Dark and intriguing. An epic fantasy with fantastic world building and complex characters. Fans of revenge tropes will devour this engaging page turner.

4.5 stars.
I straight up loved this book from M.A. Carrick (a collaboration of Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms) from the opening pages through to its many-pages later conclusion. The world is complicated, with Nadežra, the country where the story’s action takes place, containing numerous cultures and peoples, with descendants of the conquering Liganti in power, represented by several wealthy families with wide-ranging mercantile and martial interests. The original people, the Vraszenians, form the large, impoverished underclass, who are treated poorly by the noble and gentry families.
There are different magic systems at work in the story:
-the carefully codified numinatri (based on astrology and math, I think.) practiced by the wealthy,
-a type of magic of objects that enhances features for things such as swords, fabric, makeup, and,
-the Vraszenians Pattern magic, which is kind of similar to Tarot, and is not held in great regard by the nobility, though the card readers, szorza, are consulted by all in the land.

Enter Ren, a con artist. She is half Vrazenian, and rejected by the Vrazenian people because of her parentage. After her mother died when she was a child, she fell in with a Fagin-like con artist, Ondrajka, who had a “knot” of children running a variety of cons. Ren and her younger sworn-sister Tess escape and run away after Ondrakja kills their sworn-brother Sedge.
Years later, Ren and Tess are back, with Ren posing as a young noblewoman, Renata Viraudax, from a far-off country and Tess as her maid. Ren is there to con and ingratiate her way into the arms of one of the noble families, specifically the Traementis, who, unknown to Ren, have few allies and dwindling wealth. She chose the Traementis because she worked as a maid for Letilia, the runaway and wayward daughter of the family, and who is sister to the current head of the family.
Ren quickly charms the noble families, as well as the grown Traementis brother-sister Leato and Giuna. And Ren attracts the notice of two individuals: local crime lord Vargo, who is trying to become a legitimate businessman, and the Rook, a legendary figure long working against the noble families.
Ren is a consummate liar who quickly finds that her various cons are becoming ever more complicated, and to her great chagrin that she’s beginning to care for the Traementis. At the same time, Ren is likeable, and the various trauma of her past are explored by the authors, and help to humanize her, making her sympathetic and the her reasons for her actions, however flawed, understandable.
Tess is just plain wonderful, and her genius and trendsetting dress designs are crucial in selling the lie of Renata Viraudax, even while the pair can barely afford to eat or heat the house they’re renting.

So, there’s a LOT going on in the plot, with Ren's many lies layered on top of other lies, and many competing interests amongst the nobility, as well as simmering tensions between them and the Vrazenians. And many, many supporting characters (thank goodness for the Dramatis Personae!)
The character interactions are well handled, and there are multiple mysteries and intrigues at work. The plot takes a while to really get going because there is a lot of groundwork necessary to show us
-the world and the many interests at work,
-how with each step Renata makes up the social scene, the effects are felt for the two sworn-sisters, and
-how the political and social situation in Nadežra is deeply complicated and ready to blow. Couple this with several mysteries, amongst them dying street children, a new drug killing people, a factory fire that resulted in deaths, and more, and I could not put this book down. I loved it and I was thoroughly entertained, and I wish the next book were already in my hands.

Thank you so much, NetGalley and Orbit Books, for the chance to read and review this book!

The Mask of Mirrors is the first book of the Rook and Rose trilogy, a fantasy adventure with a con artisti as main character, who has come to the city of Nadezra to trick her way into a noble house and secure her fortune and her sister's future. Drawn, though, to the elite world of the House Treamentis, she gets more and more involved into intricate politics and magic, mysteries and secrets to unravel.

The Mask of Mirrors is a book absolutely wonderful and thrilling to read. It's a fantasy able to capture the readers' attention right away, with a brilliant main characters, complex politics, dark magic, intrigues, lies, secrets and masquerade. The story is skillfully woven and the author has a great writing style and characterization. I loved reading about the city of Nadezra and Ren is a brilliant and stubborn main character and it's impossible not to love her determination and be involved into the story and magic, that's so original and intriguing to read.

