'Mask of Shadows' has an intriguing premise. I love a good YA fantasy novel, and this one promised an unusual, gender-fluid main character in Sal. Overall I enjoyed the story, although I often found myself confused about the politics and history of the world it is set in. I didn't quite understand the Shadows, or Sal's motivations for their actions. I did enjoy the competition aspects of the story, and getting to know Sal, who was a complex character that I never felt I really understood. I would probably give the sequel a read just to find out what happens next.

This is a fast paced fantasy tale that starts with the protagonist appearing to be a Robin Hood type character. The author quickly provides a story twist which now has the same protagonist fighting for his/her life to become one of the cherished queen's special forces. The author portrays the characters in visual detail that allows the reader to immediately envision each one. The setting is also detailed visually to the reader.

As the story continues throughout, the plot twists and turns often. The reader is quickly drawn into the plot and will find it hard to put this book down.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and anxiously await the next installment.

I tried really hard to get into this book and I just couldn't. I didn't find the characters (especially Sal) relatable, and the relationships felt incredibly surface level.
The world I feel could have used more outlining in order to come through as more concrete, and I found myself unable to piece together character and location. In a book, if I can't see a reason for the character's behavior, I can't see a reason for the character's interactions with OTHER characters, and I can't even see WHERE all this confusion should be taking place, it just isn't working for me.
It had promise but it fell flat.

This was an interesting book. It has a similar premise as The Hunger Games where people complete to become part of the Queen’s Hand, aka her badass killers. But it seems the main selling point for this book is that the main character, Sal, is gender fluid. Which I thought was odd. Honestly, it barely came up during the story. Except when Sal explained to the other members of the Hand what pronoun to use when talking to Sal. Thats pretty much it. Beyond that, there was a little inner dialogue where Sal thinks about previous encounters. So for how hard the gender fluidity was pushed, I thought it would of been a bigger part of the story. Honestly, Sal could of been either male or female and the story would pretty much be the same. Maybe that was the point though. Onto the story – Obviously, a group of wanna-be killers, there is going to be quite a bit action. But the storyline really struggled to move at some points. And then at the end, it went so fast I had to go back and re-read a page or two because I couldn’t figure out what just happened. I’ll likely pick up the next book in the series when it comes out, but probably from the library.

Well I was blown away by this book. I had heard a lot of very poor reviews on it and gotta say I think it's quite good. The writing is wonderfully compelling and readable. It's fast-paced, has a unique fantasy world set-up and the main character does not identify with one gender over the other (it depends on the day). I love that the gender fluidity isn't the primary motivation of the story or even for our lead Sal. Instead it's just a part of Sals overall personality.

<b>Why don't others like this book?</b>
There are some problematic areas and what doesn't help is most of them are near the beginning of the book. There are strong comparisons to Hunger Games at the beginning with the competition, but there's not much past that.
Not unlike The Gilded Cage I think there are improvements to be made but overall for a debut YA author, in an over saturated market of dystopian-fantasy, Lindsey Miller has made Mask of Shadows a more than decent read. I also think it's written for teens and sometimes I think us non-teens or older teens forget that to a 14 or 15 this could be their first foray into stories like this. And we all know that you never forget your first book love that opens the doors to a whole new realm of fiction. This book could be that for some people and unlike some books (ahem, Twilight) I think it has interesting morals and motivations to help someone start thinking about themselves in different ways. For me that creative thinking and self identity meant a lot when I was a teen (ie: I didn't have a self identity at all) and so I like that Mask of Shadows encourages this thinking and promotes individuality.

<b>Numbers as names</b>
I know a lot of people had issues with the naming being numbers, so let's talk about that for a minute. When the competition starts the players are all given numbers and do-away with their names and (presumably) their old identities. I know a lot of people struggled with this.
I'm not good with names on an amazing day. I tend to remember people by association but rarely by their name (in real and book life). Because the number names are written out like Four, Five, etc. It was just a name to me and not a number. Funny enough the numbering system helped me remember that low numbers were invitees and high numbers auditioned to be in the competition. I think for many people you have to immediately dispel thoughts that the word Five means 5. And instead the word Five means a boy whose an arrogant jerk. The same way that you think of any other character with a 'proper' name.
There are some cute comparisons to be drawn between Four in Divergent series and Four in this story. In the end I appreciated it as it didn't feel stolen but more an homage to stories that came before; but you might not get that until you finish the book which I think promotes a negative impression on readers quite quickly near the beginning. This doesn't help people feel confidence in the story and could result in DNFs. I get that.

