#BlogTour ‘The Mask Of Mirrors’ by M.A Carrick

About the book…

Fortune favors the bold. Magic favors the liars.

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

Huge thanks to the wonderful Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers for the blogtour invite and Orbit for the gifted review copy of ‘The Mask Of Mirrors’ by M.A Carrick which is out in paperback, ebook and audiobook on January 19th, available from all good bookshops!

This debut from authors Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms seamlessly interweaves their own, individual voices to become a third, combined voice that beckons you into the shared universe both women have created.

A chunky doorstepper of a book, weighing in at 672 pages, don’t be put off by the length of it as firstly, the characters are so engaging from page 1, and secondly, it really doesn’t feel like a tortuous, overwritten tale.

It gave me big Game Of Thrones vibes right from the start-the introduction of the society of Nedezra and its conventions and structure needs a little time to bed in, and through the eyes of characters Ren and her sister Tess, we see just how scheming and sly a person has to be to get where they need to be without compromising their morals.

Determined to reclaim her birth right, and set Tess up for the rest of her life-Ren accepts her life and calling as street urchin turned con woman but hopes her deceits have a noble end in store for her sibling.

Seamlessly interweaving family quarrels, hidden secrets, political manoeuvring and outwitting those in higher social echelons, Ren ingratiates herself into one of the houses of Nedezra, the House of Traementis. From this vantage point, she gets a toehold into a society that shunned her family and left her at the mercy of beggar gangs known as the Fingers, who were held in thrall to their leader , a female Fagin who uses violence and intimidation to keep the young ones in line.

A dance begins, a dance on the edge of a knife as all Ren’s careful preparations are scuppered by the most random of events, and human fallibility, setting the scene for, hopefully , a long running suspense filled fantasy epic. The world building is skilful and well maintained, there aren’t so many details thrown at the reader that they struggle to remember who is who and what is what.

With strong female leads and a supremely engaging story of righting wrongs in the most trying of environments, you cannot help but root for Ren, as flawed and complex as she is, she is definitely the one you want to come out on top.

‘The Mask Of Mirrors’ as Ren and Tess wear a reflective mask to try and keep their own true selves safe, reflecting the flaws and inequalities of society back at those with the power to change it, all the while plannign a coup behind their plain site disguises. Absolutely thrilling and readable, even if you don’t enjoy fantasy, this is well worth investing in and throwing caution to the wind…you just might find yourself a new genre to grow on you in 2021!

About the authors…

M.A. Carrick is the joint pen name of Marie Brennan(author of the Memoirs of Lady Trent) and Alyc Helms (author of the Adventures of Mr. Mr Mystic).

The two met in 2000 on an archaeological dig in Wales and Ireland — including a stint in the town of Carrickmacross — and have built their friendship through two decades of anthropology, writing, and gaming. They live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Twitter @Tr4cyF3nt0n @orbitbooks @ma_carrick

Links-http://www.alychelms.com/

https://www.swantower.com/

https://www.compulsivereaders.com/