Diversity is a huge player in media now days especialy in young adult books. The fact that the mask of shadows explains and shows the meaning of gender fluid does not mean it blocks out the rest of the story. I enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed the book! It is definitely similar to Throne of Glass in the idea but I don't think it's fair to compare the two and I wouldn't go into this book expecting something like Throne of Glass even, with seemingly similar plot lines. I do think the most interesting part was the inclusion of a nonbinary MC. I think Miller did a great job handling their identity and their inner narrative without being forced or reaching too much. Once again. I'll try not to compare to Maas too much, but this narrative is more straight forward because I don't think Miller is planning as vast a series as Maas has taken on, however, this doesn't mean the world building is flat or non-existent. In fact I found that the world building was unobtrusive but still very strong and left a lot to be built upon in later books. Miller gave what was necessary without giving you the information you don't need yet.

I requested this book after reading a few tweets about it and Sal's gender fluidity (there may have been a mention of Leigh Bardugo in there somewhere).

Immediately, I was engaged by what was happening and even a little flustered at the interaction between Sal and Elise. I loved Sal as a character, but was a little confused as to their motivation (I can totally chalk this up to having a problem understanding politics in books so I'm not the best judge). Maude was wonderful and her scenes with Sal reminded me of Shazi and Despina from "The Wraith and the Dark."

There is a scene where it's evident that Sal suffers from PTSD. While Sal may object to feeling weak for this very real reaction for what they've been through, I was surprised by those around them who understood and didn't judge them for it. I don't know if I'm used to the main character's feelings being unsupported by others, but I was thrilled by this.

Linsey Miller takes great pains to not assign a body to Sal. There a few jerks who misgender them, but it's never mentioned if they were (lack of a better term at the moment) right in their assumptions and I was thrilled by this. I was scared that Miller was going to disappoint me and I certainly wasn't. This amount of detail is brilliant because 1.) it's very easy to want to describe a character's body as an introduction, and 2.) the book had interesting parallels to Jeanette Winterson's <i>Written on the Body</i> where the narrator's name nor gender is given.

I can't wait to see what the next book will produce.

My short, to-the-point review is that Mask of Shadows was good, but it was trying too hard. Not in reference to the plot and writing, not at all! Linsey Miller cooked up an interesting world, an entertaining plot, and one of the most memorable, ultra immersive romances I’ve read in quite a long time. Unfortunately, what could be one of the most interesting aspects of this book, the gender fluidity of Sal, the, protagonist, is thrown into the mix in a strange way.

Sal’s nonbinary gender is almost nonchalant for a character who grew up in the streets. There’s a strange unreality to a character growing up with such an impoverished, desperate background not having experienced any discrimination for not conforming to a gender expectation, which would lead a reader to ask if the society in which the character lives has a general acceptance for nonconformists. This question isn’t addressed in Mask of Shadows; at least, not in a clear way. In addition to being sort of unscathed by society in regard to gender, Sal is remarkably well-spoken, to the point that Elise, the love interest, remarks upon it. Sal quickly puts Elise in her place, by calling out her assumption that Sal couldn’t be articulate, rather than addressing the unlikeliness of a street kid attaining an education while trying to stay alive and conduct a life of petty crime. I have to take a step back and acknowledge that yes, this is a fantasy world, therefore the society, from bottom to top, can operate any way the author dictates. The issue then is that it’s not clearly dictated. Miller is a good writer, and subtle, but the choices Miller made in choosing not to replicate the way human societies in reality work makes it difficult to relate to as a Eutopian goal. The reader is shown a great deal, but not told a whole lot, and in this one particular aspect it hinders the book. In every other sense, Miller’s style and writing are super.

The romance between Sal and Elise was really enjoyable to read. It’s difficult to really nail down the roiling emotions of a crush but Miller does it perfectly. The romance is also not a terribly huge part of the plot, not the entire focus of the protagonist’s arc. It’s just a nice, delightful little detour in the the otherwise action packed plot.

Very similar to Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass, Sal and a number of other hopefuls are competing to be the monarch’s assassin.The competition takes place at a royal estate and there is murder, intrigue, and mayhem. Sal is kind of disappointingly good at everything, having never done much of what she learns before. The other competitors are unfortunately not very likeable nor are they easy to get attached to. Miller does make it feasible that Sal might lose and not become one of The Left Hand, which was believable enough to me to make me want to find out how the plot ends.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the competition plot, books that go light on the fantastical aspect while still incorporating elements of the genre, and strong, non-entirely-masculine characters. Disclosure: I received an ARC of Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller from the publisher via NetGalley.