3.5 stars
A very good read in the end, but the beginning was quite slow. Ren is an amazing character, that I really enjoyed reading. Vargo is all sorts of compelling and intriguing. Grey Serado was my least favorite of the three, but the most honest about his intentions, strangely enough. I think the authors did an incredible job with the worldbuilding, but caused me to get a bit lost in the history and cultural significance as that part of the story never really felt completely explained in a way that made sense. Especially since there were copious amounts of names, places, and history to remember to keep it all straight. The story though was really well done, I was happy to have gotten the chance to read this.

<i>*This book was given to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review*</i>
The Mask of Mirrors was a fun ride that I thoroughly enjoyed. A diverse cast of characters, action, magic, witty dialog with a tiny bit of romance. Loved the representation in this and can't wait for the next installment.

https://lynns-books.com/2021/01/21/the-mask-of-mirrors-rook-and-rose-1-by-m-a-carrick/
(Rook and Rose #1) by M.A. Carrick

My Five word TL:DR Review : This was absolutely my catnip or I can’t wait for more

I absolutely loved this, it’s a sumptuous novel that took me places I really didn’t anticipate. I couldn’t help thinking of The Gentleman Bastard series whilst reading it but this is the female version of Locke that I hadn’t realised I needed in my life.

At a whopping (almost) 700 pages this might not be for everyone but it worked perfectly for me. A fantastic combination of solid worldbuilding, captivating characters and intriguing plot I just loved it Fast paced this may not be but nonetheless it won me over with ease.

Mask of Mirrors is a slow burn story that takes its own sweet time to build up the people and place before turning into a fairly dramatic and jaw dropping finale. And, there’s a reason for that. This is a story with plenty of characters, all with complicated names and in fact nicknames and an intricate plot that turns into a spider’s web of tangled threads and both these elements take time to become firmly rooted.

At the centre of the story is a character known as Ren (at least for the purpose of this review that’s the name I’m going to use) who, at the start of the story is embarking on her opening gambit to become part of one of the noble families of the city of Nadežra. Aided by Tess the two have planned a long con with much at stake. Ren’s beauty coupled with the stylish concoctions that Tess can whip up on a budget will not be enough though. Ren needs to make herself invaluable to the family. Unfortunately, in doing so not only does she become more deeply involved with surrounding characters, each with their own political or financial motivations but she also runs the risk of forming attachments. Basically, without giving too much away or going into the plot any further I can say that Ren is not the only person with something to gain and in fact her con is, relatively speaking, only a small fish in a larger pond.

I’m not sure if I have the right end of things with my assumptions about the setting but for me this story played out in an alternate Venice (maybe during the late renaissance although tbh I’m not a history buff so that could be completely off the mark) with nobles vying for power whilst the poor struggle against oppression. There is much talk about charters and merchants, skiffs, elaborate masks and fashion and all the names sound Italian. In terms of history. Following war between Vraszan and Nadežra, a peace treaty was signed pretty much leaving the Nadežra nobility in control. Five ruling families make up the Cinquerat (a controlling Council) with each family having a specific responsibility, for example Caerulet is responsible for anything relating to the military and also oversee the Vigil (known as the Hawks – the Vigil keep law and order). As you can imagine keeping in favour with these families is highly desirable for the other noble families. Magic is used in two ways. Items can be imbued, so for example, Ren’s make-up is imbued to make her disguises seem more polished and to last longer without smudging or wearing off. Numinatria is a form of geometry based magic whereby Inscriptors channel power using numbers and gods (this is greatly over-simplified on my part). There is a long history here and suspicion and unrest runs rife between the Vraszenians and the Nadežra, particularly surrounding different religions and traditions not to mention the Nadežra nobility ultimately controlling everything. I think you can see that there’s a lot to take on board and I’ve only barely scratched the surface here to be honest – but, I think the length of the book lends itself well to getting all the different clans and factions across and, just be aware there is both a glossary of often used terms and a very useful list of ‘Dramatis Personae’ which would be useful to check out before reading (can’t help thinking this would be more useful sitting at the start of the story though).

