Masques

by Patricia Briggs

Paper Book, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Briggs

Collections

Publication

Berkley Pub Group 2010

Description

Fantasy. Fiction. Romance. Thriller. HTML:Experience the fantasy and adventure of #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Brigg's first published novel�??the thrilling start of the Sianim series... After an upbringing of proper behavior and oppressive expectations, Aralorn fled her noble birthright for a life of adventure as a mercenary spy. But her latest mission involves more peril than she ever imagined.  Agents of Sianim have asked her to gather intelligence on the increasingly popular and powerful sorcerer Geoffrey ae'Magi. Soon Aralorn comes to see past the man's striking charisma�??and into a soul as corrupt and black as endless night. And few have the will to resist the sinister might of Geoffrey and his minions.  So Aralorn, aided by her enigmatic companion, Wolf, join the growing rebellion against the ae'Magi. But in a war against an enemy armed with the powers of illusion, how do you know who the true enemy is�??or where he will str… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member MyriadBooks
Oh, this book has given me grief.

This author is a favorite of mine and, with the notable exception of Masques, I have copies of all of her books. Masques, you see, is out of print.

When I first discovered Briggs, I did what I do with any new infatuation: I stalked her through the Internet, found her
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official website, ran like wildfire through her entire bibliography, snapped up the new titles as soon as they published, and waited patiently for Ace to reissue her first several books that had gone out of print. And I was very patient. And I was rewarded with the reissues of every previous out-of-print title except for Masques.

2006 came and went, and I was very patient. 2007 came, Masques suddenly became delayed at the publishers indefinitely, and my patience snapped. No problem, I thought. I can track down the 1993 edition of this book.

Ha.

It's nearly impossible to track down a copy of Masques. I tried diligently. While Amazon.com did list a couple used copies for sale, prices started at $1,310.99, I am… I am not going to pay that. No public or university library in my state has a copy. My trusty Internet turned up a World Catalog search listing a grand total of 20 copies scattered across the country. An interlibrary loan attempt run through my public library, however, turned up listings for only 10 copies and not one could be sent to me. My faithful university library declined to run a loan search on the grounds that they only run loan searches for students and an alumna is not a student. The WorldCat search listed the Library of Congress (which at 2 hours away counts as practically next door) as having a noncirculating copy, but the LOC online directory did not show that listing. I phoned up the LOC to check anyway. They don't have a copy.

I thought there might be a slim chance that I could go back to my public library interlibrary loan librarian, get the names of those 10 libraries that had copies, obtain their contact information, discern if the copies they have were noncirculating or just currently in use, and beg them to hold and/or notify me when a copy become available so that I may rerequest the loan. Actually, my interlibrary loan librarian took pity on me and sent out a second request for the book, this time finding a copy to bring in. It took about two months of work, but I finally had a copy in my hands.

It took me about 2 hours to read it.

And it was good. I enjoyed it. It's a first novel, and it has the flaws and imperfections that tend to be inherent to such, but I was so glad I went through the effort to track it down.

I'll be even happier when it comes back into print, because Briggs is slatted to rework it (with more experienced hands) and pair it with a sequel. She just needs to complete her contractual obligations for 8 other books and a short story before working on Masques again. It's going to take years.

My advice? If you don't already happen to have a copy and don't have the fortune to have obscenely good luck at flea markets, see your local international loan librarian for assistance.
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LibraryThing member MmeRose
Very definitely a first novel (as Briggs tells us in the Introduction), but the seeds of her strong characterizations and excellent plots are there.
This was a quick read. I'd recommend it to her fans, especially since a second book - Wolfsbane - will be published.
LibraryThing member thewalkinggirl
Briggs is pretty up-front in the introduction that even though she's revised this book a bit since it's initial publication, she tried not to change anything major and so it's not up the standards of what she would write today. Fair enough; it was her first book and she's learned a lot since then.
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The story is still what you would expect from her, though. (Well, if you've read her other fantasy novels, anyway. Her urban fantasy stuff is a little different.)

Aralorn is a heroine who's strong enough to take on an enemy she's pretty sure will kill her and also strong enough to accept care and protection when she needs it. Her companion, Wolf, has a dark, mysterious past that he wants to overcome even though he's pretty convinced that he's irredeemable. I liked watching their interactions as they grew to trust each other. The primary villain, a politically and magically powered ae'Magi, is dark and twisted. The beings who help Aralorn and Wolf take on the villain could use a little development, but since there's a sequel in the works I anticipate that that will happen.