Great story great characters great storyline. This is a new to me author and all I can say is important looking forward to reading more from this author

I have to be honest. I was super hesitant and had pretty low expectations going into this book because there are lots of negative reviews out there already. In reality I’d give this book a 3.5 out of 5 although I rounded up to a 4 on here. I honestly don’t feel like this book was nearly as bad as people made it out to be. I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout reading it even if it did remind me of a couple of different books. I hear this book compared to Hunger Games a lot and I guess I can see it but that’s not what I thought of while reading it. I definitely got some major Throne of Glass and Nevernight vibes…with a little Red Queen thrown in there as well. I feel like the main character of the book was unique enough and the situations different enough where I wasn't constantly comparing the stories. It was the first book I’ve read with a gender fluid character in it and it was a unique experience. I didn’t know what gender fluid meant going into this but the gender they want to go by is the gender they’re portraying in the way they dress and act and it may change on a day to day basis. That being said… I didn’t overly love or hate the romance in this book. It was just kind of there and tolerable and cute but didn’t give me any yummy butterflies. Although I can compare this book to a few others I feel like the characters and story was unique enough to keep my interest. I really was not a fan of Red Queen and enjoyed this much more. I read somewhere that this series is set to be a duology and I most likely will pick up the sequel to see what happens next.

Oh, what a disappointing read this turned out to be. I expected more from this fantasy, but what I received was a generic, almost non-existent world, extremely flat secondary characters, to a point where it was difficult to just differentiate them, and loads of plot holes. The main character themself--is that a word? I need it to be a word but there's a red squiggly line underneath it--hardly made sense to me.

Before I continue, I should make it extra clear that I didn't finish this. I couldn't. I didn't care about what was going on in the book. I didn't care about what was going to happen. The characters, who I needed to rely on to pique my interest, failed me time and time again.

Little ways into the book, after Sal enters the competition to be the next Opal, every competitor is given a number. And that number limits how well you get to know these characters, even though many of them will be dispensable in the future. There isn't much else given about them other than what Sal is able to point out. No one else really mattered in the long run, so they all ended up being flat and boring secondary characters.

Going off this, the competition itself seems like a carbon copy of the Hunger Games. Competitors are killing each other left and right without any real consequence. The only real difference is that they're being "trained" to become proficient killers. Other than that, there's no real build up to it. There's no sense of urgency or danger to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

There's not much said about the setting. I read up to nearly half the book and all I was able to tell was that: they were in a castle. They had some training grounds. There are random tid-bits about magic and wars and shadows, but not enough for readers to really grasp anything. I don't care that most of the book is about some random competition--it doesn't excuse lack of world building. It feels like lazy writing.

I felt so utterly disconnected to Sal. While the representation of a gender fluid character is great, especially in a fantasy, it didn't do much of anything to make them seem anything more than a name on page. I can't tell you a single detail about them because there was no spark, no interest behind them for me. They didn't stand out in any way.

The pacing was also weird, but I think this chalks up to poor writing again. Having a general timeline of the book--from what I read--was messy... not complicated but confusing. It felt off-kilter and that didn't really do any good for the book itself.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with the portion I'd read and I know I won't be impressed with whatever is left. Predictable and boring, I'm giving this 1.5 stars.

Very well written! I was sucked into this story and could not get enough! Highly recommend to everyone!

Read in August 2017

I received this book on Netgalley from Sourcebooks in exchanged for my honest opinion I completely understand why comparing this book to Grisha books I also understand why some comments on start of book but I will say this... give it a shot get pass a few chapters and you will love Sal and will be cheering on for them to be standing at the end of the competition. Sal is a gender fluid character I honestly didn't know much about it and it was explained plain and simple by them in order for me to understand it I also think is not the main focus of their character since this looks to be accepted in this world. I would had like to see more of this world however I do feel that Linsey Miller gave us the amount we needed for us to understand and relate and then move to the next part same goes for characters we got to know enough of them and then moved on to concentrate on the ones we needed this was done effortlessly I got to love all the Queens left hands Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst and of course the runner ups to be Opal... There is enough of a love story I realy like Elise in this book but the focus here is all the assassin competition and all of the nail bitting action all these characters experience i order to become the new Opal. We get to know Sal and the suffering that was experience by them when their city was destroyed you can feel the love for what was lost and their drive to move pass I don't want to give much away considering this is not out yet but I will say give this book a chance if this is what Linsey Miller was able to do the first time around let me tell you I can't wait to see what comes next for witty, smart, funny, caring & deadly weapon Sal or number 23 as you will get to know them this time around. Linsey keep them coming...