The key characters here are Ren and her two associates, the members of House Traementis (the family that Ren is hoping to infiltrate), the Rook, an unknown outlaw and hero of the poor folk, Grey Serrado, a captain of the Vigil who is investigating not only the continuing disappearance of a number of street children but also an explosion that caused the death of his brother and finally Derossi Vargo, a businessman keen to leave his dodgy past behind. Did I mention that this is a complex web.

What I really loved about this. Well, the attention to detail that gives a very strong sense of place. The writing flows well and dealing with such a lot of ideas, strange names, customs, etc, without the need to constantly dump huge swathes of information is impressive. I loved a number of the characters, including ones that are maybe a bit dodgy. It’s an impressive concept that is very well executed and managed to create for me, not only a jaw dropping moment of surprise about half way through but then went on to make my eyes pop out as things went from ‘what the hell’ to ‘all out crazy’. There is tension and intrigue, politics and backstabbing and it’s all played out against a fabulous backdrop with a degree of thought that is awe inspiring.

In terms of criticisms. Okay, I didn’t really have any but that doesn’t leave me immune to certain aspects that I would mention here. Firstly, this is not a book that you can rush through. I found myself rereading some chapters and that’s not a fault of the authors but lies at my own door because I was trying to read too fast without really absorbing the information I was being given. I can’t deny that sometimes the need to read quickly becomes very real when other review books are sitting in judgement of you but this is a book that needs your full attention and, no two ways about it, it isn’t a speedy read. Secondly, this is complicated and highly detailed. This is personally an aspect that I love but feel it deserves a mention because some people are not fond of this particular style so be aware.

This book is positively sumptuous and given the ending I can’t wait to see what the second instalment brings. The Mask of Mirrors is a book that lived up to my expectations in every way, in fact I think it surpassed them by throwing in a couple of surprises that I didn’t see coming at all.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publishers, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 5 stars

This book was amazing! It had everything! Amazing world-building, a heist, a twisty plot, a Vigilante, a dreamworld, love, betrayal... this book has it all. There is something for everyone.

My only complaint is that I have a massive book hangover and now I have to wait for the next book.

This book is so, so, so slow. I was intrigued by the synopsis, as I love a good con when it's pulled off well; however, I couldn't stand the pacing on this book at all. I loved the descriptions of the world, but it felt like absolutely nothing would happen for whole sections at a time. However, I did love the idea of this enough to consider continuing the series. I can only hope that more will happen in the next book. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Authors Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms writing together as MA Carrick present the first installment in a new fantasy series with The Mask of Mirrors. Readers follow main character Ren who is an orphan, former street kid, and con artist. Ren plans her biggest con yet with the aid of her found family as she tries to work her way into the nobility of the city she fled in childhood. Ren quickly finds out she is in for much more than she bargained for amidst the politics, rival gangs, and ethnic divides of the city of Nadezra.

Nadezra is Ketterdam all grown up. While so many books are marketed as being appealing to fans of Six of Crows, The Mask of Mirrors is the first that I have found that truly evokes the intricacies of crime lord politics, a class of arrogant nobles, and the merchant gentry that are able to go between. Just about every character is morally grey and has their own manner of surviving in the city. This creates a space where there is so much opportunity for twists and turns and plans coming together or undone. Helms and Brennan really shine with how they built this world.

Given that I'm a sucker for an antihero, it should come to no one's surprise that Vargo is unrepentantly my favorite character. From poor street kid to accomplished crime lord, and now to legitimate businessman, Vargo is clearly ambitious, a skilled manipulator, and on an upward trajectory. Of course, it doesn't hurt that he is also an accomplished inscriber, which is a sort of alchemical magic system present in Nadezra.

I do wish more time had been spent presenting the magic system to the reader, but suffice it to say that it involves chalk drawings of the equivalent of alchemical circles with variations on intent based on the focus and symbols used. It seems intricate and I hope to learn more about it in future books.

