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strange_little_ranger's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
18soft_green's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
The writing itself is consistent, practical, funny, and rhythmic. It’s very rare that I read/find a book where the writing style is so well done that it’s flow offers yet another layer of information about the story and characters. I loved how the authors know the characters so well that while the style of writing stayed the same, the tone of the story would change depending on whose POV it was.
The world the story is set in is enchanting and complex but not in a confusing way. It has rules that make sense. I loved that we never stopped learning about the magic system and cultures of the world. I liked the creepiness of the monsters and the streets, the way the grossness was handled.
The characters, oh my god, the characters are so peoplie!! Vargo has my heart, I love his narrative so much! I have so many questions about who he is, what his story is, what he REALLY wants. He’s so good at hiding even from himself! And who the fuck is that guy in his head?! I love Ren! I wasn’t expecting to love her so much. She has a lot of growing to do and I love how we can see, even through the trauma, that she has child-like notions. I love how her loyalty is above all to her siblings. I love how even though her attachment to them is clearly a trauma bond it’s love as well. And not smothering toxic love, but love for who they are as people. I love that that love is returned. And the familiarity they have with each other that is so sibling-like. It reminds me actually of my own relationships with my siblings. We have the shared trauma but we chose to have each other in our lives still and our link to each other is because we care for one another and know each other. Tess, Sedge, and Ren love each other deeply and their attachment to one another is consistent and pure. They lean on each other hard and it hurts and strains them but they still love and hold fast to one another. I love that we got to know Tess and Sedge instead of just having to assume that they were worth something because Ren said so or because they had some nice dialogue with Ren. I like Donaia but I don’t like Guina. And Leato, my heart. I thought he might end up wrong and weird but no. He is so sweet! I’m torn about Grey. I hate the police so fucking much and this bitch is out here saying they actually care about people?! Absolutely not. Nope. You can’t,, and the Rook?! The authors are going to have to explain a lot in the sequel because though I expected that reveal it makes NO SENSE!
I loved the villain too. I don’t like the message of nonviolence the authors tried to send at the end. They brushed over a lot of nuance to send that message and also,, like honeys, you’re two white women, is this your place to say?
I also dislike how few MCs are actually queer. And how limited the gender systems are. They gave us, like, five MCs and only ONE(1) is queer? And they’re pretending that’s enough? And they also coded him as a villain?! That ice is pretty slippery for them to marching so confidently. And Guina doesn’t count, she almost never got a real POV and she is such a limp character rn. I don’t like her. And then after her ALL the queer characters are suspicious.
4.75/5 stars. I’d recommend this book to anyone that likes fantasy or adventure stories.
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Chronic illness, Genocide, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Deportation
szuum's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Police brutality, and Death of parent
valpuri's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
astraeal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
[second read, march 17th: upgrade to 5★ bc i am absolutely 100% completely obsessed with this book, constantly thinking about it and rereading it barely a month after first finishing it. my negative points still stand tho.]
Listen. I was quite conflicted when I started this book because my mind just didn’t want to read it. Sure, when I was actually reading it I was quite invested, but as soon as the book was closed I was “uuuuh nope don’t want to pick it up”. That’s one of the reason I took more than a month to read only the first 20% of the story.
The other reasons are, well, it is a long book, almost 700 pages. And while the magic system, the fantasy world and all is quite interesting, I was just confused for most parts of it. Even now that I have read the entire book I am still unsure about things, so imagine when I was just only at the beginning. Thankfully we have a glossary at the end that helped me A LOT but not always. I couldn’t understand the world the story was happening and that’s why it took me so long to really get into the story.
And there are so many characters!! We also have a dramatis personae at the end but sometimes I just couldn’t be bothered to check who was who. So!! Many!! People!!! And some have different names/titles so sometimes I didn’t even notice that person was the same as that one. Phew. With times I could remember about all the main characters and some secondary ones, but there are so many more than can be really minor. So, that was a little bit of brain work.
I’m done with the negative points of this book, now let’s talk about the POSITIVE ones. Ok so first, it took me more than a month to read the first 20%, but then I read more than the last 50% in just one afternoon. I was that invested in the story. It took me some times to really get into it but it’s really around the halfway point that the story took a turn I was expecting and then I just couldn’t stop reading.
A con was a confidence game: not just the mark’s confidence in the sharper, but the sharper’s confidence in herself.
