From Goodreads: "Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class and the nobles who destroyed their home. When Sal Leon steals a poster announcing open auditions for the Left Hand, a powerful collection of the Queen's personal assassins named for the rings she wears -- Ruby, Emeral, Amethyst, and Opal -- their world changes. They know it's a chance for a new life. Except the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. But Sal must survive to put their real reason for auditioning into play: revenge."

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review! All opinions are my own.

THIS. BOOK. WAS. AMAZING. Seriously, I absolutely devoured it and had to slow myself down when I realized I was halfway through in almost no time at all. I just fell in love with this creepy world and Sal within the very first chapter, not even joking. By the end, I was jumping around my room screaming about how much I loved it and how I need a sequel! Alas, the downside of reading an ARC is that you have to wait for it to be released before you can even think about a sequel. But I will wait forever if that's what it takes.

Plot:
Sallot Leon is a thief but they want nothing more than to escape the life and get close to the upper-class and nobles that destroyed their home. When Sal steals a poster announcing open auditions for the Queen's Left Hand, personal assassins named for the rings she wears, Sal's world changes. It's a chance for Sal to accomplish their goal and change their life forever. Except the audition is filled with people from every background like circus acrobats and ex-soldiers, and it's a fight to the death. Only a common criminal, Sal is hardly prepared for the brutal audition that lies ahead of them. In order to survive, Sal must put their real reason for auditioning into play: revenge.

I've seen tons of reviews stating that Mask of Shadows is similar to The Hunger Games and while I can see some of the similarities, I feel that Mask of Shadows is in a category all on its own. I've also seen it compared to books written by Sarah J. Maas and to be honest, I've never read a book by that author so I couldn't see the comparison at all. Sure, the plot may be familiar, but I truly believe that Mask of Shadows stands out from any other potential assassin books I and others may have read. This book has action, romance, revenge, blood and gore, creepy shadow monsters, awesome training "montages" and did I mention Sal?

The world building was fantastic and had me dying to learn more, especially once the shadow monsters were introduced. Seriously, I need the next book to be filled with more shadows because they were so incredibly creepy and disturbing! I would love to learn more about the war and destruction of Nacea and really why it happened. Also, the Queen is a very mysterious character but I'd love to see more about her past and just how she ended the war and destroyed the shadows. The interaction that Sal has with the Queen at the end of the book piqued my interest and had me wondering just why Sal acted the way that they did towards her, so I'm hoping there will be more about the Queen in the next book!

I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book and while reading, it quickly climbed its way up to one of my favorite books of 2017. The world was interesting, the main character was incredible, the romance was absolutely adorable, the shadows were terrifying, and the audition was bloody, just like I was hoping. The pacing was set at a moderate jog and it felt like it was moving quick, but never too fast that I felt left behind. I loved getting to learn everything about the plants/poisons and weapons and seeing how each of the auditioners incorporated their lessons into their kills. The writing was also amazingly detailed while not being overly descriptive and was so enjoyable to read. This is the first book in a duology so potential info-dumping is possible due to the story being restricted to two books, but I honestly never felt like there was tons of information being thrown at me all at once. Mask of Shadows was a killer opening to a fantastic new YA duology and I can't wait to see what happens in the sequel!

Characters:
I quite literally instantly fell in love with Sal. They were sassy, funny, smart, brave, strong, and so much more and it was pretty much impossible not to love them! I really liked that I had the opportunity to read about a gender fluid character (first time ever reading about one, actually, and I think that there need to be so many more gender fluid characters!) because it really opened my eyes to something I realized I knew nothing about. I loved that Sal was so unique in not only the way they decided to dress but also how they carried themselves. Sal really was a fantastic character that I just couldn't get enough of and I can honestly say I've never read about a character like this before. I feel that a lot of people will really enjoy not only getting to read about a gender fluid character, but will also thoroughly enjoy Sal's sense of humor, their darkness, determination to seek justice for the destruction of their people, and also how fiercely they love.

A complaint I've seen quite a bit of is regarding the other auditioners and the fact that you're given names, only numbers, and therefore cannot make a connection with them or really care about them. I think it was genius. Obviously, you're rooting for Sal, you want them to win this whole thing, right? Well, with 22 other auditioners, it's not going to be easy. The name of the game is basically to eliminate your competition without getting caught so Sal is in constant danger of being killed. If the 22 other people were given names, you'd surely begin to get confused as to who's who. You're not supposed to care about the others, you're not supposed to remember them or care about them or connect with them. Sal is the one you want to win because Sal is the main character, so giving names and detailed descriptions of Sal's competition would only lead to confusion. They're supposed to be vague background characters that help to further the story and I believe Linsey Miller did a great job at making them just that. Sure, you start to remember some things about the auditioners who make it far, but you'll never know their names because names only complicate things. Anonymity is key with the audition and it holds true with the characters that are participating. You can't connect with these people because you're not supposed to. Serious snaps for Linsey Miller for doing such an excellent job with these characters!

Writing:
One of the most important parts of a book for me is the writing. You can have amazing characters and a perfect plot but if the writing is dull or falls flat, then I just won't enjoy the book. Mask of Shadows hit all of those points and then some! It has amazing characters, an exciting plot, and magnificent writing.