The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick

"Lush, engrossing, and full of mystery and dark magic," The Mask of Mirrors is the unmissable start to the Rook & Rose trilogy, a dazzling fantasy adventure by Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, writing together as M. A. Carrick. (BookPage) FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD. MAGIC FAVORS THE LIARS. Ren is a liar and a thief, a pattern-reader and a daughter of no clan. Raised in the slums of Nadežra, she fled that world to save her sister. Now, she has returned with one goal: to trick her way into a noble house, securing her fortune and her sister’s future. But in the city of dreams, her masquerade is just one of many. Enigmatic crime lord Derossi Vargo, stony captain of the guard Grey Serrado, dashing heir Leato Traementis, and the legendary vigilante known as the Rook all have secrets that could unravel her own. And as corrupt nightmare magic begins to weave its way through the city of dreams, the poisonous feuds of its aristocrats and the shadowy dangers of its impoverished underbelly become tangled—with Ren at their heart. Praise for the Rook & Rose trilogy: "Immersive…a feast to savor slowly." —BuzzFeed "For those who like their revenge plots served with the intrigue of The Goblin Emperor, the colonial conflict of The City of Brass, the panache of Swordspoint, and the richly detailed settings of Guy Gavriel Kay."—Booklist (starred review) "Utterly captivating." —Shannon Chakraborty, author of The City of Brass "This novel will catch hold of your dreams and keep you from sleeping." —Mary Robinette Kowal, author of The Calculating Stars "Wonderfully immersive—I was unable to put it down." —Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter "Exactly the fantasy adventure novel you're craving." —Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne

I thoroughly enjoyed most of this. MA Carrick has crafted an intriguing buddy fantasy, but this time the buddy characters are both female. This is The Gentleman Bastards with a gender flip! We follow two con artists, who are trying to pull a con to ingratiate themselves with one of the noble families in a Venice-like fantasy city by pretending to be a long lost cousin. The main character (Ren) is likeable and well crafted. The con she is pulling is elaborate but built in a way that makes sense - her alter ego Renata is a carefully crafted facsimile of noble woman. Her partner in crime, Tess, takes on the role of servant, utilizing impressive needlework skills to keep Ren in fashion. This obsession with fashion is, however, the weak point of the book. A pet peeve of mine is when an author spends too much time describing clothing, unfortunately a trap that this book falls into too often.

The political scheming and Machiavellian plans that make up the core of the story are brilliantly done however. The buddy dynamic is well done and the character work is brilliant. The story is all contained within the the city of Nadezra for now, but the wider world is hinted at in intriguing ways. The Zorro like figure of the Rook is also intriguingly built into the plot.

Finally, whilst the magic system takes a bit of back seat, what is shown so far is cleverly done, with an interestingly cultural approach to magic

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this and definitely intend to keep on reading further into the series as it appears!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was a mixed bag for me. The opening story was engaging, and the authors clearly put a lot of effort into building this vibrant world. Still, lacking background information, crazy tonal shifts, and shoehorned in extraneous details made it very hard to follow all the way through.