The book is divided in four parts, and I think the first one is the harder to read, since we’re thrown into a world we don’t know anything about and not a lot of explanation, and the story is a little slow. But in the second part, that’s where everything becomes way more interesting and just!!! so full of mysteries.
And then the third and fourth parts… I already said I read it all in one sitting because I just couldn’t stop. I was captivated by the story and some of its characters and all the secrets. I’m still thinking about it. I cannot stop thinking about it, truly.
Then you get to one final twist at the end and I dropped my book on the floor and had to take a walk. That’s how much it got me, and all the implications!! I just. Cannot wait for book two to see how everything will go and I just have so many ideas I may be writing fanfictions in my head you know.
“We don’t kill,” the Rook whispered to the oblivious city. “But we can destroy.”
Ok now I think I should give you more concrete reasons to read this book. So, read the Mask of Mirrors for:
➞ a con girl with an even sharper mind tricking her way into a noble family
➞ (she also has a knife strapped to her thigh and that’s just sexy excuse me)
➞ normalized queer world!! homophobia doesn’t exist!!
➞ different cultures/religions that see (and use) the world and its magic differently
➞ deception everywhere. seriously, don’t trust people
➞ secret identities!!
➞ morally grey characters everywhere
➞ important blood (and not blood) family ties!!
I hope this made you want to read it because I desperately need people to talk about it with!!!
I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
you can also find this review on my blog!
Graphic: Child abuse and Kidnapping
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Police brutality, and Grief
manicpixl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Death
maryellen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Death of parent
tachyondecay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Finally, Carrick manage the difficult feat of wrapping up the loose ends of this book’s plot while setting up for the sequel in a way that leaves me both satisfied and wanting more.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Death of parent
azrah786's review against another edition
4.0
**I was gifted a copy by Orbit Books UK in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, death, death of a parent, grief, poverty, child abuse, kidnapping, substance abuse, xenophobia
Don’t you just love when a book that was not even on your radar absolutely blows you away!
The Mask of Mirrors welcomes us to Nadezra, the City of Dreams – a place laced with magic and full of manipulative nobles, crime lords and vigilantes – through the perspective of Ren, a con artist and her sister. They have returned to the city of their childhood to trick the elite members of society and secure a fortune for themselves. However, it’s not long before they get caught in the web of the family feuds, political power play, dangerous magic and machinations of the city.
First things first this book is slow paced and when I say slow I mean s l o w… but personally I loved it. The world-building and magic within this story are impressively extensive and rich. From the awe-inspiring outfit descriptions and entangled character relationships, to the excursions to the various nooks and crannies within the city, the pacing delicately immerses you into the setting and story.
We’re introduced to a vast number of characters, two intriguing magic system and their accompanying terminology, which to begin with are a tad overwhelming, but they painstakingly shape the discordant communities that form Nadezra. An annexed land rooted in xenophobia, we get a glimpse of how history and culture have pieced it together.
The amount of detail and thought behind everything in this story is truly remarkable. One thing, as someone not familiar with anything tarot or spirit related, that I did have some difficulty with though was fully understanding the magic system. However, as the seeds of plot and political intrigue started to trickle in I found myself not too bothered about that and I became totally engrossed with everything to do with this world.
Just as intricate as the world are the protagonists. Along with Ren there are two other leading narrators – Grey Serrado, a captain of the city’s police force following a lead of missing children and then Derossi Vargo, a notorious crime lord and businessman determined to climb into the ranks of the nobility. Other than it seeming a little too farfetched that Rin was able to uphold her array of identities under her circumstances for as long as she did, I thoroughly enjoyed all three storylines. Along with a handful of other subplots, they are continually entwining and it gets more and more interesting with each page!
Now I don’t know what more to say without giving stuff away but honestly if you are able to be patient with it, this book reaps the rewards. I’m just mad now that book 2 is nowhere in sight because I was nowhere near ready to leave these characters and be thrown out of this world after being so absorbed into it, particularly after THAT ending… I have a mighty need!!!
All in all I really enjoyed this book and I guarantee if you love intricate fantasy stories and misfits getting tangled into more than what they bargained for, then you will too!!
Final Rating - 4/5 Stars
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
erin_lovell's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Incest, Sexual content, and Police brutality
Minor: Rape and Slavery