I was very appreciative for the queer normalization and representation in this work. I thought the incorporation of normalization of acceptance of various sexualities was not at all heavy-handed and seemed organic within the world Helms and Brennan built.

There are so many things that are well-executed about this book, and not the least of which is the amount of questions the reader is left with. Likewise, I was so very pleased to get at least some answers at the end (and to be right in some guesses!). Helms and Brennan have created a lot of room to grow and continue with their series.

I absolutely look forward to future works both from these authors and in this series.

Con artists, magic, backstabbing, political intrigue. These are a few of my favorite things! I was initially intimidated by this hefty fantasy, 672 pages. But I was so hooked on the storyline, that feeling changed. The pacing at first lagged some, but I attribute that to trying to understand the lingo, and language of the world.

There are many POVs, but my favorite was Ren's. Getting to watch her during the con and see the subtle ways she kept the whole game from unraveling was a joy to watch. I was also drawn to the Rook storyline. Which had elements of Zorro, and the Dread Pirate Roberts and I was all for it! The best part of this world was how one's gender and sexuality wasn't a tool to be used to control or manipulate. Same gender courtship and women holding the same, or higher ranks, as men, is normal. It was refreshing to read!

Count me in the Rook and Rose fandom! I'm eagerly awaiting the next book.

*I received this title as a free digital copy and this does not influence my review or opinion.

I think this was a good start to a new adult fantasy series. There were some aspects I really liked, but also some things that I really didn't like. This is a book filled with political intrigue, deception, and interesting magic, but there are also tons of threads tangled together with so many characters and conflicts that it was often hard for me to keep track of everything.

Let's start with the things I did like, though. The most interesting part of this book is all of the little mysteries woven into the main deception plot line, and it's probably what kept me invested enough to keep reading. I genuinely came to really like some of these characters by the end, and it's sad that one of my favorite characters was killed off before we really got to know them. I also have to mention the world building, because it was very detailed and rich. It's clear that the authors spent a lot of time getting to know this world, and they did a good job bringing it to life.

However, the complexity of the world is also one of the biggest aspects I didn't like. There are SO many people in this world, and all of them have proper titles and belong to a certain family house and live in a specific faction, etc. Every place visited by the characters had a name, minor characters were donned names and titles that made them seem very important only for them to never show up again. It was just a lot. The book does have a glossary in the back, but having to use that usually ruins the reading experience for me. I found this book to be very dense because of all the information that didn't seem to be explained enough, and because of that, combined with the length, it felt like the book dragged on and on and it took me so long to read this. So maybe it's my fault, or maybe it's a bit of both, but by the time I reached the ending of this book, I truly had no idea what was going on anymore and it's a fairly explosive ending.

As of now, I might continue this series because I don't think it's bad, but if I can barely tell you anything about the world a week after finishing this book, I doubt I'll be able to remember anything in a year.

Thank you so much to Orbit and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an eARC!

Overall: I really enjoyed this book. The authors gave me so much to love. I definitely am looking forward to reading the next installment. I was really surprised with how the story progressed. I only had a small issue with some of the writing. But it was definitely very minor and would recommend to a lot of people.

Very Brief Summary: In this story we follow a con-artist named Ren. Growing up on the streets she's very familiar to a life of crime. But with the help of her sister, Ren is attempting to biggest con of her life. Posing as a long lost cousin, Ren is attempting to get into the good graces of a noble family in hopes for a life of riches. Unfortunately, Ren isn't the only person in Nadezra, spinning a web of lies.

Characters:

Ren - I've already introduced Ren. I was worried she would be the standard flat con-artist archetype. Someone who always has a lucky card up her sleeve, no matter what. But there were a lot of moments where we could see her shine, why she's able to lie and deceive the way she can. What I love was that she wasn't this hollow badass character who always puts her mind before her emotions. From the get go we know what/who she keeps keeps close to her heart and that makes her sympathetic. I did really like her perspective.