<b>Romance</b>
The romance in Mask of Shadows is adorable!! While I know our lead character is gender fluid I felt like they were more feminine than masculine. I think it's very individual (and shows how well Miller wrote the gender discussions into the story) that many people come away from the book with a different perception of Sals possible anatomy and identity. I hope we learn more about why Sal distinctly chooses to be male or female on any given day and I'm really hoping her anatomy makes sense to it. Ie: castrated male, born with no distinct genitals or both exist, etc. If Miller chooses not to get into the anatomy of Sal however I won't be disappointed because honestly there is sooo much more to love about this book than just Sals gender choices.

<b>Overall</B>
I cannot wait for the next book in this series as the ending was awesome! I actually think book 2 is likely to be better because this one only improved as it went. I've read a lot of teen/YA books in my life and I gotta say that while Lindsey Miller wasn't the best ever, she has done a stand-up job in a very difficult market. Her and Vic James should discuss their woes of trying to break into this market as I think they'd say a lot of the same things!

I guess my point is that give this book a chance. A 40% chance. If you still hate it after 40% then fair go on and DNF it. But I think you might find that by 40% you can't put it down and walk away as easily as you might have at 20% mark. At the very least I recommend giving it a fair chance.

I liked Sal as a main character and reading a gender fluid character was great in a fantasy setting. I thought the plot was where the story was weak because it didn't provide anything new especially when you're reading about a character vying to be the queen's assassin. The audio did take me less than two days so that might be the way to go if you're interested in reading this.

I love that more and more YA novels are tackling gender topics but I just didn't love the story in Mask of Shadows. The writing was just okay, nothing that really blew me away.

Fam. THIS BOOK. GENDER FLUID ASSASSIN. You heard me. GENDER FLUID ASSASSIN. The reason I only gave it 4 stars was because I was confuzzled by a lot of the plot and world building, but it got the 4 because, you guessed it, genderfluid assassins.

The rep was amazing and Sal is my smol murder child. They are great at killing people but I love them so much. I want to give them so many hugs.

The worldbuilding and plot were highkey confusing but like I still sort of got what was going on.

Thanks to Linsey Miller and NetGalley for the copy of Mask of Shadows to review.

This novel was really exciting!! There were a lot of twists and turns while our main character was attempting to win a battle for a select spot of assassins to serve his Queen. I really enjoyed the overall concept and plot. The characters were well developed and relatable and each had a solid backstory to help move the story along.

Overall, the battles, assassinations, revenge, victory, misunderstandings, and timeline were fantastic. I liked how some characters stories intertwined and came back together in the end. Even though I had a feeling I knew how the novel would end, Linsey did it in a way that was slightly unexpected and continued with an ending that was unforeseen.

This took me a while to get into. There wasn't as much suspense in the beginning as I'd like and took too long for characters to really take shape. But towards the end I became a lot more interested in the protagonist and their backstory. The suspense was also revved up.

When there is so little queer rep in fantasy, I really appreciated the depiction of being genderfluid. Diversity in fantasy when it comes to sexuality and race is so rare when that shouldn't be the case. Miller's inclusion of characters that aren't white, cis, and hetero elevated the story.

I was interested enough in this book to read the next one. I'm holding off on my recommendation to anyone until I know where the story ends up though. I don't think this first book was exciting enough on its own, but the second book might change how I feel about the overall story.

This book was kind of boring, like it was trying too hard to be Six of Crows and Throne of Glass. Though the genderfluid stuff was well done I didn't care for it. I might read a sequel but the only characters I care about are the Left Hand

I was so excited to read this one I am a sucker for covers as most of you know so when I saw this one with its knives I about died. But shortly into this one, I knew it just wasn't going to work out.



This one has a few things going for it. First off was that cover, the second was the blurb....yes yes I read it!!! But this one after those two things just sucked. Yes, I am sorry to say this but it did. So where do we start? This one starts off with a robbery which worked out the issue that I had with the first chapters was that you really didn't know who Sal was. Was it a girl a guy? Some blend of both? You just don't know. I actually had to read the flap again just to find out and to my horror it doesnt say! I like knowing who the MC when I read. I have never read a gender-fluid book so this was very weird.



The next thing was info dumps. I really loved learning about their world but not in this way. Give us a little at a time, not giant chunks it made the book feel like a history book versus a great story.




The next issue was that even just 60 pages in I was bored out of my mind. This book is overly done with descriptions which could have been great if it would have been done just a little better. But with the way it sits there is no shinning spark or glory to make you want to read it or get interested in what is being taught. I really did like the assassin aspect. There are a ton of these books out there but I still enjoy a good book about someone offing someone else.



