Mask of Shadows

ARC provided by NetGalley

Phew. I am so relieved to be done with this book.

This was a classic case of great ideas, poor execution. For a book that was basically all action, it was so dull. I think this was because from page one, it moves at a cheetah's pace, never pausing for a breath so you can absorb anything about who the characters are, the intricacies of their motivations, or why you should care. As the main character, Sal, moved from action to action, I found myself constantly wondering WHY. Sal's main motivation was straightforward—revenge—but there was hardly any deep world-building or internal character monologue for me to feel empathetic. It often felt like the actions were driving the characters, rather than the other way around, which makes it very difficult for me to connect with a book. And I just really did not connect with this one.

The main reason I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy this is because Sal is gender-fluid. I was so excited to read about a gender-fluid character in a young adult fantasy book, where gender nonconforming characters are rare (they're rare in books in general). I did like that Sal's gender identity was just a part of them, but not a major plot point of the book. But I wish gender identity and sexual orientation had been discussed as a part of the world-building more. Many of the characters accepted Sal's fluidity without a question, which made me think that it was not too uncommon in their world, but that's just my inference from tiny context clues. I wanted something more concrete. There is also some misgendering of Sal by an antagonist, so be aware of that if you plan to read this book.

The brisk, action-focused writing style and impenetrable characters made this a book that wasn't for me. I hope to see more fantasy books with gender nonconforming characters and queer-inclusive worlds in the future.