Overall, as a fan of Briggs' fantasy novels, I quite enjoyed this. If you only know Briggs from her urban fantasy series, though, I'd probably recommend starting with one of the other Sianim books or maybe Hob's Bargain.
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LibraryThing member SunnySD
Shapeshifting Sianim mercenary Aralorn and her funereal-voiced companion Wolf take on the malevolent, power-hungry ae-Magi and his shambling zombie creations.

The opening is very reminiscent of Steal the Dragon - perhaps because this is a re-vamped early effort from Briggs. Despite the somewhat
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apologetic author-intro,Masques is a treat, and I'm looking forward to Wolfsbane, the promised second installment featuring Aralorn and Wolf.
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LibraryThing member flemmily
Each Patricia Briggs book I read makes me more of a Patricia Briggs fan and Masques is no exception. She writes great characters and excellent plots. She can write an excellent romance without any of the tricks or conventions - without flowery descriptions of manly muscles or heaving chests.
Masques
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does feel first novel-y. It does make use of fantasy cliches. But it has all the elements I love about Briggs, and for all its conventionality, it is also weird, and unexpected and a very interesting novel.
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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
I like. There's some bits of awkward phrasing, some obscurities, but I noticed them mostly in the beginning of the book - pretty soon I was caught up in the story and stopped noticing them (I suspect they were still there, but they didn't bother me any more). I still want to read the original
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version of this - I love seeing how an author's grown. But also, I'm just delighted with this story - this is what I've been wishing for all these years while she wrote the Mercy books. This is the fantasy I fell in love with with The Hob's Bargain and the Hurog books. It's wonderful to see it again! Hope she keeps writing these. Aralorn is great, so is Wolf. The spell that keeps them from getting any help is neat and nasty. I'm glad the story didn't go into any more detail about Aralorn's stay in the castle - ugh. And a weird and wonderful gift that we discover as she leaves... I like Myr as well. And poor Talor and Kai. The Old Man of the Mountain was a fascinating story - though I expected him/them to play a part later, too. And - lots of lovely bits, excellent story, I'm very glad I have Wolfsbane and don't have to wait for the next one. Oh yeah, and I need to reread Steal the Dragon and Where Demons Walk - it's all the same universe and I want to see what I'll understand better now that I know Aralorn and Wolf's story.
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LibraryThing member kmartin802
Aralorn is the base-born daughter of a powerful lord but leaves his care to join a mercenary army. Because she is a shapeshifter, she makes an ideal spy. She saves Wolf from a pit trap when he is injured and ready to die. Wolf is a shapeshifting human magician who was once an apprentice to the very
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powerful sorcerer who is trying to take over the world. Aralorn and Wolf along with King Myr have to battle the sorcerer to prevent everyone from being enslaved. This is Briggs' first novel and much different than her current urban fantasy. I liked the characterization of Aralorn as a smart-talking, not easily intimidated heroine.
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LibraryThing member hjjugovic
Surprisingly good, this was the first book Briggs ever wrote. Back in print in anticipation of the sequel, the book features shapeshifting, magical battles, and creepy zombie-like Uriah. The story is generally tightly told but does bog down near the end. Overall, recommended.
LibraryThing member EffingEden
The first book of the Sianim sequence, Masques follows Aralorn, a shape-shifting mercenary spy and Wolf, her lupine companion as they stumble into a rebellion against the great and outwardly good Archmage who has dethroned a king in his quest to attain… a plotpoint. It has recently been revamped
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and re-released – which is a mercy for Briggs fans – and with a spanking new sequel that I am drooling to pick up.

This fantasy romp is a huge, quivering cliché that somehow manages to weather its own predictive plot and blooms with a simplicity that I so enjoy with Briggs. Yes, the book has faults (and some ones that jar, such as a pair of overused turns-of-phrase that I wish she had adjusted) but for a début novel it is sweet and endearing.

This book holds so many of Brigg’s favourite tricks that come out in her later novels – a heroine of plain looks, a shapeshifter, a potential love triangle, a penchant to put action before romance, wit – oh, it is a treat to read witty dialogue – wolves, dragons, displaced kings and doublecrossings. As a fan of hers I adored it, though the weaknesses that have been skilfully patched are still apparent in the altered work.

