REVIEW: These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker & Kelly Zekas

 

A thrilling adventure inspired by Jane Austen and X-Men and definitely worth checking out!

These Vicious Masks is the next best thing, and needs to be added to your ‘to-be-read’ list as soon as possible! Set in Victorian London, it’s a thrilling adventure inspired by Jane Austen and X-Men, and definitely worth checking out!

The blurb:

Jane Austen meets X-Men in this gripping and adventure-filled paranormal romance set in Victorian London.

England, 1882. Evelyn is bored with society and its expectations. So when her beloved sister, Rose, mysteriously vanishes, she ignores her parents and travels to London to find her, accompanied by the dashing Mr. Kent. But they’re not the only ones looking for Rose. The reclusive, young gentleman Sebastian Braddock is also searching for her, claiming that both sisters have special healing powers. Evelyn is convinced that Sebastian must be mad, until she discovers that his strange tales of extraordinary people are true–and that her sister is in graver danger than she feared.

I’m a huge fan of both Jane Austen and X-Men, so when I read the synopsis of this book I was immediately drawn to it. The inspiration drawn from both of those are present throughout the book, but it still managed to be a fresh and unique story on its own. I really enjoyed all of it, from the beginning to the end. There were so many twists and revelations that it left me completely intrigued the whole time.

Our heroine of the story, Evelyn, is my new favorite character! She is everything we need in a heroine, especially in YA books. Evelyn has a huge heart, she’s brilliant, and her will to never give up despite the odds is what makes her so strong. I was drawn to her in ways I’m not drawn to other characters. She was focused on her goal to find her sister the whole time, and even when she felt like she was falling in love she never allowed her feelings to cloud her judgement, or allow it to lead her down a different path. I want more heroines like Evelyn, the ones who can fall in love but never lose that drive to accomplish their own goals by themselves.

The heart of this story is the relationship between these sisters, Evelyn and Rose, and I really loved them. They have been through a lot, growing up in this society when their hearts want more than what others tell them they should want. The love between Evelyn and Rose helped all of the characters feel more relatable because I find that anyone in their situation would make the same decisions as they did throughout the story.

Each character is great and all of them played a part in helping the story progress. There were characteristics that made them special but they each had flaws that made them feel more human. Besides Evelyn, my favorite character is Mr. Braddock who we are introduced to immediately, and he’s completely mysterious allowing us to always stay intrigued by his presence. Also, his relationship with Evelyn is so much fun to read! They have the best dialogue and their banter is hilarious!

Everything flowed nicely together. I really enjoyed the writing between Shanker and Zekas, who make a great team together. They set up an interesting, yet somehow realistic world that I couldn’t help but appreciate. It was so interesting being set in Victorian London/England but then we were introduced to all these powers some people held, and it was really cool to read about. Shanker and Zekas not only developed a great world with fun characters, but they were able to tell a great story through their writing, even their dialogue between all of the characters helped move the story along.

Overall, I loved this book even though the ending left me completely heartbroken and nearly killed me! There isn’t a cliffhanger, but the story definitely sets up a future to come!

This book was a lot of fun! The characters are all easy to get behind and root for until the very end. It was action packed, full of twists, and some swoon-worthy romance thrown in the mix! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy stories or is just looking for an adventure! These Vicious Masks hits stores on February 9th, so make sure to add it to your Goodreads shelf and pre-order it here!

A unique and fun story

4.9
Plot
Characters
Writing
Theme/Message

These Vicious Masks was a fun adventure with a plot that was unique, even though I felt the inspiration from Jane Austen and X-Men throughout the story. Shanker and Zekas make a great team and are brilliant writers, everything flowed together nicely. I loved all of the characters because they were each strong on their own and all of them helped the story to progress. As for the theme, it was a bit hard to decipher but there was still a strong sense of seeing how everyone is more than what meets the eye once we let our masks fall.

"And she is the reader who browses the shelf and looks for new worlds but finds herself." - I'm a writer who enjoys telling you all about the things I love, which includes a lot of books!

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