These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker & Kelly Zekas

Title: These Vicious Masks
Author: Tarun Shanker & Kelly Zekas
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Release Date: February 9th 2016

Summary from Goodreads:

Jane Austen meets X-­Men in this gripping and adventure-­filled paranormal romance set in Victorian London.

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.

Review

I can’t put my finger on the exact issue I have with the writing style but the sentence structure and flow slowed me down. These Vicious Masks was hard to get into, both the writing and slow introduction made for a tedious first couple of chapters. (I almost gave up but I had heard good things so I kept going).

While I think at times These Vicious Masks seemed to have some great innovative plot points other times it felt like a mash-up of popular tropes that feel overused. The setting and world building seemed a tad stereotypical. Along with the world, I did not really care about the characters; there was nothing wrong with them but I just did not care what happened to them. Evelyn is a strong willed female lead that is full of attitude, witty comments, and a fierce love for her sister that made her an entertaining character. (One of the aspects that kept me going throughout).

These Vicious Masks unfortunately fell flat. Conceptually it sounded like a book I would have loved but the writing style, romance, and world building did not work for me.