Captain Grey Serrado - I'm kinda surprised we didn't see more of him. I felt like I was missing more from him. I'm holding out hope for the next installments. We got just enough from him to keep my interested in his character. His story was so focused on his own thing that I would have loved to see him more interacting with the odd character. He fits that sympathetic cop who wants the system to be better despite the fact that he's only one person and other cops aren't good people.

Derossi Vargo - Probably the shining light as far as characters. Very interesting. I didn't know his intentions and motivations but we saw a lot of him to still feel intrigued by his character. I'm also biased though, I love crime bosses/lords and he's very charismatic.

Minor Characters:

Tess - Ren's sister is so sweet. She was the first character I grew to like. I almost want to see more of the story or even the story we already got from her pov. I can FEEL her want to tell some part of the story. She has to have some opinions on what Ren is attempting to do. We see her pretend to be her sister's maid/seamstress but all she wants in life is to have her own shop to see her own clothing designs and I respect her for that.

The Rook - Oh he was so fun. I didn't know we'd have a masked vigilante figure here and I loved it. I was getting Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon vibes. Can't say more but Ren interacted with him a few times and it was fun to read.

World Building: SO MUCH DETAILS. As someone who studied a lot of cultural anthropology in Uni, I really appreciated all the tiny details that were given to build the world. Were they completely necessary? No, but I enjoyed it. I know not every reader will. But if you love all the world building, I think you might enjoy this. The one thing that I have to critique is how the magic and spirituality wasn't well explained to the readers, at least to me. There was a glossary at the end of my eARC that made things a lot easier to understand BUT I didn't read the glossary at all until after I finished the book. Without it, some parts were a struggle.

LGBT+ themes: I feel like it's really important to put a subsection dedicated to this because you might see this shelved as queer/lgbt+. In this world same gender relationships are a non-issue. This world isn't a heteronormative world and we see a lot of mentions of men/men and woman/woman relationships. We also have a minor character who is a trans-man. Sometimes its just so refreshing not to have to worry about coming out and queer trauma in a fantasy world.

Writing: The writing is pretty straight forward. Not to flowery. It's written in 3rd person focused perspective. The first half was a slow buildup but I enjoy that. A lot of subtle scheming and greasing palms and that may not be everyone's idea of fun. By no means should you expect Michael Bay Summer Blockbuster Movie levels of action or anything. The 2nd half of the book has more "action" but, again, it's more of a simmering story.

Relationships:

Ren & Tess: I LOVE SISTER RELATIONSHIPS. From the get go we see how much Ren and Tess care for each other. Even with little perspective from Tess, we know how much Ren means to her. I want to see more from them, together, in the next installments. Very sweet and wholesome.

Ren & Love Interest?? - I guess you can say she has two or three love interests in this book? Honestly the more obvious one we see developed kinda took me by surprise. I didn't think she was warming up to him but maybe I didn't read much into it. I assume most of the attraction she felt toward certain characters was just physical. But as someone who isn't all that into romance's, I wasn't mad at any of them. The authors could have pushed a more love story narrative with any characters and I wouldn't have minded. That being said, it doesn't take over a majority of the plot at all. So if you don't want romance to take over, it doesn't.

Ending: I thought the ending was pretty good. Definitely ended on a good note but we can start to see the threads that are leading to the next book. I'm eager to see what happens next. We got a little twist that is making me question certain characters.

--

*also published on Goodreads*

That’s a lot of subtitles. As it turns out, the book is complicated enough to forgive the use of two sets of colons in the title.

Let’s set the scene. First we meet Ren, the former child thief turned con artist, returning to crime after a five year spate as a lady’s maid for a deplorable woman, whose estranged family she has decided to con with the help of her sister-friend, Tess, who is a magical makeup artist and seamstress. Donaia is the matriarch of that secretly impoverished family and her son Leato seems to have no care for the family’s finances, but is quite taken with his newly arrived “cousin” Renata. Grey is Leato’s friend who Donaia has asked to look into Renata’s history. A little later we meet Derossi Vargo, who introduces the character of the Rook, an infamous outlaw and happens to be Ren’s new landlord. Setting wise, Nadežra feels a bit like Venice by way of Saint Petersburg.

