A review by phillipstephc
The Masquerading Magician by Gigi Pandian

adventurous lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

I enjoyed the first book, and I hoped that I would enjoy the second just as much. Sadly I did not. It felt like most of the characters made stupid decisions in this book. The original plot from the first book (Dorian turning to stone) was carried over in that the tension continued to be heightened, but no one made any progress in slowing this. They got pulled into a side plot that had so little meaning and I couldn't care about it or the characters involved. If the tension hadn't increased the way it did (Dorian was the only character I liked by the middle of this book!) maybe I wouldn't have cared so much about this little jaunt, and could have enjoyed it. But the book tells you this is VERY SERIOUS and then the characters hardly treat it that way. I would have given this book 3 stars UNTIL a side character is brought in, and the author finds it VERY important for you to know that he was once enslaved. To the point where the author refers to him as "former slave" twice, and "escaped slave" once, rather than just using his name, or ANY other descriptor AT ALL. I'm very tempted to give up on this series which is such a shame because it was refreshing to subvert a common trope and have an older immortal woman dating a younger mortal man (even though I'm pretty sure her "fake age" is younger than his actual age so is it really subverted??). 

In short, this books feels like a poor carbon copy of the first. I don't recommend.