The Mask of Mirrors

"Lush, engrossing, and full of mystery and dark magic." —BookPage

"Immersive…a feast to savor slowly." —BuzzFeed News

The Mask of Mirrors is the unmissable start to the Rook & Rose trilogy, a dazzling and darkly magical fantasy adventure by Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, writing together as M. A. Carrick.
 
Fortune favors the bold. Magic favors the liars.

Ren is a con artist who has come to the sparkling city of Nadezra with one goal: to trick her way into a noble house, securing her fortune and her sister’s future.
 
But the deeper she is drawn into the aristocratic world of House Traementis, the more she realizes her masquerade is just one of many. And as corrupt nightmare magic begins to weave its way through the City of Dreams, the poisonous feuds of its wealthy and the shadowy dangers of its impoverished underbelly become tangled…with Ren at their heart.

Praise for The Mask of Mirrors

"For those who like their revenge plots served with the intrigue of The Goblin Emperor, the colonial conflict of The City of Brass, the panache of Swordspoint, and the richly detailed settings of Guy Gavriel Kay."
—Booklist (starred review)

"An excellent fantasy novel." —Los Angeles Review of Books

"Utterly captivating." —S. A. Chakraborty, author of The City of Brass

"This novel will catch hold of your dreams and keep you from sleeping." —Mary Robinette Kowal, author of The Calculating Stars

"Exactly the fantasy adventure novel you're craving: an escape into a vast, enchanting world of danger, secret identities, and glittering prose." —Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne

"A fantastically twisty read.” —Fran Wilde, author of the Bone Universe trilogy

"A tightly laced plot dripping with political intrigue. Carrick has built a strong foundation for things to come." —Publishers Weekly

"This book was like nibbling my way through a box of gourmet chocolates curated just for Reader Me. A large box of gourmet chocolates." —Fantasy Literature