I love dark academia books, and this one was no exception! This book was extremely clever and unique in its plot! The ability to switch bodies is awesome! Ana wanted to get into Paragon Academy but failed. Now her body is dying, and she needs a new one. When she is caught, she is given the option to become a mercenary by the headmaster of Paragon Academy of all people! I highly enjoyed the multiple POV to get more depth through seeing the situations through the eyes of others. The world building was absolutely fabulous, and the characters are well built! I absolutely loved this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for providing me with an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely Adored everything about this book. The world building and the characters were so unique, interesting, and engaging, and the story itself was amazing. I cannot wait for the second installment in this series so that I can spend more time with these characters and in this world. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a new, unique, and well-written Sci-Fi/Fantasy series.

This book has one of the most creative magic systems I've ever read. It's incredibly fast-paced and makes you want to know what's going to happen next. While our characters are learning what it means to be themselves in a world, and even in a body, that is constantly changing, they must also work to make sure they survive. This was an exhilarating book and I can't wait to see what happens next!

Queen of Faces is a lush, haunting debut that feels like slipping into a dream you’re not sure you want to wake from. Petra Lord crafts an eerie, myth-laced fantasy that blends magical realism and dark fairy tale elements, anchored by a heroine who wears many masks—literally and figuratively. The world-building is rich and surreal, with imagery that evokes Angela Carter or Erin Morgenstern. Some scenes teeter on the edge of confusion, but in a way that serves the story's disorienting beauty. It’s atmospheric, strange, and unforgettable.

A Razor-Sharp Fantasy That Dares to Look You in the Eye
Review of “Queen of Faces” by Petra Lord

Petra Lord’s Queen of Faces is the kind of debut that grabs your throat and doesn’t let go — a dazzling, emotionally charged fantasy that balances brutal magic, sharp social critique, and a protagonist you’ll want to follow into fire.

Set in the rotting glitter of Caimor, where the rich swap bodies like fashion and power is measured by your Codex, the novel introduces us to Anabelle “Ana” Gage — a trans girl born into the wrong body and an even worse world. Ana’s voice is fierce, furious, and unapologetically vulnerable. Her pain isn’t romanticized, but rather weaponized into grit and rebellion.

The magic system, rooted in types of intelligence and soul-bound Codexes, is both intellectually engaging and viscerally cool. Lord doesn’t just invent magic — she builds metaphors into the bones of the world. The academy setting, twisted with high-society deception and deadly heists, makes for deliciously dark academia vibes, but it never leans on tropes. Every twist is earned, and every betrayal hurts.

At its heart, Queen of Faces is a story about the right to exist — to choose your form, your future, your name. And it’s told with such unapologetic clarity that even the quietest lines feel like battle cries.

Is it perfect? No — the pacing dips briefly in the middle and the world-building can feel overwhelming at first. But Petra Lord’s storytelling is bold enough to earn its place on the shelf beside legends. Think Six of Crows meets The Mirror Visitor, with a trans heroine who doesn’t beg for space — she takes it.

I was excited to receive an eARC of Queen of Faces from NetGalley, especially for its focus on trans rights—and the book delivered so much more than I expected.

It thoughtfully explores the privilege (and pain) of transformation—how the ability to transition, physically or socially, is not equally accessible to all. The story is rich with meaningful LGBTQ+ themes that give real weight to the characters and their journeys.

While I wasn’t fully hooked during the first 25%, the story eventually clicked, and I found myself eagerly turning pages to see what would happen next. The plot was imaginative and fun, with a satisfying ending that left me excited for what’s to come in the series.

Starting with the positives:

The magic system in this is fairly cool and unique. An author who can come up with something on the rarer / unused side, especially with so many people writing fantasy / romantasy, shows a certain level of imagination at the very least.

The writing, in my opinion, was hit or miss. Some parts of the book were quite well written to me and then in the next chapter things would be.. the opposite.

However, where it starts to become negative for me is the actual plot line and the strange combination of genre and overly descriptive narration. Slow, slow, then suddenly buckets full of world building, information, etc really rub me the wrong way and make it difficult to follow exactly what is going on. I find that an even pace is incredibly important (at least, for me personally) and Queen of Faces really fell flat.

Overall, while I quite like the blurb and was excited to read something written by a member of the LGBT+ community, this fell pretty flat and I will not be continuing the series when book 2 eventually releases.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt publishing for the chance to read this in advance.

The writing is very descriptive and the premise is unique. That being said, I wish the book treated its audience as intelligent. It’s very heavy handed. For example, the poor people area is called Lowtown and the right people area is called Hightown. There’s a lot of telling instead of showing. The beginning is a lot of clunky exposition and then the pacing is uneven. There’s all this time to build up the world at an even pace instead of for example using the scene where Nell beefs with her mom to also tell us all Nell’s stats. I don’t need that and I don’t care yet it’s only like the third chapter. Skip to showing me Nell’s fighting skills. And on a related note, the info dumping weighs the book down heavily in the beginning. Like I’m getting historical background from multiple different ages, magic info, character info, fables, fact from fiction all at once early on. Sometimes all on one single page. It’s too much.

The violence feels very cheap like it’s used for shock value not to serve the narrative. It’s very trendy right now to have cold blooded, violent female characters. And on top of that almost every character is a miserable bully. I don’t live in a fantasy land where I need everyone to be nice but I need some people to at least be neutral my goodness.