I went into this book hesitantly because of all the mixed reviews so far, but I have to say I’m one of those who really enjoyed it!

Sal Leon is a thief who is given the opportunity of a lifetime–the chance to become the next Opal and part of the Left Hand.  As one of the Queen’s own personal assassins, Sal’s life would change over night and they’d be able to exact revenge on all those who wronged them in the past.  However, they must first survive the auditions.  For it’s a fight to the death and Sal must call upon all their talent and wit in order to survive.

What first drew me to this story was the fantasy element of it.  Plus, they said any fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo would enjoy this.  HELLO—I’m so there.

I wasn’t sure how the author was going to deal with the gender fluid thing, but honestly it wasn’t that central a thing in the story.  I mean, it was to an extent, but it just went with the character. Sal explains it right off the bat that they like to be addressed by the what they’re wearing.  But as I was reading I didn’t really refer to Sal as any gender (he/she/they)–Sal just became Sal to me.

I felt out of all the characters, Sal was the most dynamic, followed closely by Maud, their servant, and the young noble, Lady Elise.  I would have liked to have seen a bit more from the rest of them–especially Ruby, Emerald, and Amethyst, the other members of the Left Hand.  They were meant to be aloof, and we do see more of them toward the end, but not to the extent I would have liked.  I have a feeling we’ll be getting that in the next installment.  The Queen is such an enigmatic character and I loved her interactions with Sal.  Their scene at the end? Loved it!

The plot moved rather well, however I was a bit confused as times because I felt that the pacing was a bit off.  We learn more about Sal’s history and that of the country, but at times, it felt like it was coming out of nowhere.  The last chapter I literally had to go back and reread the first page or so because the transition wasn’t the smoothest.

Certain things were not explained very well so you’re really left trying to figure out what happened by a few vague references.  (You do get it by the end, don’t worry.) I just felt it was a bit of a cheat-out.  The ending was really great in terms of the twist and dark humor.  I really enjoyed that.

Miller sets up the next installment perfectly and I’m dying to get my hands on it. I definitely have some predictions as to what will happen and what characters will show up again. If you have a chance to read this, go for it.  Sal is a great character and the story is the perfect addition to any Fantasy lover’s collection.

I am sad to say that this was a DNF for me. I was so excited about this book, and while the world building is interesting the characters just didn't come through for me. I struggled to follow along with where this book was headed and who the heck was who. I get the numbing system was meant to depersonalize everyone, put them o n an even keel but when you aren't going into great detail in terms of character development anyway throwing away names and giving everyone a number just makes them ALL a blur. I wanted more, I hoped for o much more but it just became another YA fantasy/dystopian with a 'twist' of the MC being gender fluid but with out anything to make that character trait important to the book in the end. :-(

I was initially really excited to get this book from Netgalley, but I was seriously disappointed. I don't like typing out reviews on length about how I didn't enjoy a book, because sometimes books mean different things to different people.

For the, one of the issues was not being able to care about the charachters. For one, they are all called by a number. Five. Six. Seven. It was so hard to connect with them because of this. I was confused most of the time and it made for a frustrating read. Not only that, the dystopian nature of the book has kinda been done over and over again.

The gender fluidity was really interesting and I was happy to see it in the story, but this book was pretty much a miss for me.

Linsey Miller’s Mask of Shadows is a unique look at gender, vengeance

MASK OF SHADOWS, by Linsey Miller, Sourcebooks Fire, Aug. 29, 2017, Hardcover, $17.99 (young adult)

I read a lot of books — like more than 200 books a year. I receive books from publishers in exchange for my honest review. Some of the books I request, others just arrive in the mail. Because of this, I’m exposed to a huge variety of genres, and when I review, I try to give each category and honest look. That’s why I requested Mask of Shadows, by Linsey Miller, via NetGalley.

