The Order of Masks will steal your breath

Read my review of this amazing start to a new duology — The Order of Masks by Alina Bellchambers

4 stars

Out: Now

Mira, a circus performer, wants to compete in the deadly Trials for a future in the Ravalian court. She wants to join one of the orders: Warriors, Artisans, or Masks. Princess Scarlett is dealing with life-threatening court politics in the battle for heirdom. When Mira's candidacy exposes her mother's past the Trials take on new meaning. They may be her salvation and revenge, something that is true for Scarlett also. Everything can change if she succeeds...

With the first two chapters, each one being like an introduction to our 2 protagonists and their POVs, intrigue and danger enter the scene and entrap our attention. Always love stories about outsiders trying to beat the odds and in this one, we have two of them. Scarlett may be the Ravalian princess but she is still the underdog in her fight. I really like how the worldbuilding is organic, felt like a continuation of the storytelling (no info-dumping here), shared with us in all-encompassing, emotionally charged, 1st person perspectives. We get to enjoy the sense of discovery and the foreshadowing is on point.

There are characters you cannot help but want to protect at all costs and despicable ones you want to slap upside the head or have worse happen to them. Warning: your feelings about some of them will change constantly. At this point, a special mention must be made for Cassius who is devilishly fun. You should hate him but you can't. When it comes to your protagonists you admire them both for their determination, though Scarlett is more hardened and ruthless due to the environment of her upbringing. But can they be considered bad, or just victims of their circumstances? Theirs is a battle of wills and agendas.

The deviousness in the Ravalian court is delicious as are the machinations which often prove gasp-worthy. This is a brutal, fantastical world where power is all that matters. Fast-paced, the action is so intense it proves often jarring and a little confusing (I had to read some parts twice). Also, it is like the supposed love interests are forgotten or just ornamental in large parts of the book, so then some really honest, blunt scenes with them are not the gut punch they could have been. Far from predictable, there is a lot going on and except for some confusing missteps in the beginning, when things get crazy we can follow the storyline quite clearly and with bated breath.

Here the autonomy of magic symbolizes liberty. It deals with the freedom of choice, volition and to be who you are. Is revenge a plate better served cold? Is it worth any price? Does the end justify the means?

This epic beginning to a new series is a perilous path to vengeance, a dance of moral challenges, with the future of an empire on the line.