In the background of Ren’s con there is a mystery: poor children are going missing, and those that come back are unable to sleep, and soon die. In the foreground there are numerous complications, and nothing is as straightforward as she would like it to be. It reminds me in some ways of Scott Lynch’s Lies of Locke Lamora, and in others of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, and some other ways of Cate Glass’s An Illusion of Thieves, but the writing is less clever than the former and less exciting than the second, finding a happy middle ground closest to the third that nevertheless fails to live up to Booklist’s review saying that this is a book “For those who like their revenge plots served with the intrigue of The Goblin Emperor, the colonial conflict of The City of Brass, the panache of Swordspoint, and the richly detailed settings of Guy Gavriel Kay.” Of course, that’s a lot to live up to, and I would grant them the Kushner, perhaps. Certainly in the casual acceptance of varied sexualities there are resemblances aplenty.

There is also clearly a great deal of internal worldbuilding, linguistically, culturally, and otherwise, but it is hinted at far more than it is explained, which can be a little frustrating for people who prefer not to interrupt their reading to refer to glossaries. Magic is woven into Nadežran society at many levels but little is explained about how it works. Things can be imbued with properties somehow, but it is not clear how: most magic userswork magic via runes and appeals to the divine, but there are exceptions, and one character seems to be carting around a separate entity in their head. There are also (of course) fortune tellers who use what are basically tarot cards and are uncannily accurate, even when they’re frauds.

I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading its sequel.

Con artists, masked vigilantes, political intrigue, alluring sword fights, sharply tuned dialogue, an elaborate magic system, and a whole lot of drama that renders you physically incapable of closing the book before you get to the ending is what you'll find in The Mask of Mirrors. Going into the story, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. Turns out if someone took all of my favourite things to read about and put them in a blender, The Mask of Mirrors would probably be the resulting concoction. 

Ren has come to the city of Nadežra with one goal in mind: to con her way into House Traementis, one of the city’s noble houses, and secure her and her sister’s futures. However, as Ren gradually grows attached to the Traementis family, she discovers she’s not the only one hiding her identity. Soon Ren finds herself tangled up within the feuds of the city’s aristocrats, along with her landlord Derossi Vargo and Captain Grey Serrado of the Vigil, both of whom seem to be keeping a lot of secrets. Meanwhile a new, magically corrupt drug emerges in the underworlds of the city that threatens to bring alive nightmarish creatures from old children’s tales.

Firstly, I’m completely in awe of the extensive and complex worldbuilding in this book. The author duo has done a remarkable job portraying the city of Nadežra that spans several islands at the delta of the river Dežera. Carrick’s depictions of everything from a marketplace to a ballroom to the catacombs spanning the underbelly of one of the Nadežran islands are equally vivid and detailed. A major aspect of the story is also its focus on the fashion of Nadežra’s aristocrats, and despite being the farthest thing from a fashion enthusiast myself, I found the lush descriptions of Ren’s wardrobe quite delightful!

There are two primary magic systems in The Mask of Mirrors, one of the Liganti elite based on astrology, and another of the Vraszenians, centered around a divinatory card system known as the ‘pattern’. Both of them are quite refreshing and unique in their own ways, even though we don’t get to see either in action very often. The best thing about this book, for me, was the political intrigue, which makes up the bulk of the plot. The dialogue, as I’ve already mentioned, is pretty tightly wound, and since none of the characters are what they seem, the story manages to keep you on your toes throughout.  

Coming to the characters, even though there were seemingly too many of them to keep track of in The Mask of Mirrors, the authors somehow managed to make every single one of them well fleshed out and gave each character a distinct personality, complete with graphic backstories and motivations. In terms of diversity, most of the characters are queer, and we get to see some other kinds of representation as well, like Vargo’s extreme aversion to germs and diseases. Out of the primary characters, Leato, the Traementis heir, and Vargo stood out to me the most; Vargo in particular is quite an intriguing character to follow around, due to his layered and morally grey personality. As for Ren, she’s one of the strongest protagonists I’ve come across in fantasy so far, and I absolutely loved witnessing her character arc over the course of the story.

