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A review by laelyn
The Liar's Knot by M.A. Carrick
4.0
The first book in this trilogy, The Mask of Mirrors, caught me kind of by surprise in early 2021. It had an interesting premise and a very cool cover, which, sometimes, is all I need to request or buy a book. But it turned out to be an incredibly rich, well-written fantasy novel that showed such great care for elaborate world-building that I fell in love. I couldn't wait to read the sequel.
Now said sequel, The Liar's Knot, is here, and once again I am in love. I have to admit that I did have to quickly reread the first one because the world-building is so dense, so full of made-up words and a plethora of characters and names and religions and factions that even though I loved it, I honestly couldn't remember who is who and what is what so well. I needed a reminder.
And I also have to admit that I still don't get parts of this series. The magic system is so complex with numinatria and pattern and what have you that I still, after reading two books, couldn't fully explain to you how all of this works. I read passages of The Liar's Knot where my brain went temporarily blank because it was just very confusing, and I don't think M.A. Carrick managed to really explain this part of their world very well. But honestly? It doesn't even matter that much.
The rest of the book is just amazing. The world-building is dense, yes, but so fascinating and intriguing that it's a joy to read, to find out more, to delve into this world. Nadežra is a living, breathing entity of a setting, and I do love the glimpses we get from other places and lands in this world. It's brimming with potential for more. The world, the plot, the characters, everything is expertly crafted, with so much thought put into every little detail. The love and care the authors put into every aspect of their work is visible on the page and frankly impressive.
And gosh, the characters! Rarely does a book, or series for that matter, manage to make me actually care about all the main characters.
Ren is an intriguing, complex and flawed but loveable protagonist that you cannot stop rooting for. The Liar's Knot manages to make her different personas even more distinct, adding the Black Rose to the mix as well as changing Ren's speech patterns, something that wasn't focused on in the first book so much. My girl is a genius at what she does, and while she is driven by the love of those she calls family, the book never shies away from showing her not-so-altruistic sides. I also really liked how the toll her complicated life full of lies and cons and secrets takes on her is shown very clearly.
Grey, well I had a harder time warming up to him in the first book but I absolutely adore him in book 2. His passion, his complicated love for his people, his dedication to justice juxtaposed with the goals and motives of his Rook persona endeared him to me more and more, and his more stern and serious voice is a necessary addition to the chaos that are the other two mains. Also, the relationship between Grey and Ren in all their personas is just swoonworthy. I do admit that I would have loved some more Black Rose and Rook, because especially the Black Rose was underutilized and could have been scrapped altogether without it changing the story much, but that's a minor complaint. I loved delving more into Rook lore, finding out more about who, or what, this mysterious figure actually is.
And then there's Vargo, who is now firmly set in my list of "characters I would die for". He was, to me, the most interesting pov character in the first book mostly because he's just my type of character, but he gained so much more depth and complexity in book 2 that he just became unforgettable. His complicated relationship with Alsius, who I adore, is both endearing and fascinating at the same time. He's so much more than a crime lord, so much more than the power-hungry villain Ren believes him to be at the beginning of this book. His power is actually believable, which is something that bothers me a lot in other novels with crime lord characters - often times I keep wondering how the fork these people actually even made it to this kind of position. With Vargo though, it makes sense, it's believable, he actually feels like a crime lord. At the same time, The Liar's Knot shows us his vulnerable side, his insecurities, and it made me fall in love with him even more. There is a reason for why he does what he does, thinks how he thinks, is who he is. And there are always at least seven layers to every decision he makes. He feels so deeply but is determined to feel so little, and there are several chapters in this book that made my heart ache just a tiny little bit for him. I love him and I shall protect him.
On a minor note, because I am a romantic at heart, I was first subtly rooting for some polyam love triangle between the three main pov characters, but that interest kind of faded away the more focus Ren and Grey's relationship got. Instead, I became more and more intrigued by the small scenes Vargo had with a certain noble - meaning after that last scene between them? Yeah, give me that Vargo-Iascat-Power Couple in book 3, please please! Vargo sure deserves the love and Iascat somehow managed to become one of the characters I'm most intrigued to find out more about in the sequel.
The side characters are mostly well-rounded characters that I formed emotional attachments to, like with Tess and Giuna, but often felt a little underutilized or underdeveloped, like Sedge who definitely needs more space to find himself as a character. A Very Special Mention goes to my boy Pavlin Ranieri, who is a hot cinnamon roll and his love story with Tess made me almost throw my Kindle away because I couldn't deal with the cuteness.
Stopping myself from swooning over the characters now, moving on to other things!
The pacing is, just like in the first book, on the slow side. The book definitely makes you work for it, but it's worth it. The plot is exciting and magical, with lots of intrigue and betrayals and some well-placed twists. It's both political in nature and deals with secret societies which I mean, obviously this book was written especially for me and my tastes. And even though I, as I said before, didn't get all the magical stuff that was happening I could still easily follow what was going on and was entranced by it. It has to be said though that this trilogy, so far, shines through its characters and world-building first, not necessarily as much through its plot. But it's solid, it's fun, it keeps you on your toes and it ends in a way that makes you crave that third book without relying on some forced cliffhanger.
