MY RATING: ★★★ (3,5)☆☆
“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.”-GOODREADS
You will find:
-One lovely perfect sister that everyone seems to love
– The rebel and straigtforward sister aka the one everyone seems to hate (that’s the main character)
– A mysterious, cold hearted gentleman vs a teasing and childhood friend
Jane Austen vibe is definitely there but again, not the same language… I believe the language in that century had completely different expressions (having read all the Jane Austen novels myself) and the authors of These Vicious Masks didn’t meet that standard. However, I think it’s a good thing for the target audience because it’s easier to simply enjoy the actions. A younger and much lighter writing…
The commercial pick-up line for this book is Jane Austen meets X-men, I’d say it’s more.. A Prelude to X-men. Because honestly, during 95% of the book there are only 3 people with powers (and not the usual powers..more subtle ones) and it’s only in the end (5%) that we see more people with abilities. Furthermore, the plot wasn’t that great either. Although I enjoyed the detective side of the story, I thought it was quite ordinary. I think the most disappointed part of the story was the characters. They started with some really intriguing personalities but in the end, I didn’t quite connect with them.
HOWEVER, the ending, I loved it ❤ A big plot twist and omgad, I couldn’t imagine a better ending for the first book in a series 🙂 It makes me want to read the second one now. I also love the way the authors introduce us to the mutants even if it didn’t have a lot of them.
Since the book was not that great overall but still has the potential to keep the intrigue for the second book, I thought it was appropriate to rate it 3,5 stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Jane Austen with a twist and anyone really who wants a light read in a pseudo-fantasy world.
Buy it @Amazon.ca here
My Dark Theories 
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