I’ll be entirely truthful, I picked this book because I kept seeing it in people’s read lists on Fable and Tome and I thought the cover was pretty. (I’m a sucker for a good masquerade mask design.) That being said, I’m not sorry I did! This is a sweeping series that covers a lot of ground. Ren the thief who is wiling her way into aristocracy, the mysterious Rook, and children who come back drained of life and vigor and are unable to sleep before dying. The strings of which are all laid in just the first 100 pages of this 600+ story!

And then… I’m sorry y’all. I got so bored. Dances (so many dances), clothing, food, gossip-y nobles, repeat ad nauseam. I couldn’t do it. I started to not care and just begged for things to happen. I gave myself until page 193 and I’m calling it. It’s a DNF. (Don’t judge a book by its very pretty cover?)