On the Same Page's Reviews > The Liar’s Knot

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There's not much I can say here about the plot that isn't a spoiler of some sort, but let me just say that this is now one of my favourite ongoing fantasy series. And I honestly think this book has better pacing than the first one, although it's possible that I'd give The Mask of Mirrors 5 stars as well upon a reread. Middle book syndrome? This series never heard of it.

But on to what I can actually talk about, which is all my feels, and I do have quite a few of them.

The world doesn't necessarily get bigger than what we're introduced to in the first book, but it does get more immersive, with a heavy emphasis on politics and magic. I won't pretend that I fully understand the magic system, but it does fascinate me. The way numinatria and pattern are described are intriguing, and during a recent visit to the authors' website I discovered that they have a ton of additional content related to the world's magic there as well. I still can't quite picture it in my head, but I do think that a reread will help with that.

The politics are complicated and messy, which makes sense because of where The Mask of Mirrors left us. With Ren now having her own mask and another alter ego to keep track of, she finds herself even more mired in the dirty underbelly of Nadežra while also trying to elevate house Traementis, recently no longer cursed. But there's only one of her, even though she pretends to be three different people. Luckily, she has surrounded herself with truly fantastic characters. Ren, Grey, and Vargo, are one of my favourite trios to date. I love the ever shifting dynamics between them, love them individually, and love them in duos. Is it too much to hope for a thruple?

As you may have guessed by the cover, we find out a lot more about Vargo in this book, and every detail is fascinating. The man has more layers than I knew to look for, and surprised me more than once with his decisions, actions, and the motivations that drive him. I loved this deep dive into his mind, and I think the multiple perspectives that we get also help to really round out the characters, since we get to observe them from different points of view.

I can't end this review without mentioning that the writing is very, very good, in a way that's really easy to overlook because it just reads so fluidly. Also, this series has some of the most stunning covers I've ever seen. I'm really hyped for the third book, but already devastated that it'll be the last.