Patricia Briggs

When the peaceful kingdom of Reth is overrun by Geofrrey ae'Magi, the evil master of illusion, Aralorn, weaponsmistress of the shapechanging race, and her companion, Wolf, attempt to overthrow him. Original.

Masques

Aralorn, who has left behind her noble birthright to become a mercenary spy, works to gather intelligence on the powerful sorcerer Geoffrey ae'Magi--a master of illusion who is using trickery to assemble an army.

Sarah Escorsa

Actual rating: 2.5 stars. 

The reason why I chose to read this masterpiece thing book is quite very simple indeed: I don't like Patricia Brigg's UF series. At all. I mean, I rated Moon Called 2 delightful little stars. Then I thought to my little nefarious self: "Well, this series didn't exactly work for me but maybe Alpha & Omega will! Let's be bold! Let's be audacious! Let's give Briggs another chance! Let's give Cry Wolf a try!" So I did. And proceeded to give the book a most glorious 2-star rating. 

Not to be deterred by this unfortunate occurrence, I decided to continue with the series (because I'm brave like that) and read Hunting Ground. And guess what? Total success! I loved the book SO much I rated it 2.2 stars! And didn't even DNF it! Go me and stuff!

Thinking that I was just about to see the light and finally appreciate the utter greatness of Brigg's work, some of my Infamous Friends of Despicable Book Taste (IFoDBT™) then kindly convinced me forced me to read the sequel to Moon Called, Blood Bound, at gun point. 



Now now, dear, no need to be so harsh. My friends might have despicable book taste and thinking might not be their forte, but they still are my friends. And I do like them. Sometimes.

This went about as well as you'd expect: I (kind of) DNFed the book at the 21% mark and proceeded to rate it 2 wondrous stars. Most wimps people would have left it at that. I mean, why torture one's little self by reading books written by an author who obviously does nothing for one? Well, masochism is real. That's when my Irrefutably Irrefutable Nefarious Logic (IINL™) comes into play. Allow me to explain and stuff: you see, my above-mentioned IFoDBT™ all happen to 💕lurve💕 Patricia Briggs' UF series (what can I say, they're hopeless like that). So when I realized that 99% of them thought the author's ancient older fantasy books were pure crap a little disappointing, I very logically deduced that I would 💕lurve💕 them!



Well excuse me but someone with a slight twitching issue such as yours should know better than to judge.

So here we are and stuff. See how my IINL™ worked for me? Pretty amazing, huh? I mean, I did rate this book 2.5 titillating stars, aka my highest Briggs rating to date! I think it very likely that by the time I finish reading this series (view spoiler)[
  

  

  
 (hide spoiler)] I'll reach a 2.52789 rating. At the most least. And can you imagine what would happen if I gave Hurog and Raven a try? I'd probably end up going for ratings in the high 2.3-star range. And wouldn't that be quite extraordinary indeed? You bet it would.

Sorry, what? I didn't tell you a thing about this particular book, you say? Well, did it occur to your little barnacled brains that this may be because there's absolutely not a damn shrimping thing to say about this book? Apart from the fact it's boring as fish, obviously. And packed with immensely engaging infodump and wonderfully fascinating blah blah blah. Don't get me wrong, it's not ALL bad. I mean, the female lead has a marvelously Mary Sue-ish personality. And the male lead is a shapeshifter. He's probably the most lackluster shapeshifter in the history of most lackluster shapeshifters but hey, at least he's not a vamp. So that's pretty cool. Oh, and the cast of characters as a whole is flatter than my favorite herd of ironing boards. Quite a feat, that. 

And I rest in my case I now shall.

➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): Patricia Briggs, it's obviously not me you, it's you me. So no hard feelings and stuff.

P.S.



P.P.S. Can I get a medal now?



[Pre-review nonsense]

Well that was absolutely fascinating.



Oh come on, it wasn't that bad. Then again...

➽ Review to come and stuff.

shelby mosel

Rachel Kanyid

Experience the fantasy and adventure of #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Brigg's first published novel—the thrilling start of the Sianim series... After an upbringing of proper behavior and oppressive expectations, Aralorn fled her noble birthright for a life of adventure as a mercenary spy. But her latest mission involves more peril than she ever imagined. Agents of Sianim have asked her to gather intelligence on the increasingly popular and powerful sorcerer Geoffrey ae'Magi. Soon Aralorn comes to see past the man's striking charisma—and into a soul as corrupt and black as endless night. And few have the will to resist the sinister might of Geoffrey and his minions. So Aralorn, aided by her enigmatic companion, Wolf, join the growing rebellion against the ae'Magi. But in a war against an enemy armed with the powers of illusion, how do you know who the true enemy is—or where he will strike next?

Masques

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