The Mask of Mirrors is quite a large book, and I suppose many readers might find the pacing sluggish at times. That being said, personally I found the slow momentum suited the story perfectly, allowing the authors time to introduce the setting and the characters in a way that won’t be overwhelming, and the readers to savour the suspenseful plot thoroughly. The frequently used fantasy terms do take some getting used to, however. There’s also a secondary character who doesn’t get a lot of time on the page (for reasons that will be obvious to you once you finish the book) and I do hope to see more of them in the sequels to The Mask of Mirrors.

Overall, The Mask of Mirrors is a fantastic beginning to a trilogy I’m harbouring high hopes for, and I can’t wait to see where the second book in the Rook & Rose trilogy takes us! If you are a fan of fantasy fiction, The Mask of Mirrors is a book that should definitely be on your radar!

I was given a free copy of The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick (author), Orbit (publisher), and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This novel is the first the Rook and Rose trilogy.

M.A. Carrick is the joint pen name of authors named Alyc Helms and Marie Brennan. I have not read any of Ms. Helms’ novels. I read the Onyx Court series by Ms. Brennan and enjoyed them very much.

I would characterize The Mask of Mirrors as epic fantasy based in an urban setting. I might even consider the novel to be in the sword-and-sorcery genre, but more sorcery and less sword.

This review will not contain any spoilers.

M.A. Carrick did a very commendable job in world-building. The story takes place, for the most part, in a city that is well-developed and vibrant. The way the city is featured in this story is grimy, muddy, and damp in some parts and expansive, structured, and organized in other parts of the same city.

The magic system is a bit confusing and I had a hard time following it. It appears one aspect of the magic system has to do with deck of cards – that I think, but not certain – predicts or tells the future. Another aspect of the magic system has something to do with drawings, but that may be incorrect.

M.A. Carrick created a main character that is fully developed and three dimensional. The main character is a twenty-something woman who is a confidence artist who, after five years, returns to the city where she grew up. The confidence scheme is she pretends to be a daughter of woman who has left her somewhat wealthy family several years ago and the daughter tries to connect with the said family.

Even though the main character is developed and three dimensional, I did not find her engaging or interesting, but rather annoying. The reason why I was annoyed was I thought she is supposed to be confidence artist engineering a confidence scheme, and she was not doing at all.

There are a few side characters such as maid of the main character, a constable, and a crime lord that I think are more interesting than the main character.

Another aspect of the novel that I have difficulty getting past is the story. M.A. Carrick features several plot points and too many characters that I lost track of who was doing what and why. Besides the crime lord, I really did not know who the other villains were.

The novel is too long and the plot meanders without letting it breathe and I did not have any real emotional reaction to as I read the story. The plot is overly complicated, and I think unnecessarily so. The plot for a confidence scheme should be complex, but still engaging which is the case with this novel.

The start of the story is slow in the set-up, the middle is a bit slower, and careens and veers culminating in an ending that I did not understand or care that I did not understand.

This novel is well-written and does not have any spelling errors or grammar typos.

The biggest issue that I had with The Mask of Mirrors is I was looking forward to reading about a confidence artist engineering a confidence scheme. The story is about a main character who wanted to con a wealthy family but is caught up something entirely different which I, unfortunately, did not find interesting or engaging.

I rate The Mask of Mirrors 2 stars.

I would like to thank M.A. Carrick, Orbit, and Netgalley for the free ARC.

Honestly, surprisingly good. I was a bit nervous to start this book since I had a very limited amount of time to read it and it's incredibly long, especially the chapters, but for the most part it's cool, I had a good time, and I would absolutely read the sequel.
The world is a bit confusing at first, but the glossary and dramatis personae definitely help, and it's one of the few con books that I was able to keep up with without getting too confused about the plot, even though it did get quite complicated. The premise is really interesting and it stays interesting throughout the book, and even though I don't usually love such slow-paced books, it worked pretty well here and I was never too bored, nor did I mind that it took me longer to read than books normally do. The ending was pretty satisfying, but with enough loose ends and unanswered questions to leave you anticipating the next book, and overall I just think the story was done very well.

