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A review by acuriousreader
Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller
2.0
I was given a copy of Mask of Shadows by Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.
Mask of Shadows is one of those books that has a great idea and just botches it.
Let's start with the "gender fluid" main character Sal. This is a great idea and a unique one, if done properly. In this case, it was not. The gender fluidity is not even mentioned enough for you to remember it's there. And the times it is mentioned just brings on all sorts of confusion. The other characters don't question it in any sort, making you believe that it is widely accepted with in their society. But the way the main character gets all teary eyed when someone refers to he/she/they in the proper context suggests otherwise. In my opinion it's an unneeded character attribute. It doesn't aid in the story or character at all and the book would be the exact same without it.
Moving on to the characters themselves.... well this is a tough one as none of them have names and they hardly get descriptions. Making it extremely hard to connect with any of the characters at all. And the fact that you call them by numbers? *insert eye roll here* the whole time I just kept thinking of that really bad number joke... "why was 6 afraid of 7?" Having them being called their audition numbers, never getting names or back stories, and not having descriptions to rely on make it impossible to say you like or know any of the characters.
And the ONE character you get a lite insight too? The ONE character you might start feeling something for? Yeah.... dead. *sigh*
I gave this book a 2/5.... and that's reaching. Really it should be a 1 star, but it kept my interest enough that I finished it in about 5 hours. So that's got to count for something right?
Mask of Shadows is one of those books that has a great idea and just botches it.
Let's start with the "gender fluid" main character Sal. This is a great idea and a unique one, if done properly. In this case, it was not. The gender fluidity is not even mentioned enough for you to remember it's there. And the times it is mentioned just brings on all sorts of confusion. The other characters don't question it in any sort, making you believe that it is widely accepted with in their society. But the way the main character gets all teary eyed when someone refers to he/she/they in the proper context suggests otherwise. In my opinion it's an unneeded character attribute. It doesn't aid in the story or character at all and the book would be the exact same without it.
Moving on to the characters themselves.... well this is a tough one as none of them have names and they hardly get descriptions. Making it extremely hard to connect with any of the characters at all. And the fact that you call them by numbers? *insert eye roll here* the whole time I just kept thinking of that really bad number joke... "why was 6 afraid of 7?" Having them being called their audition numbers, never getting names or back stories, and not having descriptions to rely on make it impossible to say you like or know any of the characters.
And the ONE character you get a lite insight too? The ONE character you might start feeling something for? Yeah.... dead. *sigh*
I gave this book a 2/5.... and that's reaching. Really it should be a 1 star, but it kept my interest enough that I finished it in about 5 hours. So that's got to count for something right?