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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
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
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.
This was a quick read. I'd recommend it to her fans, especially since a second book - Wolfsbane - will be published.
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.
The opening is very reminiscent of Steal the Dragon - perhaps because this is a re-vamped early effort from Briggs. Despite the somewhat
Masques
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
Masques is
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.
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.
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.
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
Overall 2 stars
Narration 1 star
Story 3 stars
There is an introduction to this by the author who says that she wrote this book when she was a teen
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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Fic SF Briggs |