I have heard a few people say that this one is really really close to Throne of Glass but I just don't see it. Throne of Glass was epic and this one falls really far from that bar. The next thing on my list was the MC Sal I just didn't like her at all. Yes, Sal is creepy and pretty much a psychopath killer in the making but I just didn't connect with him/her at all after the first few chapters. His/Her character felt like it was all over the place. One minute he/she would choose to do this then the next to do that. You can't really get a feel for how the character can grow and change if they can't make a sound choice on who they want to be to start out.

Lastly, the issue I had was character names after numbers that's just REALLY weird. At that point, I was just pretty much done with this book. I was very frustrated with this title and will not be picking up book 2.

This book was amazing. I kept hearing good things about it and it does not disappoint.

I failed to complete. I had too many galleys and couldn't get to them all.

This book was amazing. Looking forward to read more books from this author.

Sallot Leon is an orphan and a thief. However, Sallot wants to escape that life as a highway robber living on the outskirts of society Sal wants to get close to the nobles that destroyed their family and their home. During a robbery, Sal comes across a piece of paper that features an audition to become a member of the Left Hand – the Queens elite and personal assassins. And Sal plans for the perfect infiltration to get revenge.

Mask of Shadows was a well-written high fantasy novel. There were instances of info-dumping and places where the plot became slow paced but it is an impressive debut. Mask of Shadows was an action-packed assassin in-training novel. Sallot was taking part in a competition to become an elite assassin for the Queen. The competition itself was full of high-stakes and it was very smart and detailed. Each competitor had to kill their opponents – without getting caught, and it made it an original and compelling read.

Mask of Shadows also featured a genderfluid protagonist, Sal. Sal liked to be referred to specific pronouns depending on how they dressed. I can’t speak for the rep, but I feel like Sal being gender-fluid was handled respectfully. I really liked Sal – they were motivated, daring, and funny.

I also loved the secondary characters. I was sometimes a little confused between who was who when the competitors were numbered – except for the main five. But I guess that held up the secrecy a little more and added to the atmosphere. I also really liked Ruby, Emerald, and Amethyst. I also found it really interesting how they were all named as well. I also really liked the subtle romance between Elise and Sal – definitely a highlight of the book.

I’ve seen this compared to Throne of Glass quite a lot, and while there are similarities there are also a lot of differences. Mask of Shadows has a much more developed and logical assassin competition and is much more diverse.

Overall, Mask of Shadows is an exciting and action-packed high fantasy that I would highly recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for giving me this book to review.

Mask of Shadows is a likeable dark fantasy book. Slow paced and I would have liked more world building and a cast of characters I could relate to more. Apart from the gender fluid protagonist, it felt like I had read this story before. Also with the war and the magic being gone from the world, this book felt like a new story but in a world that had already been established in previous books. While I liked that this book added some unique diversity to the YA fantasy genre, I wish that Sal being gender fluid was either given more or less importance in the story. This is because I felt most of the characters understood and accepted Sal but Sal acted as if this was unusual and got very emotional when people did accept them. Also, I will admit that I do not fully understand gender fluidity but one thing that bothered me was that it was Maud who was choosing Sal’s clothing, therefore I felt like it was Maud who was deciding Sal’s gender not Sal.

Sal was determined, hell bent on vengeance and rough around the edges but I just did not connect to them. Maud was my favourite character as she was honest and did not mince her words but as we got to know her better we got to see how caring she is and how much she has struggled. Elise is an OK scholarly character who is kind and intelligent.

This book has an interesting concept but ultimately it did not grab me as much as I hoped. I would recommend Mask of Shadows to fans of Throne of Glass.

Long Story Short: This was a good book, fast paced and filled with its fair share of action scenes but there was something missing, specifically the lack of deeper story or explanation to the gender fluidity and some world building plot holes.

Let’s talk more in detail:

I first saw Mask Of Shadows on NetGalley. A gender fluid YA protagonist? I hadn’t read a fantasy book with someone who identified as gender fluid much less a contemporary novel and so this fact, and the BEAUTIFUL cover, were these unique selling points in my head that made me go: NEED. TO. READ.

Sure, I liked the Assassins plot, and the competition to become an assassin but we’ve seen it before. The gender fluidity was supposed to make the book stand out, but it was BARELY TOUCHED UPON.

Post Reading THOUGHTS:

1. The world building was SO SUB PAR. It started off throwing a few facts at you, when a common thief magically decides to audition to serve the Queen who he/ she/ they “HAS ALWAYS LIKED.” These random facts keep hitting you. Later we find out that Sal’s country was destroyed by “Shadows” (WHAT. HOW. THESE ARE NOT EXPLAINED AT ALL) and Sal lost “his/her WHOLE WORLD” but WHO IS THIS WORLD? From where I sat, Sal had some motivation to do the things he/she/they was doing BUT I WAS NOT EMOTIONALLY INVESTED AT ALL BECAUSE I WAS GIVEN NO DETAILS TO FIND ANY EMOTION.

