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A review by iam
Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller
5.0
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I loved Mask of Shadows to pieces.
I was super excited to read it even since I heard about the plot: genderfluid assassin? Sign me the f*** up!!! And boyyyy this book did NOT disappoint!!! It had all the good things: REVENGE and INTRIGUE, DRAMATIC REVELATIONS and EVIL PLOTTING, SNARK and ROMANCE and FOUND FAMILY. All in a wonderful mixture that made me swoon and stay up wayyyy too late to finish it.
Content warnings include: violence and gore, trauma, murder and death (I mean, duh, this is a book about assassins), misgendering, ritualistic self-harm; mentions of: genocide, death of parents and siblings.
I was drawn into the story from the very beginning. I'm not usually a fan of reading about thiefs and the like, but Sal made even that entertaining. The plot also moved fast enough that I never got bored with the single elements.
I pretty much loved all aspects of the book.
I loved the assassin training and competition plot. It was exhilarating to read and all written in a belieable way. I expected several things to go awry, and while pretty much nothing went 100% according to Sal's plans, it all worked out in completely different ways than I anticipated - and I loved those ways!!! It made the book super exciting and unpredictable to me.
I also loved the characters. Sal was so much fun to read about, and the side characters as well, especially Maud and Ruby. There was snark and backtalk, but not too much, just enough to keep a book about killing people fun and a joy to read rather than heavy.
Sal's character was supported by their gender identity - they are genderfluid and dress the way they want to be adressed, sometimes as a man, sometimes as a woman, sometimes as neither. I liked the deptiction of it in the book and the way Sal and other characters treat it, all with a perfect balance of being there but not in the foreground.
Another part of Sal's personality is their trauma, which ties into the revenge plot. The trauma depiction was painful to read, but very well executed. Like Sal, I couldn't always tell what was their trauma taking over their perception and what wasn't, which drove home the horrific events they had to witness and how they still affect them a decade later.
The romance and found friendships were lovely too. Not overly in focus; the spotlight very much belongs to the whole stabby stab competition, which also means that some of the friendships come with an expiration date. While I usually hate character death, I found it, while not pleasing, at least fitting here.
The romantic subplot was enjoyable and added a very different nuance both to Sal's character and the book, and lead to a very different outcome at the ending than I expected.
If there was something I wanted more of it was closure for some of the side characters that got lost in the events of the ending. I understand why they weren't brought up - it would have distracted from what was happening - but I still found myself wondering. Since this is a duology, I'm optimistic that they will appear again in book 2, [b:Ruin of Stars|29960680|Ruin of Stars (Mask of Shadows, #2)|Linsey Miller|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518939636l/29960680._SY75_.jpg|55135199], which I cannot wait to read!
Lastly, I saw some people shelf this book as YA and... huh. I didn't get that much of a YA impressed. I also have no idea what age Sal is supposed to be - they could be anywhere between late-ish teens to mid-ish twenties.
I loved Mask of Shadows to pieces.
I was super excited to read it even since I heard about the plot: genderfluid assassin? Sign me the f*** up!!! And boyyyy this book did NOT disappoint!!! It had all the good things: REVENGE and INTRIGUE, DRAMATIC REVELATIONS and EVIL PLOTTING, SNARK and ROMANCE and FOUND FAMILY. All in a wonderful mixture that made me swoon and stay up wayyyy too late to finish it.
Content warnings include: violence and gore, trauma, murder and death (I mean, duh, this is a book about assassins), misgendering, ritualistic self-harm; mentions of: genocide, death of parents and siblings.
I was drawn into the story from the very beginning. I'm not usually a fan of reading about thiefs and the like, but Sal made even that entertaining. The plot also moved fast enough that I never got bored with the single elements.
I pretty much loved all aspects of the book.
I loved the assassin training and competition plot. It was exhilarating to read and all written in a belieable way. I expected several things to go awry, and while pretty much nothing went 100% according to Sal's plans, it all worked out in completely different ways than I anticipated - and I loved those ways!!! It made the book super exciting and unpredictable to me.
I also loved the characters. Sal was so much fun to read about, and the side characters as well, especially Maud and Ruby. There was snark and backtalk, but not too much, just enough to keep a book about killing people fun and a joy to read rather than heavy.
Sal's character was supported by their gender identity - they are genderfluid and dress the way they want to be adressed, sometimes as a man, sometimes as a woman, sometimes as neither. I liked the deptiction of it in the book and the way Sal and other characters treat it, all with a perfect balance of being there but not in the foreground.
Another part of Sal's personality is their trauma, which ties into the revenge plot. The trauma depiction was painful to read, but very well executed. Like Sal, I couldn't always tell what was their trauma taking over their perception and what wasn't, which drove home the horrific events they had to witness and how they still affect them a decade later.
The romance and found friendships were lovely too. Not overly in focus; the spotlight very much belongs to the whole stabby stab competition, which also means that some of the friendships come with an expiration date. While I usually hate character death, I found it, while not pleasing, at least fitting here.
The romantic subplot was enjoyable and added a very different nuance both to Sal's character and the book, and lead to a very different outcome at the ending than I expected.
If there was something I wanted more of it was closure for some of the side characters that got lost in the events of the ending. I understand why they weren't brought up - it would have distracted from what was happening - but I still found myself wondering. Since this is a duology, I'm optimistic that they will appear again in book 2, [b:Ruin of Stars|29960680|Ruin of Stars (Mask of Shadows, #2)|Linsey Miller|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518939636l/29960680._SY75_.jpg|55135199], which I cannot wait to read!
Lastly, I saw some people shelf this book as YA and... huh. I didn't get that much of a YA impressed. I also have no idea what age Sal is supposed to be - they could be anywhere between late-ish teens to mid-ish twenties.