While I’m not a fantasy connoisseur, I do enjoy it. I find it a nice break from reality. So I set about reading Mask of Shadows with no expectations beyond the book’s synopsis:

Sallot Leon is an honest to goodness highway robber. It’s not the job Sal’s always wanted, but it pays for food and a warm place to sleep. What Sal really wants is to get back at the nobles whose inept selfishness destroyed the land and wiped Sal’s people from the face of the earth.

When Sal inadvertently steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of the Queen’s personal assassins, Sal sets in motion plans to infiltrate the court and get revenge.

But becoming a member of The Left Hand — so named after the rings the Queen wears — is no walk in the park. Only the person left standing will take on the role of Opal, and death is literally around every corner. As a common street criminal, Sal is decidedly less prepared than the other auditioners, or so they think. Street savvy might just be the key to the Queen’s inner circle.

In some ways, Mask of Shadows reminds me of Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass. I think this comes in tone and in keeping with the competition to become an assassin thread.

One of the major differences, however, is the gender fluidity of Miller’s Sal. Sal becomes who he/she wants to be and would prefer not to be known or judged by anatomy. Truthfully, Sal is written so well that I never really wondered about gender. It wasn’t until it was brought up that I had to sort of stop and think about it. For me, Sal was just Sal.

One of the defining elements of Mask of Shadows is in fact the use of masks. Every member of The Left Hand wears a mask to protect his or her identity. That means that all of the auditioners must wear one, too. The auditioners become faceless numbers. In any other book, this probably wouldn’t work, but I found it fascinating. Instead of relying on facial expressions, Miller counts on body language, and it works for the most part.

I’ve seen a number of reviews critical of Miller’s world-building. Many cite a long list of characters that are hard to keep track of. While I admit I struggled with remembering a few of them, I never found it particularly worrisome. I was too immersed in the story to care. Another criticism has been its similarity to other YA books of this genre. That could be true. Although, if the writing is good, this doesn’t tend to bother me either.

Mask of Shadows is an intense read. It’s dark. There’s a lot of death, mostly murder — as you would expect with assassins. But it’s also fast and compelling. I didn’t want to put it down, and though the ending wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped, I’m looking forward to its sequel.

A fairly typical story with a unique gender fluid protagonist. Good.for discussion groups, but is fairly violent. Not great for middle school.

Mask of Shadows was written by Linsey Miller I was lucky enough to get an ARC from NetGalley. And I would like to say thank you NetGalley for giving me this book.

Mask of Shadows is a book that is a very interesting book itself. Here is the summary off of Goodreads.

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, Emeral, 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.

Now on several reviews, i read this book one of the strong points of this book was the gender fluidity of the main character. Now I am a girl who really only like guys but I won’t stop you from being you and I hope you don’t yell at me for saying this but, I felt that the gender thing was confusing. Now maybe it will make sense more to other but I did have a hard time saying wither Sal was a girl or a boy. And I like to know. It’s minimal but it was a point of mine.

But besides that point this book was entertaining. The idea of assassins and a test/ contest to see who will be the next one is right up my ally. I really did enjoy the point of view of Sal and just the plot line. I have read a lot of assassin book and this one was pretty good. Not my favorite but I will most likely be buying a copy for my shelves. But also the cover is so pretty.

Now I don’t want you guys to not check this book out, everyone has different minds and what we like and we don’t. Check this book out if you like assassins and well kind of Thorne of glass feel tests and contest feel.

But till next time here at the nook,

E.

This book will be able at book stores and online on August 29th.

It has everything that would appeal to me: fantasy, politics, assassins, thieves, gender fluidity . . . and yet...I don't know why, but there was something about this book that just didn't really click with me.

I never really connected with Sal, or understood their motivation or driver because it seemed misshapen and bound to change. TBH, I didn't really like Sal at all, mostly because their character flip-flopped all over the place, from poor little waif to awesome thief to shitty fighter to the bestest fighter to crafty mastermind to crappy executioner and everything else in between. Not that I have to like a character to enjoy a book, but I like the character to have a little. . .consistency (and no, I'm not talking about the gender fluidity here) instead of being all over the damn place.

