The story sounded really interesting, but I was careful in getting my hopes up as there are quite a few negative reviews. But I’m glad I gave the book a chance, because I really liked it.

The concept reminded me a bit of the first Nevernight book by Jay Kristoff, but it can’t quite reach that level – still, it’s different and very good in its own way. The story is action-packed , but we also get to know Sal quite well, and a few other people, too – their servant Maud, their love interest Elise, a few of the other contestants and the members of the Left Hand, testing, teaching and evaluating them.

I especially liked Maud and her relationship with Sal – both very ambitious and focused on the goal, learning to trust each other and work together. Their backstories were quite tragic and directed Maud’s and Sal’s actions. In general, the history and world was really well thought out and felt real, everything fit well together.

And then of course, we have a main character who is genderfluid. I think the only other book I read witch a non-binary character was Every Day by David Levithan (I’d describe A as agender?). Sal’s feeling of their gender just shifts from time to time, and they use she/him/they according to it. To make it easy for other people, they „dress how they feel“. It’s amazing to have some representation of other genders in books, and I really liked this version, because it’s not a big deal or about their gender, it just is how it is. But at the same time it does come up a few times, e.g. when another contestant misgenders Sal on purpose.

My Rating: 8/10

Conclusion: Entertaining, well-written fantasy book, good story and interesting characters. I’ll listen to the second book as well!

I wanted to read this book (the concept sounds sooo good), but the ebook wasn't formatted in the slightest. I know eARCs aren't usually fully formatted, but many others are at least legible. Reviewing this as a neutral 3-star to get it off my list.

Hard to believe, but I found this book to be rather dull despite being near constant action. Additionally, all the talk and praise surrounding the gender-fluid protagonist in this novel, the inclusion felt inconsequential. It did not really add to the story, it was just sort of was. It was overall pretty generic, along the lines of most other dystopian YA novels that have come out in recent years. Nothing super novel, but I didn't hate it either.

A quick, exciting read. Though in the beginning the gender-fluidity of the MC, Sal, seemed to be something that you were being beat over the head with...that eventually faded into a background fact. I really liked this story, even as dark and brutal as it could be.

Rich world and characters. I do love me some YA dark fantasy (a bit of an addiction of mine). Enjoyment wise I give it a 10/10 but there were a few issues with the overal storytelling.

You know me I'm a sucker for a book with children killing each other. Something about the total loss of innocence in such a visceral and brutal way is catnip for me. I dunno what that says about my mental health, so we will talk about that later.

I jumped at the chance to read this book, but ugh what a let down!!

Sadly if you've read The Hunger Games or Battle Royale then you've pretty much read Mask of Shadows. There is nothing unique here. Maybe if the competition had been I dunno left open ended and not had trainers and communal eating and things like that it could have veered into its own lane and became something more, but it was wholesale murder contained.

However a unique choice employed by Miller, she hid her characters behind masks and numbers. We didn't get to connect with any of them, so their deaths meant nothing. We didn't care if Sal killed them or someone else. Yes I want murder and mayhem but I also want to care about who is dying and who is doing the killing. When Rue died in the Hunger Games I was gutted. I mean we only met the little spirit like 3 chapters before her death but damnit it still hurts, and we aren't going to talk about her death scene in the movie and the entire place in tears either.

Character death have to mean something! Take it from the master of character deaths, George R.R. Martin. Yes he loves killing off our favorites and sending us to our therapists in tears, but those deaths moved the story forward and a lot of those deaths had far reaching consequences we didn't see for 2 or 3 books.

This was just wholesale murder.

Now let talk about Sal. There was honestly no point to them being gender-fluid. It meant nothing in the book and it meant nothing to the character. So why is it there. What line is Miller pushing? Where is she taking us with this?

Nowhere fast is all I can say, and that's a shame because gender fluid characters need to be written. They need to be represented and celebrated. Miller really dropped the ball here.

I was really hoping that the gender fluid aspect of the main character was going to play much bigger role in the story. Overall the story was forgettable and not unique.

This book was so dull, which is weird, for a book that contains mostly action and not much else.

To mention this book in the same breath as Sarah J. Maas or Leigh Bardugo is just laughable. I don't even like Maas' books, but she has a writing style that makes her books easy to follow, and easy to read. This book is composed of too much action and dialogue, with little introspection and no art. Had I not read the blurb for the book, I would not have known what it was about, even after reading it 1/3 of the way through.

I guess one of the main "selling point" of this book is that we have a gender-fluid protagonist. I really didn't notice the gender fluidity at all, nor did I understand the point of it, if there is a point to it at all? Am I being obtuse? Offensive? I don't really know.

At the risk of being politically incorrect, and I will put the disclaimer here that I am a raging liberal, and pro LBGQT rights and I don't give a fuck who you are and what you fuck and what your identity is as long as it's legal (and even when it's not legal, cause some countries are ass-backwards), there really is no point of the main character's gender definition or lack thereof. I didn't notice it, and if it hadn't been specifically stated MAIN CHARACTER IS GENDER FLUID, I honestly would not have been able to tell whether he/she/they were or not.

I guess it's good for the sake of representation and political correctness, but that's about it, as far as my impression goes.