The Mask of Mirrors has a bit of a slow start and there are different points of view which I am not usually a fan of but in this case I was invested. There are just so many con-artists and enigmatic people to get to know that it's fun in a way. I would say the downside to that is that sometimes it seemed like there were too many people to keep track of, but I suggest keeping a list. It might help to reread this when you are done to go back to catch plots that might have been missed. I think part of the fun is just learning about the world and the different households. It is long, but I think once you get past the first couple of chapters it is definitely worth it. The politics and intrigue is pretty freaking cool and you will develop favorites. Mostly I would recommend taking your time with this book and using the glossary. It helps.

Along with her sister Tess, Ren returns to her birth city to work a long con. Pretending to be a long lost cousin, Ren inserts herself into House Traementis, hoping to be added onto the family registrar so she and Tess can live off the fortunes of the family. However, living among the elite is nearly as dangerous as being a river rat. Ren isn't the only one living underneath a mask, nor is she likely the most dangerous.

The world is complex, making for a rich experience with well-rounded characters. Political intrigue is core to the story, with players often being more than they seem. The initial focus is on Ren's insertion into noble society, establishing and cultivating the relationships necessary for her to be included in House Traementis's family registrar. While the first half establishes a solid foundation and hints at the events of the second half of the book, it's also a painfully slow burn. It takes a long time for more eventful things, beyond navigating the politics of the elite, to occur.

Religion and the magic system are crucial to the story but a bit confusing. Although religion is not nearly explicated as well as it should be, Carrick is fairly detailed in explaining the magical system, but I was still confused at times.

The Mask of Mirrors is a good book if you have patience and have the glossary bookmarked--you'll need to flip back and forth until you've familiarized yourself with the world. Even after finishing the book, I was on the fence about how much I liked it. After taking the time to make connections, I was able to make better sense of parts of the book. Doing so helped me realize that I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I did. To fully appreciate the intricacies, I think the book warrants another reading--yes, all 600+ pages of it.

DNF at 31%

I just can’t finish this. I feel like I’m being slapped with a dictionary every 5 seconds. I really only understood what was happened during the chapter when The Rook shows up, everything else was very confusing. The parts that I enjoyed and did understand gave me no entertainment to read. I’m sure this book is great for some people, but for me it was WAY TOO SLOW! I also felt no relationship to any of the characters. I would definitely try to pick this up in the future and give it another try, but right now it was too slow and dense for me to actually enjoy.

This was such a fantastic read. From page one I was hooked and knew that it would be a new favorite of mine. If you read nothing else in my review, just read this: A Mask of Mirrors is 100% a book you should pick up.

In the story we are mostly following a girl called Ren, who decided to with her sister, con a rich family into them believing that she is their long lost cousin in order to get rich. The twist comes with this being an epic fantasy and we get to see lots of different perspectives, one of them being the mother of the "rich" family, who very quickly shows that they are actually broke. With magic and twists the story turns into something bigger, but never loses its roots of being a con job either.

The characters were all so real. Not only were they well rounded and strong representations, but their interactions and relationships all felt so real. It wasn't a struggle for me to believe that two people were on the same side, or that they would double cross each other later on. My only real complaint was that there were too many side characters. I began losing track after about 25% of the book who was who was related to who. Our main cast kept me interested enough and the way the story was written I was easily able to figure out who the lost secondary characters were, but it became overwhelming at points.

Along with the amazing characters, the atmosphere was spectacular. My favorite part was the tie in of the pattern reading (tarot reading). All of the different cards were great ways to foreshadow something to come without me feeling like the authors had just told me everything. I also absolutely loved the dresses in this book. I normally just ignore descriptions of clothing, but here is was done so well I just swallowed it up.

Overall an amazing story that I cannot wait to read the sequel to.

Thanks for Netgalley and Orbit for giving me a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.