We only get to know two of the characters very well, the rest are muted and somewhat bland by her standards (though by another measure they are still vibrant and unique) and a lot of interaction is rushed through. A pair of twins that appear in the start of the novel are barely met by the reader though have been known for years by Aralorn, come to some grief in the latter half. I was unsure what to do with it because while the protagonist suffered well I felt very little for them myself. I may be just use to her twisting heartstrings from her Mercedes Thompson series (it’s fabulous) and I can sense that her younger self was attempting to do the same – but it failed to stir much anguish. There were several other instances of the same attempt-and-failure because we come in on Aralorn’s life after she has made these bonds, or because the plot just plunges on without much interaction between the main characters with minor ones.

As a Brigg’s novel, it is very raw and very clumsy and yet still captures her style to a tee. Wolf is most defiantly a new favourite of mine, flaming Larry Stu that he is. Dragon Bones has not been displaced, but I am very pleased with this novel none-the-less.

Characters: 7/10
Setting: 7/10
Plot: 4/10
Dialogue: 8/10
Overall: 5/10
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LibraryThing member thetearose
This was apparently Brigg's first published book - she edited it, and republished it again later in her career. The characters are cute and easily likeable, although Aralorn at times seems to be verging into Mary Sue-dom. Great world-building, and it would've been cool if Briggs had written a lot
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more books on it - it seemed like that's what she was aiming towards. The plot includes evil mages, shapeshifters, hiding kings and rebellious sons - much fun to be had!
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LibraryThing member rivkat
Long-unpublished sequel to Briggs’ first published novel Masques, featuring a mage/spy and her lover who spends most of his public time in wolf form. She goes home because her father dies—except there’s a lot more involved. Palace intrigue outside the palace, and a muted romance that is about
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learning to love more deeply rather than falling in love. Definitely an earlier work. Drop me a line if you want my copy.
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LibraryThing member ShannaRedwind
I did enjoy this, though you can tell that this is Patricia Briggs' first book. Her later ones are much more polished. Still, this was a very readable book and a definite need to read for Briggs' fans.
LibraryThing member MlleEhreen
I'm normally the type of reader who skips introductions, but when I clicked open Masques on my Kindle and read, "One day, in the middle of my senior year of college, I decided to write a book..." I kept reading. I'm glad I did, because it had a huge effect on how I felt about Masques.

Masques is
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Patricia Briggs' first book. It feels like a first book. Her later books are much, much better in almost every way. Masques is really jerky, sometimes jumping ahead, sometimes dawdling. A lot of the scenes that ought to be tense and climactic are drawn out and chopped up to the point that they lose their impact. There's so much infodumping dialogue it's hilarious. The main character, Aralorn (and I never stopped finding this name horribly silly) will be sitting around doing nothing, and then someone will trot up and say, "Big news! Here's what happened! Blah blah blah!"

Along the same lines, the backbone of the novel is Aralorn's relationship with Wolf. The prologue tells us how they met; then we skip forward four years to a point where their relationship is firmly established. We're told about how slowly and carefully they'd approached one another, building closeness and trust in scarce dribs and drabs. But in Masques, when Wolf has a deep dark secret that he's been guarding for all these years, and Aralorn says, "Hey, Wolf, why don't you tell me this secret of yours?" he'll be like, "Ok, I guess it's time! Here's the secret, blah blah blah." I was amazed that Masques could be so ham-handed when I think that Briggs' later books are remarkable for their subtlety.

I'd say Masques is really only interesting for people who are serious fans of Patricia Briggs, and want to find out how she became the wonderful author that she is. I guess that's why the introduction had such an effect on me. It helped me realize how brave it is for Briggs to let this book see the light of day. Masques is fascinating and inspiring, but mostly because of its flaws. It's like a picture of a staggeringly beautiful movie star as a pimply teenager with bad hair and a goofy grin.

At the end of the day, I still liked it. There was something about the story that hooked me and made me want to keep reading. I think I like Patricia Briggs more rather than less now that I've read it, although I'm really glad that her newer books are so much better.
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LibraryThing member sharrow
I think this book shows the promise of what an amazing author Patricia Briggs becomes, but this book was hard going at times. Nice world building, but a little tired and done before. This is one thing she mentions in the intro, but for those covetous fans like me who like to glom an authors entire
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backlist, this was worth a read.
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LibraryThing member hailelib
This is a mildly revised version of Briggs' first book and was republished when she wrote a sequel many years later, after her urban fantasy books became very popular. After reading her introduction where she explained how this edition came to be, I decided to read uncritically and go with the
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flow. Thus I was able to enjoy the adventure and the characters of Aralorn and Wolf and I have already put a hold on Wolfsbane.

