This book clearly indicates that it’s the first book in a series. Accordingly, there were threads in the story that didn’t wind down completely by the end of the story. If this were a standalone story, I’d point out things like the unresolved disappearance of characters down cellar pits or a full explanation for why Rob’s father summoned the Masks and plotted the events that followed once the Masks arrived. I’m assuming that we’d see what happened to those characters in the next installment in the series, so I wouldn’t identify these unexplained gaps as flaws in the story.
There were a few romance threads in the story, but there was nothing explicitly racy in the romantic scenes to make readers uncomfortable.
While I was listening to the audiobook, I was wondering if things were going to take brutal turns (in the same vein as Game of Thrones, when beloved characters suddenly get tortured, murdered, abandoned, raped, betrayed, etc.). The bad guys were bad but they weren’t utterly evil, and we met other characters that I thought might turn into bad guys but they didn’t. There’s also some mild misunderstanding between the two main characters, stemming from lack of self-confidence (worry about disappointing the other partner) and lack of communication. For these reasons, I suspect that this book might be targeted for a young adult (late teen) audience. The author certainly could have written the story in a darker and more gritty fashion that might appeal more to older readers. The book wasn’t entirely fairytale, happily-ever-after, but it was close.
So, as a light romantic fantasy with more books to follow in the series, I wasn’t disappointed with this story.
I enjoyed the narrator – her tone and emotion were good, and I’m glad she didn’t artificially deepen her voice for male characters. My personal preference is for a slightly faster narration, so I sped it up a bit during playback.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.