ARC, 334 pages
Release Date: August 29, 2017Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Read from: August 20-24, 2017Mask of Shadows, #1Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from the Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)For fans of: Action, Assassins, Romance, Gender Diversity, Series Starter, YA
Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class and the nobles who destroyed their home.
When Sal Leon steals a poster announcing open auditions for the Left Hand, a powerful collection of the Queen’s personal assassins named for the rings she wears — Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst, and Opal — their world changes. They know it’s a chance for a new life.
Except the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. But Sal must survive to put their real reason for auditioning into play: revenge.
*MY THOUGHTS*
When I first heard about this book I didn’t care about anything except the genderfluid character. It was the only reason I added it to my TBR. Unfortunately, after reading it, I don’t feel much different.
Sal is a thief who wants nothing more than to escape the life they were given. So, Sal enters into a competition to become part of a team created by the Queen. The audition is a fight to the death and Sal has no choice but to make it.
Ok, so I had a couple problems with this book. The main one being there was absolutely no world-building at all in the story. There was all this talk from them about this huge war from before and how it killed all their people, but we (the readers) KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT. There wasn’t even a foreward to tell about it. This made it impossible to care about something that Sal cared about so much, because I had no idea what was going on. I just totes went with it because it was in the story. It made it feel choppy and definitely made me lose interest in the story.
And then, for there to be SO MUCH MAGIC in this story, there is no explanation of it at all and I’m still confused on what happened and why it was even relevant. I gotta say, it seriously made me think I missed out on a prequel or something because I have (and still have after I’ve finished reading) so many questions. I really need Miller to release a prequel with some of these answers.
And then, this may just be my opinion, but for the book to specify that Sal was genderfluid, it was hardly mentioned. I get that it was to show that it was a “more accepting” time, but there was nothing there, for an already underdeveloped character and it made me lose more interest in them. It would have been nice to know a little more information about them.
The only reason I didn’t DNF this, was the killing, and action, and overall stabiness of the book. That part was done so good and I REALLY wish the rest of the book had been done the same way. It would have made all the difference.
In short, this was nothing like I was expecting and that made me extremely sad. It really fell short for me. I was expecting so much more. Hopefully book 2 will provide these answers.
Overall, I give this
