The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick - Ariel's Arcs

2 min read

Hello and welcome to another installment of Ariel’s Arcs! Today I’m talking about the first novel in an upcoming trilogy called The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick. If you enjoy intrigue, mystery, sword fights, cons, tarot cards, or light magic in your historical fantasy, you’ll want to pick this book up.

Secrets, lies, betrayals, traps, and wealth all motivate the characters in different ways. Our main character, Ren, is set to con an old elite house in order to gain years of financial security. Little does she know that as she intertwines herself with this family, she’s tugging on larger strings in a web that is woven throughout the entire community. While the cast overall is not a diverse one, there are two main ethnic groups that are divided by class lines in the plot and queer relationships are normalized throughout this world and not given a second thought. There is excellent character development that occurs at a believable pace, and ultimately I really enjoyed each of the perspectives of the characters and their different points of view.

It takes about half the book for the chess pieces to be fully set up and established, and before any sort of magic is actually introduced. The first half of the book feels like introductions, the building of tension, and the continuous laying of various traps by the different characters. Each conversation with both ally and foe is like a sword fight (with some literal sword fights!), but overall the amount of information overload at the beginning made the pace go very slow at first. However, once the tarot card magic was more fully introduced, the pace picked up and the stakes grew even more. While my immersion wasn’t at its highest point during the first half, the second half made up for that, and how the book ends gives me hope for an even better second and third installment in the trilogy.

Some Content Notes to be aware of: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, and Violence

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