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A review by elusivity
Masques by Patricia Briggs
2.0
This is one of Ms. Brigg's earliest books, and it shows. Although the writing quality here is already better than most of what's out there, serious plot holes, unexplained details abound. The characters are cardboard and vague--they do not arise into individuals, and cannot exist independent of their background, the way characters do in her more mature work. I.e. Mercy.
Sianim is a fairy tale world, complete with wizards, shapechangers, and a supvervillain who does terrible things to children. The heroine is courageous, humorous, effortlessly charismatic, and can defend herself against all kinds of danger. The hero is "tortured," can work unheard-of amount of magic, and is more dangerous than any amount of secondary monster creatures. However, he turns into blubber in front of the arch-villain. And speaking of the arch-villain... when a villain's primary aspect is charisma and beauty and laughter and charm, and he is always described as such whenever he appears, you need to put in some realistically gruesome details in order to establish his villain status.
Also, the ending was "not with a bang, but a whimper."
However! despite those flaws, this book is still better than many of the crap floating around out there. I say it's worth a casual read when you have nothing better to do.
Sianim is a fairy tale world, complete with wizards, shapechangers, and a supvervillain who does terrible things to children. The heroine is courageous, humorous, effortlessly charismatic, and can defend herself against all kinds of danger. The hero is "tortured," can work unheard-of amount of magic, and is more dangerous than any amount of secondary monster creatures. However, he turns into blubber in front of the arch-villain. And speaking of the arch-villain... when a villain's primary aspect is charisma and beauty and laughter and charm, and he is always described as such whenever he appears, you need to put in some realistically gruesome details in order to establish his villain status.
Also, the ending was "not with a bang, but a whimper."
However! despite those flaws, this book is still better than many of the crap floating around out there. I say it's worth a casual read when you have nothing better to do.