Plus, I took issue with the masks. Petty? Perhaps. Nit-picky? Certainly. But for goodness sake, are the masks half-masks? Full masks? Hoods? Do they cover their hair? What is going on here where I can get a visual of facial emotions one minute from a person supposedly wearing a full face-mask with no slits and yet the next minute they talk about not being able to eat because of a mask covering their mouth? Also (view spoiler)(view spoiler)

Parts of it I did enjoy. The competition. The in-fighting and relationships between people. And I liked the final "twist" at the end. And I really did like Maud and the Left Hand. I'm not terribly certain if I'll continue with this series. Again, this book has everything that I should like. I just . . . didn't really enjoy it but didn't dislike it.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

I've tried for over a month to read this book and I just couldn't get into it. The writing felt very stunted to me, as if it were unpolished in a way I would not expect of an ARC. The characters felt boring, one-dimensional, and quite frankly, something I'd read before. It felt like a fantasy world setting of 'The Hunger Games' to me and to be honest, I wasn't enthralled as I had expected to be. I did love the fact that the MC was non-binary in their gender and do hope that this inspires other budding others to produce works with that.

Sal is a gender fluid character who auditioned to be the queens assassin. Not only is she an assassin but she's also a thief. She has other plans other than being the queens assassin, she wants to find everyone involved in a killing in Nacea.

These assassins are super cool with their mask, it made me want one of my own. I really enjoyed the writing in this book it flowed well. The characters were easy to get a long with too and the fact the main character is gender fluid madenit more interesting.

I really can't wait to see what the rest of the series entails. I know I will enjoy it.

*thank you so much netgally for providing a copy of this book*

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Per Linsey Miller's Twitter:
"There are new ARCs out, so bringing this back. Sal explains it in text, but please use they/them pronouns for Sal in reviews & discussions." @LinseyMiller
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Sallot "Sal" Leon is a thief. After robbing a noble lady and discovering a flyer advertising an audition to become a member of The Left Hand—the Queen’s four personal assassins, named after the rings she wears—Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court. If chosen, Sal will be able to track and kill the nobles involved in the destruction of their home.

However, the audition turns out to be a fight to the death in order to prove that they're the best suited for the job. As becoming the Queen's assassin means giving up your individual identity (both in name and face), the contestants are required to wear masks that showcase their number.

"I was Sallot Leon—one of the last children of Nacea, orphan and street fighter, highway thief and Twenty-Three."

While the overall concept reminds me of both Throne of Glass and Hunger Games, the execution and writing style are different enough not to be directly compared. Unlike Throne of Glass, Sal volunteers to become the assassin (rather than being nominated by a prince with no choice) in order to serve the Queen they believe in and exact revenge on those that caused the destruction of their home. Unlike Hunger Games, the fights are to be done stealthily (not for the government's entertainment) for the ultimate goal of supporting the Queen (rather than against a tyrannical government).

With that out of the way, one of my favorite things about this book was the symbolism behind The Left Hand. They are nameless and faceless—each position and mask reflecting the color of rings worn on the Queen's left hand. Thus, they are an extension of her. Even so, the group has individual personalities, are obviously close knit, and are a colorful bunch that you grow to love.

This symbolism extends, in part, to the contestants themselves where they are reduced to masks and numbers. While this was a little hard to follow initially, the author did a great job of quickly eliminating a number of them in the beginning. It didn't take me long to identify the numbers I should be paying attention to: 2, 3, 4, 5, and 11.

The book itself starts at a quick pace and maintains it throughout. While the history and world building were a bit confusing or lacking, I didn't mind overly much. However, to call this a fantasy is a bit of stretch since all magic had been banished to eradicate the "Shadows" (IMO, more of soulless remnants than magically created and controlled creatures). It played no direct part in current events.

While Elise and Sal had cute banter, I wasn't sold on the romance. I could have easily done without it and Sal's gender-fluidity. Honestly, starting out the book, Sal felt like an adolescent...perhaps fifteen, too young, and with no mannerisms to really stand out as male, female, or other. Neutral. Towards the end of the book, all of a sudden I felt like Sal had aged overnight to became a 23-year-old male. While this could be the result of personal bias (unconscious or otherwise) it was enough of a difference to feel weird to me. My personal (and probably quite unpopular) opinion is that the gender-fluidity is a marketing ploy to bring in minority readers because it had absolutely no bearing on the plot and yet has been hyped by pretty much everyone.

Even so, I enjoyed the read. This is a great debut for those that like fight to the death plots and don't mind a bit of cross-over with some of their favorite series. Though the book personally feels more like a standalone rather than a duology, the ending left me entirely satisfied. It will be up to me whether I stay in my happy bubble or expand my world view with the sequel—just the way I like it.

Great book. Fascinating characters and intriguing plot.