couple times, it was the main focus of the story but it was talked when they were telling people how to address them. If you want to read more on that aspect of the story I would recommend just reading through the reviews on Goodreads. 
There were a quite a few characters to keep up with, but it was easy to get them confused because it didn`t delve into their backstories a ton or have a great character building. I would have liked it if there was more character building for the side characters, that way when one died it would have been more heart wrenching (no spoilers, it`s a book about a challenge that involves killing your opponents). 
It did go into Sallots background and explain why they are the way they are with the war that happened and their need for revenge. One problem I had with Sall was that they seemed to become a completely different person from beginning to end without enough character development. On a side note, none of them seemed amazing enough to be a Queens assassin. 

So, all in all, I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would just judging from how many tries it took me to actually start reading it. I did have quite a few issues with it, but while I was reading it I had a lot of fun. It wasn`t until I really thought about it afterwards that certain things bugged me. The writing isn`t the greatest and the story isn`t the most unique, but it is addicting. I read this in a weekend, which is really good for me nowadays and I might not have loved the story, but I really appreciated it. I am not sure if I would recommend this one, I would say look at all the reviews and maybe just get it from the library if you are interested it in. It seems reviews are either two stars or five stars. So this is really one of those books you will hate or love. I am very conflicted on this one.

Sallot Leon takes us on a dangerous journey as this genderfluid character enters a competition in order to both become Opal and get revenge. The amount of adventure and action is non-stop in this book, even in the very beginning, which I loved. All the characters were likable even the ones we weren't supposed to like. I will have to say, however, I found that at times the genderfluidity leaned a lot more one way than the other. I'm not sure that was intentional, though. Also, occasionally I found that Sallot Leon came out a bit too picture-perfect. Sal, in a way, was too perfect and know, picked up on, and sensed too much, too quickly about the other auditioners. Overall, this was an amazing book and I recommend it.

I don’t know what to rate this book. I keep dancing between a 3.5 and a 4 nut score. It’s not because of anything bad, or that I didn’t like something. On the contrary, I really liked pretty much everything in this book. However there’s very little in this book I could say I loved.

MASK OF SHADOWS took me about a day to read. It was a pretty quick read that kept me up late because I had gotten to the point where I needed to know what happened next. On that front I can say I loved something. I loved that the book made me want to keep reading, that I never really got bored (something I’ve been feeling a lot in recent reads). So in that I was very pleased and excited.

The main character, Sal, is gender fluid. This was really neat, as I cannot remember ever reading about a gender fluid MC before. And the way they are described, they way they describe and identify themselves on a given day in the story is very well done. While some characters react normally, others are very rude about it. It’s a very simple way to indicate character biases and allegiances (good, evil, neutral) but very effective.

Sal is a great character and I liked them very much. I liked their arc, their romance, the fact that they weren’t a perfect fighting machine. Sal is clever and resourceful though, something I really enjoy over physical strength. And yet I can’t say I love Sal. Sal isn’t a character I’d want to read a big, long series about. They just don’t have the charisma or pull for me that I would have expected.

The rest of the characters are all interesting, particularly the Left Hand. Of anyone in this series, I would want more books about the Left Hand characters, and maybe the queen. Everyone else is pretty basic at their roots. Uncomplicated villains, evil as hell but not particularly a draw for the story. A sweet and desirable love interest, who I go back and forth about whether there’s enough character there for me to care about. I just feel like too much is left unsaid about all of them. They need more detail, more character development. Otherwise they’re just *shrug* fine I guess.

This book is very Hunger Games at points, down to a competitor who’s sneaky poisons and plants end up being their downfall. You have shades of Throne of Glass and Six of Crows as well, but it spends a lot of time trying to be those things instead of being itself. I want a new world, dynamic characters, a story that doesn’t rely on being like others. In that, only the revenge subplot makes the cut.

That being said I do think this book is worth a read, especially for fans of the before mentioned series. I’m certainly interested in a sequel, even if I’m not rabid for it. Mostly I just want more Left Hand, GIVE ME LEFT HAND!

While I was a bit confused in the beginning, I easily got into the flow of Sal's story. I would definitely recommend this to those looking for a good fantasy read with lots of action, a little romance, and a new series.

Sallot Leon, our gender fluid main character, wants an occupation change. Once a thief and now auditioning to become a member of The Left Hand (the Queen’s assassins).

Mask of Shadows is Miller’s debut novel which had it’s ups and downs but would not hinder me from picking up the second book in this fantasy duology.

This was the first novel I read that dealt with the issue of gender fluidity. MoS left me wanting more books like this. The pace was slow but the plot kept me engaged with some twists. The characters were semi-developed. It was easy to confuse characters because most were referred to by their number. The mood of MoS was dark and the ending was left unresolved. Overall, I liked the book and would recommend to other fantasy readers.

Mask of Shadows (Untitled, #1)
by Linsey Miller
This is a dark story, the tryouts for Opal is a contentious competition. Twenty-two applicants, compete in a deadly contest that will test their internal strength, mental capacity and ability to learn. Only the top few were invited. Twenty-two has a personal mission that ties to her past, and is the doorway to the future.

I was happily surprised by this one. I had heard good things from friends in the YA community and I was eager to read a genderfluid narrative--especially one set in a fantasy world. What followed was not only a quick read but one with remarkable depth that added to the page-turning quality. I really loved the characters and was on the edge of my seat for every bout that Sal endured. The world building was a tad confusing at first but I endured and found that it all fascinated me by the end. I will be eagerly awaiting the sequel and recommending the book throughout the book community and in the library where I work.