T;LDR: A high fantasy romance novel with more adventure than romance, I enjoyed Patricia Briggs’ first ever published novel more than I expected.
Masques by Patricia Briggs
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2
I love all of Patricia Briggs’ other books, which is why I read this one for the Backlist square on my Fantasy Bingo card. This is Patricia Briggs’ first published novel and it shows. She did make a note about how it pained her to not fix the overall story when it was republished by her current publisher (to stay true to the original fans of the book), so even she recognizes it’s not perfect.
The novel does more telling than showing, she doesn’t fold in the worldbuilding at all (think info dump), and the main character is a little too covered in teflon. It’s still an interesting story with engaging mythology and I like the world it’s set in. And thus, I give it 3.5 stars.
Plot
Aralorn, the bastard daughter of a noble Reth leaves her comfortable, but boring, life to become a mercenary spy. She’s good at it and she uses her limited magic capabilities to help her succeed.
Her employer, Agents of Sianim, have asked her to spy on a powerful and charismatic sorcerer called Geoffrey ae’Magi. The reason for the mission had to do with assassination threats on his life. But Aralorn doesn’t find any assassination attempts. What she finds instead is much worse.
Aralorn is aided by a wolf she rescued 4 years earlier, an enigmatic not wolf she calls Wolf. He not only talks, but seems to know more about Geoffrey ae’Magi than he should.
As war looms and the ae’Magi’s power grows, Aralorn and Wolf must find a way to stop the ae’Magi before it’s too late.
T;LDR: A mercenary spy with her own magic teams up with a powerful and enigmatic man who spends a lot of time in the form of a wolf. Can they stop the ae’Magi before it’s too late?
What I Liked
I liked the heroine. She is tough, smart, always pushing herself, and relies on her horse, and later Wolf, as her only companions. She is constantly cheerful (see my what I didn’t like for more here), but also loves to tell stories.
Wolf is also a decently written character. Who is he becomes fairly obvious midway through the book, but it doesn’t detract from the story. It’s also not played up as much as it could be though.
It has a dragon in it. I never thought I’d be that person, but I do like the occasional dragon in my stories. I may need to explore more books featuring them…
The world-building is interesting, but it also conveniently fits the plot as well. I’d have liked a bit more of the mythology around green magic and shapechangers, since it’s alluded to, but not fleshed out. But, overall, I thought the world was interesting and different enough.
What I didn’t Like
The heroine is constantly cheerful. Nothing seems to get her down, not even torture. Okay, it sort of gets to her in the form of nightmares, but she remains optimistic instead of facing the reality of just what happened to her.
She’s also quick to forgive or get over anything Wolf does, including keeping information from her and trying to protect her all the time. So that’s a bit…weak on her part.
Wolf is just too powerful. He can do pretty much anything. While I did like that he did magic he didn’t expect to be able to do, there wasn’t enough of a build to him doing it or torturing himself over it afterwards. It was quickly resolved by a conversation with Aralorn. So, he is an almost Superman character, but with very easily overcome doubts and insecurities. I’d have loved to see her torture mirrored in his story – it would’ve certainly made his arc more interesting.
And honestly, the ending, where she’s given a clue about what she needs to do and doesn’t pay attention to it was incredibly painful to read. I wanted to shout at her about it, but she wouldn’t have heard me.
To Sum Up (too late!)
Overall, this is a light read. The world is interesting, the characters are fun to follow, if not flawed enough for me to be really engaged in them, but the storyline is fun. It has its issues, but what debut novel doesn’t? Thus, I rated it 3.5 stars.
About the Author
Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana, to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children, and six horses and writes full time, much to the delight of her fans. Her website is here.
You can find my truncated, but similar, Goodreads review here.
If you wish to purchase this book, pick your vendor of choice here, or just cave to the man and get it from Amazon here.