Reviews with content warning for Death - The Mask of Mirrors

It has it all: The perfectly balanced court politics, well made worldbuilding with its very distinct and important differences in religion and culture of the two major peoples living in the city (so much so even their types of magic are wildly different), THE CHARACTERS (Ren, Vargo, Leato, Serrado, Tess, Sedge) UGH my babies who are so flawed but deserve all the success in the world, the mysteries and lies being so interconnected to the bone & sinew of the world itself, the magic being so unique and even tarot (aka pattern) having its own life in the story. A reread lets you understand the card readings explain exactly what’s going on in the future and that fighting fate only helps if you know what hand you’re being dealt.

This book also is dripping with atmosphere. The authors knew exactly what they wanted to portray and did so with such style and so little flaws it’s the closest book other than The Last Unicorn and Howl’s Moving Castle that I call perfect for me.

This reread has solidified it as my favorite adult fantasy, and if not one of my favorite books of all time. Read this with some friends and a MILLION out of ten, would recommend.

If you’ve read this review and my ravings, please try this book out. It deserves way more love.

I can’t wait for The Labyrinth’s Heart release! Thanks Marie & Alyc for making this series, so we can see the face and not the mask 💙

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~Original review~

Wow, a wild ride that I’m in it for the long haul. The authors managed to surprise me more than once, and the character work is delectable. A very soft magic political drama, with amazing multi-POV scenes that blend it extremely well to each other.

Content Warnings

szuum's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

Content Warnings

valpuri's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

Content Warnings

astraeal's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

sixth reread: no you don't understand. i'm love this book.

[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!

Content Warnings