Ren is a con artist who has come to the sparkling city of Nadežra with one goal: to trick her way into a noble house, securing her fortune and her sister's future.
But as she's drawn into the elite world of House Traementis, she realizes her masquerade is just one of many surrounding her. And as nightmare magic begins to weave its way through the City of Dreams, the poisonous feuds of its aristocrats and the shadowy dangers of its impoverished underbelly become tangled…with Ren at their heart.
The Mask of Mirrors is the unmissable start to the Rook & Rose trilogy, a dazzling and darkly magical fantasy adventure by Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, writing together as M. A. Carrick
Made it to 100ish pages before dnfing. ☹️ I’m trying to find winning fantasy series, and this had a lot of potential. I like court/politic intrigue. But I had to admit to myself it wasn’t working. I really need characters I’m invested in, and I just didn’t care about Ren. Initially I did - the opening prologue is great. But after that… she fell flat. I wasn’t even sure what the goal of her con was - does she just want money? How long would she pretend to be this person? I should know the answers to those questions.
I found Leato, Grey, and Vargo much more interesting. But they aren’t the MC.
Ren has been many things in her short life: a fortuneteller’s daughter. An orphan. A liar. A lady’s maid. A thief. A traitor. A murderess. The thing she doesn’t intend to be any longer? Poor. With her sister Tess, she’s come back to her home city with one goal in mind: to lie, betray, and steal her way into a fortune no one can take away.
But a good con needs more than an audacious lie. A good con doesn’t start caring for her victims and fighting their battles. A good con doesn’t get distracted by quests for justice. A good con uses stacks her mother’s cards; she doesn’t read the fate of the city in them, and set out to do something about it.
Ren is an unparalleled liar. But as a con, she may not be good enough….
I’m not sure words can express how much I adored …
Ren has been many things in her short life: a fortuneteller’s daughter. An orphan. A liar. A lady’s maid. A thief. A traitor. A murderess. The thing she doesn’t intend to be any longer? Poor. With her sister Tess, she’s come back to her home city with one goal in mind: to lie, betray, and steal her way into a fortune no one can take away.
But a good con needs more than an audacious lie. A good con doesn’t start caring for her victims and fighting their battles. A good con doesn’t get distracted by quests for justice. A good con uses stacks her mother’s cards; she doesn’t read the fate of the city in them, and set out to do something about it.
Ren is an unparalleled liar. But as a con, she may not be good enough….
I’m not sure words can express how much I adored this book — in part because I’m pretty sure a lot of why I adored it went beyond words. It hit me right in all my soft spots: skilled but unobtrusive worldbuilding, a heist story that dodged right in that sweet spot between “too unrealistic” and “too cruel”, and most of all a cast of characters I fell for hook, line, and sinker. Throw in stylish swordfights, an outrageously clever con artist, and a Robin Hood style vigilante, and y’all. It’s just TOO MUCH GOODNESS.
I am so far restraining myself from going straight out and buying the sequel — mostly because I know the third book won’t be out until fall, so I have to, you know. Nurse things along. Suffice to say if you grew up loving Robin Hood* and Zorro and the Three Musketeers but kind of wished they had better women characters and a plot as tight as a heist film… this is your book.
*The Errol Flynn version, obviously. Sir Walter Scott and Disney versions also acceptable. No other Robin Hoods exist.