While I'm sure that the novel has its faults, it was pretty good for a first effort and better than a lot of first books I've come across. Fans of Briggs work, especially her non-urban fantasy might want to look for it.
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LibraryThing member Glennis.LeBlanc
I'm rerating the book since now I have read both versions and even though I read the first one when it came out and have not reread it since the revised edition I think held up pretty well to my memory of the storyline.
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Hmmm. Not as different from the 2010 edition as I was expecting - OK, I've been warped by King Kobold. I need to reread the 2010 edition (soon!) and see if I can spot differences, but the story seems pretty close to the same. I recognized the events, and a few of the phrases (important statements
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made by one or another character). So - still a very rich story, in an extremely complex world. It starts in media res, and the action really doesn't slow down for long - at least for us, Aralorn has some boring times but the story skips over them. Shifters and magic and betrayal from above, undead monsters and living ones...rereading the later edition will be no penance. And then I'll want to reread the next book... I'm not sure I'll keep this - it depends on whether I do notice differences enough to make this interesting. But I'm glad I've read it.
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LibraryThing member Herenya
Years ago, when I read a bunch of Briggs’ novels, I couldn’t find this one. Last year I found it in a charity shop for a dollar. Even though this edition was revised years after Masques was first published, it’s still very obviously Briggs’ first novel. Clichéd and, in many ways,
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clumsy.

Yet in spite of the book’s many imperfections, I liked Aralorn (the illegitimate daughter of a lord and a shapeshifter who left home to become a mercenary-turned-spy) and her enigmatic friend Wolf (who spends his time as a talking wolf or a masked magician). I liked individual scenes, even if some transitions and connections between them were not as strong as the scenes themselves, and there was enough tension to keep me turning pages.
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LibraryThing member TheYodamom
I love Ms. Briggs ability to write female and male characters that are equally strong and independent. This her first book had such wonderful leads, Aralorn and Wolf. She is a smart, independent, smart arse, nobel turned savior. The Wolf, an heir, damaged and hated by his father. The two of them
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dance back and forth developing into a sweet story. Their relationship or lack of one really carries the story the evil king and his minions didn't matter much to me. They are there, evil, ok really evil, with zombies, ghosts, dragons.... It was a really good story and nice escape and a wonderful first book from a fantastic author.
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LibraryThing member Kindleifier
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

Sadly I had to give up on listening to this. The over-emphatic voice, with its hard edges and swooping volume changes made it impossible to focus on the story.

Yes, this is a beginner’s piece which bears little resemblance to the author’s later works, but it is probably worth a
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read on Kindle. If you haven’t read or listened to the Mercy Thompson or Alpha and Omega series, don’t be put off by this one. Both those series are skilfully written and excellently narrated.

Overall 2 stars
Narration 1 star
Story 3 stars
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LibraryThing member zjakkelien
This was quite enjoyable! Pleasant writing, lovely characters, and entertaining story. Also noteworthy: a female character that is competent and stands her ground. Yes, she gets rescued, but she rescues right back and there is never any condescension in it.
LibraryThing member susiesharp
First of all if you are New to Patricia Briggs Do Not Start With This Book! Read either the Mercy Thompson or Alpha & Omega series these are both fantastic and should be your introduction to Briggs.

There is an introduction to this by the author who says that she wrote this book when she was a teen
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did a rewrite and this was her first book long since out of print, then after she started selling with the Mercy Thompson and the Alpha & Omega series they talked her into re-releasing this book she decided not to change much of it and hoped fans would still enjoy it. Well I did BUT it is no Mercy Thompson!

The story was good but the writing didn’t flow as well as her later books and the story didn’t grab me immediately and not let go like her newer books do. I will read the next in the series because I already own it but I know that there are 2 series Sianim, #1 / Aralorn, #1 and I’m not sure if I should read the Sianim 2 &3 before I read #2 in the Aralorn because it is #4 in Sianim which is a little confusing so will have to do some research as which way I should read them. I did enjoy the characters of Aralorn & Wolf and look forward to more from them.

Katherine Kellgren was the narrator and of course you can’t go wrong with her narrations however it was odd to hear her with an American accent, she does do it so very well but almost every book I’ve listened to she has a British accent but as always all of her accents and characters are very distinct and well done!

This isn’t a bad book, it just doesn’t live up to her newer works.

3 stars
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LibraryThing member jazzbird61
Patricia Briggs' 1st book. Enjoyable, but very light

Language

Original publication date

1993-12-01

ISBN

0441019420 / 9780441019427

Local notes

Sianim, 1

DDC/MDS

Fic SF Briggs

Other editions

Masques by Patricia Briggs (Paperback)

Rating

½ (290 ratings; 3.8)
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