2. I like that this book was fast paced, all stab stab stab, and not slow like the last book I read (which nearly put me to sleep) and that kept me entertained. The last test, specifically was interesting and it had me hooked.

3. THERE WERE TWO DEATHS THAT WERE SO RIDICULOUS IN THIS BOOK THAT THEY MADE ME CRINGE. Honestly, they were some of my two favourite secondary characters and the manner of death, the way it was described and just WHY annoyed me to no extent.

4. Since this book name drops Sarah Maas in the beginning, I think it’s only fair to compare Sallot Leon to Celaena Sardothien (If that’s even her spelling. I can never get this right. WHY ARE FANTASY NAMES SO COMPLICATED?) When I was reading Throne Of Glass, I felt like Celaena was a GOOD ASSASSIN. She was dangerous, ruthless and well, GOOD. I didn’t feel that with Sallot. It seemed that Sal got by on luck and instinct which I wouldn’t have minded, considering where he/she/they came from BUT SAL DIDN’T IMPROVE OR GROW DURING THIS COMPETITION WHERE NOBODY LEARNT ANYTHING, which brings me to:

5. WHY WAS THE COMPETITION SO FAST PACED? If we were going to have Trials AND Classes, don’t these classes have to at least be long enough for the Auditioners to learn and master things, and not for two DAYS each?

6. I felt like the Genderfluidity could have been handled better. Or actually, handled MORE. It’s an important topic to talk about that I haven’t seen before in books but other than it being mentioned with Sal’s dressing sense

I had some high hoped for this book, I will admit. I give it stars for the fast pace, the fact that there was a lot of killing and that some parts of the plot were very unpredictable, but I WISH IT WAS BETTER and now I want to SOB because it COULD HAVE BEEN. 3 stars.

Since we heard the words “genderfluid assassin” about this book, pretty much the entire bookish community has been excited for Mask of Shadows. It’s hard enough to get genderfluid characters in contemporary YA, let alone, fantasy YA–and if you want to bring quality into the debate as we always should when discussing the representation of marginalized people, it’s probably going to end with someone crying. I’ve got a few small quibbles with the book, but Mask of Shadows is otherwise a solid debut.

Sal’s genderfluidity isn’t dwelled on, so if this book is the one to introduce you to the concept, it’s not going to walk you through things. Sal’s choice of pronouns depend on their choice of outfit for the day: she/her if wearing a dress or otherwise feminine clothing, he/him if wearing pants and a specific style of shit, and they/them if their outfit is more androgynous.

This approach relies heavily on the gender perceptions we the readers attach to clothing, which doesn’t gel with the internal logic of the world Miller builds. There’s a single character in the novel who misgenders Sal, but everyone else seems perfectly accepting of Sal’s gender identity. With such a lax attitude toward the fluidity of gender, it doesn’t seem like they would attach the same gendered ideas to clothing that our own society does.

Nevertheless, I’m a cis woman typing all this. A genderfluid person who reads the book might be perfectly fine with this representation, but I don’t currently know of any reviews of this book from genderfluid people. If I were still in college, I’d pass my copy along to my genderfluid friend Ten for his opinion. (Ten generally uses he/him pronouns but lets people know when his pronouns change.)

CRUD, I DIDN’T MEAN TO START WITH THE NEGATIVE. Okay, now the good stuff: Sal’s desperation for revenge against the nobles who let his entire country Nacea be wiped out by mages’ shadow creatures. Though some have called Sal bland, they’re determined to see their revenge through as soon as they learn about the auditions to become the queen’s new Opal assassin. Almost as soon as they learn of it, they make the massive leap from being a small-time thief and pickpocket to being a killer by murdering his heavily-wanted-by-the-government boss and using the man’s hand to get into the competition.

And that’s far from Sal’s only kill in the book. They’re willing to do absolutely anything to get at the two nobles most responsible for Nacea’s destruction. Such determination to do anything and cross all moral lines in the name of justice for the dead is my catnip, so Sal will be in my memory for a long time to come.

Though the plot is a bit predictable and the pacing is uneven, the book is just really fun. It seems like I’ve said more negative than positive about Mask of Shadows, but that doesn’t make it bad! The bad just needed more words to explain. The good is easily summed up as “Mask of Shadows is a fun romp with a vengeful, determined main character and queer people everywhere.”

If you loved Throne of Glass but wanted a more diverse cast and an assassin who kills people throughout the competition, Mask of Shadows will give you exactly that and more. Sal is ready to raze the land of the by the end of the book and I’m excited to see them do just that in the second book of this duology.