City of Masks by Ashley Capes
When Ancient Magics, Political Treachery & Intrepid Heros Collide
An Indie Book Review by Joseph Poopinski
Four Stars
City of Masks revolved around three well-drawn, likeable main characters with cohorts of their colorful friends & family members. An expansive overarching backstory funneled toward a perhaps foreordained war but there’s unpleasant intrigue & incendiary sabotage aplenty happening first. It’s nice when a story connects little threads or various moving parts, but a great yarn like this yoinked me (and presumably other readers too) by rewriting history. Being a fan of hardboiled detective shows, I automatically classified a factoid as unproven, however before long I’d deferred to the official action-packed narrative & completely disregarded my initial assumption. As paragraphs piled up & the protagonists wrangled with current issues, City of Masks absorbed my imagination & revoked my impartiality. Without genuine spoilers, subtle hints scattered throughout empowered the astonishing moment with legitimacy. That’s exceptional technique… bravo!
Other highlights: Singing to magically rebuff storms & the rampaging ancient sea beast. Making choices with considerations of honor & the greater good, thereby rectifying yesterday’s mistakes. The speaking Greatmasks & their mysterious influences/entities. Fabulous phrases (“as if hewn by a cosmic gardener in the dawn of time”), clever decorations (“Vinezi’s erotic tapestries”), a realistic pep talk (“do a proper job of it this time”) & using humor to deal with forgivable lapses (“my memory is not immaculate”).
Comments
Post a Comment