Their gender fluidity was not well-written, for instance, during a discussion of killing people and introductions and shit, all of a sudden, out of nowhere.
“And you can call me ‘she’ when I dress like this. I dress how I am.”
Huh? Where did that come from? I had to go back to read that entire section again because that comment was just so random. And then there's moments when they tell us "I dress how I like to be addressed—he, she, or they. It’s simple enough," and I'm just thinking in my head well, aren't you a special little thing." I would like to be called Khanh, First of Her Name, Eater of Brunch, Slayer of the Stairmaster, She of the Awesome Legs, and Mother of Bunnies, but I don't walk around telling people that.

My bunnies are damned cute, by the way.

Whatever, gender whatever is not the point of the book. The point is that a book should have a point, a clearly defined plot, excellent writing, compelling characters, believable dialogue. This book had none of the above, and that is my sole reason for the one star rating. It didn't draw my attention at all.

The first thing that hit me about this book was the gender fluid character. As a non binary individual myself, this was incredible to see. The concept of competition is really compelling and adds a sense of urgency that really pushes the story along. The numbered characters were a little hard to keep up with but I did get accustomed to it. The numbering didn't come off as underdeveloped characterizations but did well to drive home the point of dehumanization. It came off in a really sophisticated way especially because I found myself wanting to know more about these people and their names but also becoming really comfortable with the anonymity. Incredible book!

Unfortunately, I don't have much to say about this book because I could not finish it. While I appreciate the diversity that it was attempting to include, that wasn't enough to keep me reading. The book was confusing, boring, and not something that I wanted to spend my time with.

I sadly missed on downloading this book but was able to read certain chapters from a bookstore. From what I've read, the first three chapters, it gives major Hunger Games vibes but in a new way making the book half-familiar and half-new — and I hope it shall live to this til the end. I cannot say much about my liking of Sal but Sal is a character that doesn't rub me the wrong way at the beginning, and that's a good thing, I guess.

My rating is for my impression of the first three chapters only.

This was the first book I read with a non-binary main character and I really appreciated how they were treated, as well as the world-building. It was a seamless story and wonderful introduction into this world. I can't wait to read more from Linsey.

Mask of Shadows is a book about revenge, infiltrating a place for royalty, training, tests to determine who is a better assassin, and, of course, romance.

Sal is our gender fluid MC, meaning they can be female one day and male the next, all depending on how (who?) they feel that particular day. While this could have been a wonderful example of such a person and their struggles, we actually rarely hear about it. Sal explains it maybe three times in the entire book, proving that their gender fluidness is merely a side topic. The main topic was revenge, as Sal wants to crush the people who destroyed their home and left them n the streets to fend for themself (as they were a highway robber/thief before the auditions to become an assassin for the Queen). And even then, we only hear about this revenge (I believe one one account of revenge was actually in the story and it was near the end).

For the most part, we read about the training process, as well as the tests. All the other people auditioning to become a Left Hand have to kill each other without harming anyone not participating, and without being caught, so this leaves pages upon pages about attempts on Sal and attempts Sal does to others. Then during their training (which is basically neutral ground), we get descriptions of their workouts and how Sal struggles with them (Sal even gets lessons on reading and writing if I remember correctly).

Yes, there is murder. No, it is not fast paced, thrilling, or particularly surprising with the twists. I won't lie, I expected a lot more violence and plotting, death and shocking revelations.

Overall, it is an interesting book, but I did not love it.

I did not realize how much I was going to love this book! The summary had me intrigued but holy cow!! Sallot was so easy to grow attached to really drove the story home for. This book was EVERYTHING!

I received an advanced copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

First, I would like to say that this was not a bad book at all, I just do not feel like it was for me. I did love the political court intrigue and the assassin training/competition, but there was just something out this book that I could not get into. The novel was well written for the most part, I think the biggest thing that bothered me about this novel is the author seemed to want to keep focusing on the character seeing themselves as gender fluid. I don't have an issue with that, more I feel like it was just continuously brought up when it was NOT necessary and I think that put me off to the novel.

Not bad, just not for me.

I wonderful, well thought out young adult fantasy novel that will leave you wanting more. The pace is set perfectly, it never feels over detailed or too wordy, it does not go on and on without cause and each riveting page is written to further enchant the reader.

This was a let down and I feel like it was sold to everyone as a gender fluid story but I did not get that from this book.

An absolutely brilliant book that I loved reading! I forgot to put up a review for it when I finished it here but I really thought it's a fantastic fantasy novel and I absolutely loved the sequel!

There is nothing new or exciting about any of this. I suppose it could be the familiarity of it all that made this book a total snooze for me, but I also think a distinct lack of character development definitely didn't help.

For me, Mask of Shadows just read like generic YA fantasy. I didn’t hate this, I just didn’t really enjoy it either. I for sure did enjoy some parts, and a few of the side characters, but I felt the story was too tedious for me to ever fully immerse myself and to simply let myself just enjoy it. Again, I do think the next installment in this series will be much better, and I do want to cut the author some slack for this being their debut novel.

This story fell a bit short for me but it was good.
Looking forward to read more from this author. Thanks Netgalley