Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick

11 reviews

folkofthebook's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

“We live in a topsy-turvy world, Alta Renata, where the criminals are honest, and it’s the upright folk you have to be wary of.”

this is a high fantasy that makes its readers work. the worldbuilding is in details and it's up to you to piece it together and figure it out; nothing is spelled out. names and places (and some titles) are in an original language crafted by the writers, so there is a lot to process while reading. it's long and dense, with slow pacing and lengthy descriptions to provide setting as well as background information at many turns.

i've heard this comped as an adult six of crows, which i could potentially see as well as peaky blinders, but as i haven't read or watched either i can't confirm beyond aesthetics.

if you are ok with a book that slows you down to process, this will be the read for you. personally, it was a bit difficult for me to adjust to in the beginning, but once i got to know the main characters better and became familiar with the setting and names i was hooked.

“Fine, then,” she whispered softly. “This is your game? Let’s play.”

unfortunately bc of the length and dense writing, it is a bit sluggish overall. i really enjoyed ren's character and vargo as well. i thought the concept of the cards and some of the magic system and lore were interesting and unique. there was a lot of queer rep and it was very much a norm in this world. the con was exciting and i enjoyed some of the political intrigue, but i do feel the book could have been tightened up. i also was disappointed in the fate of one character and the reveal of the rook.

things that would have additionally helped my reading experience: character art and family lines. i didn't realize until i finished the book that there was a dramatis personae at the end (it was not on the author's website, which does have a pronunciation guide and a few other helpful extras). there's also no character art anywhere, including commissioned by the authors. there's so little description about characters besides their clothing that i really don't have much of an idea what anyone looks like AND there's many characters to keep track of. i think anyone who writes fantasy should also do the basics: a map, main character art (at least 1 commission), and family trees for extensive casts.

i feel invested enough to continue to book 2, but i'm going to read a few other books first. the trilogy overall was raved about by a reviewer i like, so i would like to see it through for myself.

“We don’t kill,” the Rook whispered to the oblivious city. “But we can destroy.”

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dragonflight's review

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0


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weareinheritors's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.5

This is a very dense book with a lot of phenomenal worldbuilding. It takes nearly half the book before the actual main plot kicks in, then it gets really fast-paced and chaotic. 

I'm really excited to see how the threads that were spun in the final 10% of the book are addressed in the sequel.

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chalkletters's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I love a fantasy heist or fantasy con artist, so I was pleasantly surprised by the opening chapters of The Mask of Mirrors. I didn't realise until the end that M A Carrick is a pen name for a collaboration between Marie Brennan (who I've read some books by) and Alyc Helms (who I haven't). Despite being written by two people, the narrative is seamless, with no obvious divide between different prose styles or characterisation.

What’s immediately interesting about The Mask of Mirrors is that M A Carrick invites sympathy for both sides of the con. Most con artist narratives invite the reader to be interested in the cleverness of the con, and Ron certainly has that going for her. It's more unusual to also be presented with the financial straits of the victim, raising the question of whether they can afford to be conned. It was an interesting twist on the usual plot, leaving the reader wondering how it was all going to work out.

As well as the plots and subplots, The Mask of Mirrors is rich with worldbuilding. So much so, in fact, that it was almost overwhelming for a first time reader. The intricacies of the political system and the connection between families and factions definitely deserve either slowing down or rereading the book a second time. M A Carrick establishes at least three separate cultures, all intertwined to various degrees, and the layers of meaning and metaphor are impressive. Fortune-telling is a big theme, and of course there are multiple possible interpretations for many of the characters' predictions, so it would be fascinating to track what different symbols represent to different characters. 

The Mask of Mirrors has a good mix of characters the reader is obviously supposed to sympathise with and those that are potentially (or definitely) behaving in underhand and manipulative ways, and some who are somewhere in between. While it's obviously satisfying to see M A Carrick's protagonists succeed against the power-hungry family at the centre of The Mask of Mirrors' political situation, it's the characters who get close enough to double-cross that bring the most potential excitement, especially considering there are two more novels in the series.

I could tell I was going to like The Mask of Mirrors immediately, but I did struggle to hold the whole world in my head until partway through the novel. It’s so obviously worth a reread that I think I'll buy the audiobook so I can revisit the early section while my understand is still fresh.

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cardanrry's review

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challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25


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soniajoy98's review

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adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0


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strange_little_ranger's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • 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


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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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Focused on descriptions of what everyone is wearing, too visual for me.

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valpuri's review

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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


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vivaldi's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense 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

5.0

You know you've found your next fave book when you start to have symptoms of a book hangover as soon as you finished the book. This is precisely what what I've felt with <i>The Mask of Mirrors</i>. With its intricate worldbuilding (aesthetically it reminds me of Venice), political intrigue, and fascinating magic + divinity systems - this book is easily my favourite 2021 release that I've read so far. In addition to the interesting premise, I was also enthralled by the diverse & complex characters. I adored Ren, a clever and morally ambiguous con artist who takes the centre stage in the story. I loved how from Ren's perspective these intricate web of plots + magic entangled with other characters' lives. 

I've been reading the book before bedtimes over the past week and cherished every single moment that I had the pages open. While it took me some time to familiarise with the intricacies of the worldbuilding, once I got used to these details I found the book really difficult to put down. Given that this is jointly written by Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, I applaud their chemistry writing the book. There's a highly cohesive feel in <i>The Mask of Mirrors</i> which is rarely seen in many other collaborations. With the scope of worldbuilding and characters, <i>The Mask of Mirrors</i> is an excellent opening novel of the Rook & Rose series. I'll be eagerly waiting for its sequel coming later this year!!

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