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nixieba25f's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, and Grief
foreverinastory's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Reread for the November #WickAndJaneBookClub Feral Queers on Instagram.
Such a fun reread!!
Rep: Genderfluid white MC, white noble bisexual female love interest, various BIPOC side characters.
CWs: Blood, death, dysphoria, genocide, grief, injury/injury detail, misgendering, murder, violence, war.
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3.5/5
I enjoyed this but was kind of bored with some parts of it. Our MC, Sallot Leon, is a gender fluid thief, that auditions to become Opal, one of the queens assassins. It was quite a leap to see Sal being a thief to then trying to become an assassin, especially since at the beginning, they explain their hesitancy to kill. However, Sal seems to get over that pretty quickly.
The trials that Sal goes through were interesting, but also slightly predictable since everyone is trying to off the other competitors. What helped liven this part up was Sal's lessons with Elise, the lady she stole from to get invited to the competition. I loved their lessons together, and the romance that eventually blossomed between these two. I need more lgbt+ relationships like this.
One other thing I would've liked to have known more about would've be the world itself. Mask of Shadows is set in a world where magic and its dangerous shadows have been abolished by the Queen. However, threats of the shadows pose a danger to the Queen's reign. I would've liked to know more about the magic system that was in place, how the Queen banished it and how/why the shadows existed. They seemed pretty monstrous and it would've be a cool facet to expand upon.
Such a fun reread!!
Rep: Genderfluid white MC, white noble bisexual female love interest, various BIPOC side characters.
CWs: Blood, death, dysphoria, genocide, grief, injury/injury detail, misgendering, murder, violence, war.
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3.5/5
I enjoyed this but was kind of bored with some parts of it. Our MC, Sallot Leon, is a gender fluid thief, that auditions to become Opal, one of the queens assassins. It was quite a leap to see Sal being a thief to then trying to become an assassin, especially since at the beginning, they explain their hesitancy to kill. However, Sal seems to get over that pretty quickly.
The trials that Sal goes through were interesting, but also slightly predictable since everyone is trying to off the other competitors. What helped liven this part up was Sal's lessons with Elise, the lady she stole from to get invited to the competition. I loved their lessons together, and the romance that eventually blossomed between these two. I need more lgbt+ relationships like this.
One other thing I would've liked to have known more about would've be the world itself. Mask of Shadows is set in a world where magic and its dangerous shadows have been abolished by the Queen. However, threats of the shadows pose a danger to the Queen's reign. I would've liked to know more about the magic system that was in place, how the Queen banished it and how/why the shadows existed. They seemed pretty monstrous and it would've be a cool facet to expand upon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
abbiesdigitallibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
anacereading's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Blood
agoldendear's review against another edition
I got about a third of the way into this book and couldn't convince myself to continue. Mainly I did not like this author's writing style and I found the world-building to be confusing and not properly explained. I had to reread the introduction to the war that happened so many times because I was confused. I also didn't particularly like the main character, Sal, or understand who they were as a person.
I was interested in the fact that this book has a nonbinary main character, but I think that the book treats gender weirdly--particularly how Sal gets upset whenever someone misgenders them (even when someone calls Sal "they" when they don't know Sal's gender) but then it's fine for Sal to assume everyone else's gender when describing them. (I know it might be clunky to have Sal go around and ask everyone for their gender, but still.) Also, Sal assumes that everyone will be able to perfectly gender them correctly based on the clothes they're wearing (such as expecting she/her pronouns when wearing a dress), which doesn't make any sense.
Finally, I found myself struggling to connect with the characters when most of them were numbered instead of having names. Maybe some of them get names later on, but I kept forgetting who was who, and I wasn't sure which ones were the most important for me to remember.
I was interested in the fact that this book has a nonbinary main character, but I think that the book treats gender weirdly--particularly how Sal gets upset whenever someone misgenders them (even when someone calls Sal "they" when they don't know Sal's gender) but then it's fine for Sal to assume everyone else's gender when describing them. (I know it might be clunky to have Sal go around and ask everyone for their gender, but still.) Also, Sal assumes that everyone will be able to perfectly gender them correctly based on the clothes they're wearing (such as expecting she/her pronouns when wearing a dress), which doesn't make any sense.
Finally, I found myself struggling to connect with the characters when most of them were numbered instead of having names. Maybe some of them get names later on, but I kept forgetting who was who, and I wasn't sure which ones were the most important for me to remember.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
andykarnik's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A gender-fluid assassin enters an audition to become one of the queen's personal assassins so they can get revenge on a group of nobles who felt a near genocide was acceptable collateral damage for their own lives. It's kind of a murder tournament, but the violence wasn't terribly graphic. At times it was hard to keep some of the characters straight, as many are referred to only by a number or a gemstone.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
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