City of Masks by Ashley Capes
Blurb:
When a royal conspiracy topples the noble House Falco, Sofia must take up the burden of her father's mantle and assume guardianship of his Greatmask.
Yet the sentient bone mask, powerful enough to Compel those around her, will not speak - and Sofia is left defenceless. Hunted by the king, she is driven from the palace where she alone must fight for survival in the cold streets of Anaskar... that is, until she crosses paths with Notch, a bitter mercenary.
Notch has survived both war and the betrayal of his king on the very battlefield where they were victorious and though the former soldier burns for revenge, he finds himself unable to turn his back on Sofia and her own struggle for justice.
But if they want to take back their city and cast down the tyrant on the throne, they must face the blades of Anaskar's robed assassins, the rage of a mighty sea beast and finally the mysterious Lupo, a man with his own Greatmask and who has masterminded vicious terrorist attacks on the city that spurned him.
Follow unlikely heroes on an epic fantasy adventure where the struggle over the Greatmask and its power threatens to tear their city - and kingdom - into shreds.
Review:
Like a few of my reviews of late, this one is long overdue. “City of Masks” by Ashley Capes was an interesting read when I read it a while back, and it was an interesting reread a few days ago. It’s somewhat different from what I usually read, however, the novel still hits the fantasy and thriller bone perfectly, albeit from an angle. That angle? There is something there, something we readers don’t see, something that is clearly off, but due to worldbuilding, we don’t see it until much later. And even then, there are questions left unanswered, left there until the next book in the series is read, or even the rest.
If I had to quickly sum up the two characters we follow in this novel, it’d be with these two sentences:
“Sofia, through circumstances beyond her control, ends up with a heavy burden. Notch is burdened by the past and a job reopens old wounds.”,
however that doesn’t do them justice. Far from it. To start off, we have Sofia. She’s still young, destined to be a mask carver for the illustrious masks, the secret police of Anaskar until shocking news reaches her and her father about her brother's disappearance. From there, her life spirals out of her control as plots spin the background to drive her family into ruin. Sofia of House Falco grows as a character, learning new things about both her own family and herself. Meanwhile, Notch has PTSD from the war where he saved his king. As the novel progresses, he reopens those psychological wounds as he sleeps. And, fortunately for him, he does get some closure in that regard, but not in the way that I’d expect it to be. And not mentioned in the blurb is Avi. Avi is a soon-to-be father that has to go on the quest to ring a bell. Straightforward. But not.
From there, there’s the plot. The plot goes places. The first third of the book is all over the place. But then it straightens out, and is much more oversightly by then. Shenanigans abound, as Sofia and Notch are brought together by circumstances, and their journey properly picks up steam. Meanwhile, Avi's plot is more straightforward. Travel in one direction, ring the sacred bell, dance merrily, go home. At least that’s his thought process. It doesn’t go as planned.
After that there is worldbuilding. Avi is beyond the desert somewhere, with deadly magic guarding the border between where he lives, and the Anaskari live beyond them, by the ocean. Every once and while, a giant creature attacks the city and a storm singer has to calm it down.The greatmasks, the signs of a leader of the masks, are more nebulous. They’re alive, ancient, and very much stuck in the same communication channel. Which means talking to them is like trying to dial a radio station without seeing the slider or the number and it’s a weird frequency that takes forever to get to normally. The storm singers are there to calm the sea beast, and sometimes it’s more difficult than others, and the Anaskari elite have no clue why that is. Meanwhile, there is the holy bell that Avi chases after. They’re supposed to ring it and their wards are supposed to disappear, and it’s a big disgrace to show back home when the wards haven’t moved.
Lastly, if I had to critique something in this book, the ending of it felt too neat. Too clean. The amount of things that happened. The amount of tables that turned. The ending was too neat for it all to work out the way it did. However, that is my own opinion. If you’d like to build your own, feel free to read it yourself.
As always, thank you for reading this review, and I hope I’ve helped add another novel to your TBR pile, or your next read. If not, we’ve got a wide selection of reviews here on this site for you to peruse, and here’s a link to a random review up on the site, and it could be within this genre, or somewhere completely different. It could be both or none of them. Go check it out.
Wherever you are reading this, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night!
