Review: Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  This book is slated to be released on August 29th, and I recommend it.

I really enjoyed this. It gave me Robin Hood and Game of Thrones vibes. Sal the main character is female in body, but is gender fluid. Sal very clearly states that bodily appearance does not define "her" as today she may dress as him, and tomorrow them or her depending on their feeling for the day. I'll try to use they and them to describe Sal throughout my review but I may slip and use she and her. Sexual preference of all types are widely accepted in the world of the book. No one bats an eyelash. So from that perspective this book has good representation from some diverse characters from the LGBTQA+ perspective, and I haven't seen alot of that.

Onto the plot, Sal begins the book as a thief, stealing to make a living. Then Sal finds that one of the Queen's protectors, Opal, has died and there is a competition to fill the spot. Sal jumps at the chance to have a better life and kills the man she is working for in order to gain entry into the competition. Sal is known as 23 for most of the book, a masked competitor, as she must outwit and assassinate her competition to become one of the Left Hand, the Queen's four trusted protectors each identified by a gemstone. As Sal is "auditioning" for the role of Opal, she also has ambitions of her own as the nobility were responsible for the death of her people in Nacea and she wants revenge. Sal may be the only one to survive the magic that plagued her people before the Queen stopped the shadows and ended the use of magic. Sal loves the Queen and her love is part of her motivation to become Opal, but her undying love will be tested. As Sal goes through the competition, every part of them will be tested, physical strength, mental toughness, wit, friendship, all the while the members of Left Hand are watching and waiting to pick the best to be their fourth partner.

I felt each of the audition participants were different enough that you knew enough about them to be engaged. The side characters were well developed enough for my liking, though there were a couple that I would like to see flushed out a bit more. The romance between Sal and Elise was just enough, it didn't overshadow the plot, but it was there and there was no triangle or multiple participants. It was just I like you and I like you back, try not to die out there. I loved Sal's attendant Maud, she was helpful enough but definitely had her own agenda while trying not to get attached. I would have liked to get a little more backstory on the magic system and I want to know if magic will be restored, or if it is dead forever. You don't get much in the way of how magic was defeated, just that it was.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and can't wait for the next one. This is a violent book with some mature topics so I would recommend it for a mature young adult reader.