I just thought I’d mention this in case any of you like Marie Brennan’s work and didn’t realize she, and co-author Alyx Helms, are also writing under the name MA Carrick. Here’s the first book of a planned trilogy for which the second just came out.
![The Mask of Mirrors (Rook & Rose Book 1) by [M. A. Carrick]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51nVl+sZruL.jpg)
Here’s the description:
FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD. MAGIC FAVORS THE LIARS.
Ren is a liar and a thief, a pattern-reader and a daughter of no clan. Raised in the slums of Nadežra, she fled that world to save her sister. Now, she has returned with one goal: to trick her way into a noble house, securing her fortune and her sister’s future.
But in the city of dreams, her masquerade is just one of many. Enigmatic crime lord Derossi Vargo, stony captain of the guard Grey Serrado, dashing heir Leato Traementis, and the legendary vigilante known as the Rook all have secrets that could unravel her own.
And as corrupt 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.
Marie Brennan has been an uneven author for me. This is on me, not on her, as I think all her books are very well written; I just don’t like all of them. I didn’t care for Midnight Never Come or the sequels. I don’t know why. I had at least a couple of books of this series and wound up giving them away and not finishing the series. On the other hand, I greatly enjoyed the Lady Trent series, with its emphasis on natural history. Her nonfiction book Writing Fight Scenes is helpful in conceptualizing how to, you know, write fight scenes.
I’m going to try this one largely because the description hands me so many character types I like — the enigmatic crime lord, the stony captain of the guard, the legendary vigilante, and of course the thief protagonist. I like all those descriptions, though The Dashing Heir is not a character type that particularly appeals to me, as a rule.
If any of you have by chance already read this book, what did you think?
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It was one of my favorite new reads last year! I picked it up from the library for similar reasons (the description checked almost all of my favorite boxes), and almost immediately fell in love. I found the worldbuilding very fun and well thought out, so I’ll be interested to hear what you think.
Tried hard with it, never got interested enough, DNF. Very disappointed since it ticked lots of my boxes, too.
(I do intend to opine on the ten novel openings, I just need to have time to pay attention to them.)
These contrasting opinions make me want to take a look soon!
M.A. Carrick, not A.C. Carrick, right? :)
I have several friends who adore this new series (including a friend who’s read the ARC for The Liar’s Knot, the sequel to The Mask of Mirrors).
I listened to it and was very pleasantly surprised. Enough so that I ordered the second book in the series. I liked the characters, and I liked that some of the characters I had to re-evaluate and try to figure just how sympathetic they were. Interesting world building.
David, I don’t even know what happens between my brain and my fingers sometimes. Thanks, and fixed!
And I’m downloading this on my phone now, since that means I’m a lot more likely to read it soon!
Thanks for the recommendation. Loved the first book and am about to start the second.