Not Nearly as Deep, Nor as Satisfying, As It Could Have Been - A Review of Masks and Shadows

Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


As a reader, there are certain things that, if I spot them as elements in a book, make me more likely to pick that book up. It’s not simply a matter of genre, author, or cover design: it’s about certain specific things, like some aspect of setting, or a particular world-building concept, or a specific character type. Either way, if I spot it and it presses certain buttons, I will snatch that book up whether or not I’ve heard of its author or seen any hype about it. I’m certain that this is not the sort of decision-making that leads to finding all the best reads, consistently, but what would life be if one did not gamble from time to time? At the very least, this sort of gambling is not likely to cause much damage to my health and personal finances.

However, it also means that I can slip up. There have been times when I’ve picked up a book because it had elements that appealed to me, but said book turned out to be less than satisfactory, or sometimes even outright terrible. Still, there are days when I take the gamble, just in case I actually manage to find something that’s really, really good but hasn’t been hyped or just hasn’t crossed my radar for whatever reason.

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