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labyrinth's heart
Aug. 2nd, 2023 08:44 pmM.A. Carrick, Labyrinth's Heart.
This is the third and final book in the Rook & Rose trilogy, which began with The Mask of Mirrors. Ren is confronted with an unexpected rival for society's attention: the person she has been pretending is her mother. She loves the family she has pretended is hers, in whose register her name is now inscribed--but what will those affections mean as her lies begin to unravel? Does that even matter, when the city she calls home strains under the weight of an ancient curse?
This series is lively, adventurous, and intricately plotted. In this installment, Ren learns more about her birth family, including the Vraszenian culture whose rituals she only half-remembers, if she ever learned them at all. The quest to lift the curse reveals ancient secrets, too, including the true nature of the murderous zlyzen. To protect her city and claim her true love, Ren will have to integrate all the fractured aspects of her self.
There are a ton of balls in the air here, and I can't guarantee that every one will land in the spot a particular reader hopes for. I was somewhat frustrated with a plot strand involving Ren's adopted cousin Tanaquis, a scholar obsessed with understanding the connections between the academic magic of inscription and the Tarot-like Vraszenian pattern decks. The plot depends on Ren taking a dismissive attitude towards Tanaquis's admittedly significant weirdness, and though Ren eventually regrets her actions, the whole thing rings a bit oddly if you're naturally inclined to be most sympathetic to Tanaquis (I studied math and Latin, I think we all know where my interests lie). I would have liked to know more about the fate of Ren's other cousin Giuna's exciting flirtation, too. We do learn the identity of Ren's father--it's even weirder than I suspected, and I've read my share of eighteenth-century novels--as well as all sorts of things about the history of the shadowy Rook.
If you're already reading this series, Labyrinth's Heart will give you lots to think about. If you haven't found it yet, it's well worth finding Mask of Mirrors and embarking on the journey.
(I read this book as a Netgalley ARC.)
This is the third and final book in the Rook & Rose trilogy, which began with The Mask of Mirrors. Ren is confronted with an unexpected rival for society's attention: the person she has been pretending is her mother. She loves the family she has pretended is hers, in whose register her name is now inscribed--but what will those affections mean as her lies begin to unravel? Does that even matter, when the city she calls home strains under the weight of an ancient curse?
This series is lively, adventurous, and intricately plotted. In this installment, Ren learns more about her birth family, including the Vraszenian culture whose rituals she only half-remembers, if she ever learned them at all. The quest to lift the curse reveals ancient secrets, too, including the true nature of the murderous zlyzen. To protect her city and claim her true love, Ren will have to integrate all the fractured aspects of her self.
There are a ton of balls in the air here, and I can't guarantee that every one will land in the spot a particular reader hopes for. I was somewhat frustrated with a plot strand involving Ren's adopted cousin Tanaquis, a scholar obsessed with understanding the connections between the academic magic of inscription and the Tarot-like Vraszenian pattern decks. The plot depends on Ren taking a dismissive attitude towards Tanaquis's admittedly significant weirdness, and though Ren eventually regrets her actions, the whole thing rings a bit oddly if you're naturally inclined to be most sympathetic to Tanaquis (I studied math and Latin, I think we all know where my interests lie). I would have liked to know more about the fate of Ren's other cousin Giuna's exciting flirtation, too. We do learn the identity of Ren's father--it's even weirder than I suspected, and I've read my share of eighteenth-century novels--as well as all sorts of things about the history of the shadowy Rook.
If you're already reading this series, Labyrinth's Heart will give you lots to think about. If you haven't found it yet, it's well worth finding Mask of Mirrors and embarking on the journey.
(I read this book as a Netgalley ARC.)