I was very excited to read a fantasy book by a trans author that was inspired by the experience of being trans but the gender politics don’t actually make a lot of sense to me. There’s little world building on gender in this world and instead it feels rooted into the politics and social constructs of our world. Why would a world be subject to the same social constructs as ours when you can jump into different bodies ? The book doesn’t follow its own thread of what the implications would be if bodies were more like designer clothes.

And my final note - the word manga is used. Manga implies the existence of Japan and why would Japan exist in this high fantasy world?

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the unique magic in this book. This series has a lot of potential to be amazing!

I'm so in love with this book! 10/5! If i could give it that. The characters are so well thought out and developed. The concept of this book is so unique and special! I loved every bit of it! I loved where the twist and turns took the book. I loved all the different POVs. There is so much I love about this book. I read the end authors notes and this book too a long time coming but you did it Petra! I really hope you continue to write and that you will make a sequel. I highly recommend this book and will be pre-ordering. Amazing job we'll done. I was hooked from the beginning.

Recieved an ARC on netgalley for review.

I wanted to love this more than I did! Dark academia! But I had a hard time getting caught up in it and it took a long time to finish for me. I think this could have been edited much more tightly- the ideas are interesting (body swapping!) but get overused and some of the magic elements are just too convenient. The characters also aren't as well fleshed out as they should be given the length- they still feel fairly surface level and the same small tidbits from their past come up over and over. It does end on an interesting cliff-hanger though that makes the next book in the series tempting.

3 Stars

The magic system and world in Queen of Faces was so unique and interesting, but something about the story and characters never clicked with me. I felt like the narrative stayed very surface level. The relationship dynamics between the characters were so promising, but none of it ever really got explored. They weren't friends and then they were or they were and then they weren't. We never really got to see any of the in-between parts. Too much was going on, so none of it was explored enough. At times, it felt like reading a very thorough outline. That being said, the premise was super interesting and the characters were compelling. If you like a cool world where a lot happens and don't mind a narrower view of characters, this is something you should read!

DNF 41%.

I tried. I really did. But this wasn't just a matter of wrong time / wrong place, this was all around wrong.

Who was I to like? Who was I supposed to dislike? Was this steampunk?, modern?, fantasy?, sci-fi? Dark Academia??? have no freaking idea..

A thesaurus might be a wise suggestion. Nibbling cookies, grown men nibbling cookies- where are the crumbs? Everyone nibbling. Used 7x throughout the book.

Chest grasping, pain in chest, jolting around,

I just can't. sorry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for this electrifying Advance Reader Copy!

You know that rare, magical moment when a book grabs you by the soul, spins you around, and drops you breathless on the last page? Yeah—Queen of Faces is that book.

I don’t throw around 5-star ratings like confetti—my standards are sky-high. But this one? Deserves every. single. star. It’s a full-body experience. I laughed, I gasped, I grieved, I questioned everything. If you’re looking for a book that makes you feel all of those things—this is it.

From page one, it’s a wild, no-brakes roller coaster. We’re talking rich, emotional character arcs that actually matter—none of that cardboard development. These characters will have you fist-pumping, crying, and yelling at the page. Petra doesn’t just build characters—she breathes life into them.

And let’s talk stakes: If you’re a fan of that Game of Thrones-style, “No one is safe” chaos—buckle up. Add to that a fresh and original magic system, plus a premise so bold and clever, I wanted to slow clap halfway through. Petra tackles a wildly controversial subject and wraps it in fantasy so skillfully that many won’t even realize they’ve been cheering for the very thing they thought they opposed. It’s genius.

Petra—queen of my bookshelf—you’ve got a fan for life. Wherever your words go, I’m following. BRAVO.

This is my favorite book I've read this year. The concept is wildly interesting and the story felt so smooth and cohesive. The characters are nuanced and flawed. Plenty of shocking moments and even a bit of slight romancey bits. Will be waiting with baited breath for a sequel, please!

I wanted to enjoy this one, but it took until the last few chapters for the story to pull me in, finally. By then, it felt a little too late.

This book gave me first-person perspective fatigue, making it hard to stay engaged. The dialogue tags made conversations feel stiff and were often overused.

There are some intriguing moments toward the end, and I think I might have connected more with the story in audio format. I plan to return to this book once it’s fully published — sometimes different format can make all the difference.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the eARC.

I received this book as an ARC however, my opinions are my own. I. Loved. This. Slow moving at first but honestly that was just because I took my time immersing myself in the elaborate and intricate magical world Petra has built in this novel. Once I was settled in, the real ride began. There are so many different plots and beautifully written characters to fall in love with, hate and then fall for all over again. I enjoyed not being able to guess the ending (you wont either) and adored the MANY plot twists. Absolutely stunning.

Oh, I am utterly in love with this. It is trans fantasy at it's very best, about a world where people can change bodies at will (for the right price). Yet, the world is drowning and cruelty abounds. It's about metamorphosis, about how the shape you've molded yourself into still isn't what the world wants, and how propaganda corrupts and rots everything from the inside out. It's brilliant.

Admittedly, I was super confused at the start of this book. Different characters take over different bodies, and pronouns also sometimes change with gender of the body. It took me a long time to get into this book to understand who is who. But from there I really enjoyed, there's also a bit of romance.

Great LGBTQ rep, vast world building, immersive creative writing and a propulsive plot? What more could you want! Really enjoyed my time with this, it's a little slow at the start but soon picks up, I was fully invested in the characters and although it's plot driven the characters are very fleshed out and kept me hooked!