All in all an amazing 4 star fantasy experience that I recommend to every reader that likes detailed world-building and complex, character-focused stories.
Many many MANY thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK/Orbit and Netgalley for feeding my Vargo addiction with this arc
Now said sequel, The Liar's Knot, is here, and once again I am in love. I have to admit that I did have to quickly reread the first one because the world-building is so dense, so full of made-up words and a plethora of characters and names and religions and factions that even though I loved it, I honestly couldn't remember who is who and what is what so well. I needed a reminder.
And I also have to admit that I still don't get parts of this series. The magic system is so complex with numinatria and pattern and what have you that I still, after reading two books, couldn't fully explain to you how all of this works. I read passages of The Liar's Knot where my brain went temporarily blank because it was just very confusing, and I don't think M.A. Carrick managed to really explain this part of their world very well. But honestly? It doesn't even matter that much.
The rest of the book is just amazing. The world-building is dense, yes, but so fascinating and intriguing that it's a joy to read, to find out more, to delve into this world. Nadežra is a living, breathing entity of a setting, and I do love the glimpses we get from other places and lands in this world. It's brimming with potential for more. The world, the plot, the characters, everything is expertly crafted, with so much thought put into every little detail. The love and care the authors put into every aspect of their work is visible on the page and frankly impressive.
And gosh, the characters! Rarely does a book, or series for that matter, manage to make me actually care about all the main characters.
Ren is an intriguing, complex and flawed but loveable protagonist that you cannot stop rooting for. The Liar's Knot manages to make her different personas even more distinct, adding the Black Rose to the mix as well as changing Ren's speech patterns, something that wasn't focused on in the first book so much. My girl is a genius at what she does, and while she is driven by the love of those she calls family, the book never shies away from showing her not-so-altruistic sides. I also really liked how the toll her complicated life full of lies and cons and secrets takes on her is shown very clearly.
Grey, well I had a harder time warming up to him in the first book but I absolutely adore him in book 2. His passion, his complicated love for his people, his dedication to justice juxtaposed with the goals and motives of his Rook persona endeared him to me more and more, and his more stern and serious voice is a necessary addition to the chaos that are the other two mains. Also, the relationship between Grey and Ren in all their personas is just swoonworthy. I do admit that I would have loved some more Black Rose and Rook, because especially the Black Rose was underutilized and could have been scrapped altogether without it changing the story much, but that's a minor complaint. I loved delving more into Rook lore, finding out more about who, or what, this mysterious figure actually is.
And then there's Vargo, who is now firmly set in my list of "characters I would die for". He was, to me, the most interesting pov character in the first book mostly because he's just my type of character, but he gained so much more depth and complexity in book 2 that he just became unforgettable. His complicated relationship with Alsius, who I adore, is both endearing and fascinating at the same time. He's so much more than a crime lord, so much more than the power-hungry villain Ren believes him to be at the beginning of this book. His power is actually believable, which is something that bothers me a lot in other novels with crime lord characters - often times I keep wondering how the fork these people actually even made it to this kind of position. With Vargo though, it makes sense, it's believable, he actually feels like a crime lord. At the same time, The Liar's Knot shows us his vulnerable side, his insecurities, and it made me fall in love with him even more. There is a reason for why he does what he does, thinks how he thinks, is who he is. And there are always at least seven layers to every decision he makes. He feels so deeply but is determined to feel so little, and there are several chapters in this book that made my heart ache just a tiny little bit for him. I love him and I shall protect him.
On a minor note, because I am a romantic at heart, I was first subtly rooting for some polyam love triangle between the three main pov characters, but that interest kind of faded away the more focus Ren and Grey's relationship got. Instead, I became more and more intrigued by the small scenes Vargo had with a certain noble - meaning after that last scene between them? Yeah, give me that Vargo-Iascat-Power Couple in book 3, please please! Vargo sure deserves the love and Iascat somehow managed to become one of the characters I'm most intrigued to find out more about in the sequel.
The side characters are mostly well-rounded characters that I formed emotional attachments to, like with Tess and Giuna, but often felt a little underutilized or underdeveloped, like Sedge who definitely needs more space to find himself as a character. A Very Special Mention goes to my boy Pavlin Ranieri, who is a hot cinnamon roll and his love story with Tess made me almost throw my Kindle away because I couldn't deal with the cuteness.
Stopping myself from swooning over the characters now, moving on to other things!
The pacing is, just like in the first book, on the slow side. The book definitely makes you work for it, but it's worth it. The plot is exciting and magical, with lots of intrigue and betrayals and some well-placed twists. It's both political in nature and deals with secret societies which I mean, obviously this book was written especially for me and my tastes. And even though I, as I said before, didn't get all the magical stuff that was happening I could still easily follow what was going on and was entranced by it. It has to be said though that this trilogy, so far, shines through its characters and world-building first, not necessarily as much through its plot. But it's solid, it's fun, it keeps you on your toes and it ends in a way that makes you crave that third book without relying on some forced cliffhanger.
All in all an amazing 4 star fantasy experience that I recommend to every reader that likes detailed world-building and complex, character-focused stories.
Many many MANY thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK/Orbit and Netgalley for feeding my Vargo addiction with this arc