"I would make Erlend remember"!

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller.  

                                

An engaging new novel ripe with assassins, political intrigue, the pale remnants of dark magic, and the need for vengeance.

Sallot Leon is a thief with a shattering history who wants to be more. And that more happens the day they (I say they because Sal is apparently gender fluid, although it took me a while to realize this) hold up a coach, steal a ring from a young woman, and find in her purse a flyer inviting those who might, to audition for the role of one of the Queen's left hand assasins--Opal.

Sal decides to audition, an audition that includes taking evidence of their abilities and suitability.

Sal has a future ambition nourished in the darkness of their situation.. To pay back the nobles who caused her homeland of Nacea to be decimated, all slain without mercy or notice by the dreaded Mage created shadows. They would be the "perfect soldiers [but] ... couldn’t be called back. The shadows had no bodies and no minds, only broken souls." They searched for their bodies killing all before them.

Sal gaining admission to the auditions is the beginning of no holds barred training that includes the right to kill off the opposition.

Sal's quest, their search for meaning and information about those who betrayed their homeland also comes to the fore, adding a certain piquancy to the trials and upping the ante.

The plot is not an unfamiliar one, although obviously the march towards resolution is unique. I couldn't put this down. Whilst some aspects come to fruition, the future for Sal holds more questions to be asked and answered and more diabolical plots and mysteries to be unraveled.

A NetGalley ARC 

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