ARC Review – The Mask Falling

From Goodreads:

Dreamwalker Paige Mahoney has eluded death again. Snatched from the jaws of captivity and consigned to a safe house in the Scion Citadel of Paris, she finds herself caught between those factions that seek Scion’s downfall and those who would kill to protect the Rephaim’s puppet empire.

The mysterious Domino Program has plans for Paige, but she has ambitions of her own in this new citadel. With Arcturus Mesarthim-her former enemy-at her side, she embarks on an adventure that will lead her from the catacombs of Paris to the glittering hallways of Versailles. Her risks promise high reward: the Parisian underworld could yield the means to escalate her rebellion to outright war.

As Scion widens its bounds and the free world trembles in its shadow, Paige must fight her own memories after her ordeal at the hands of Scion. Meanwhile, she strives to understand her bond with Arcturus, which grows stronger by the day. But there are those who know the revolution began with them-and could end with them . . .

This is definitely my favourite book in the series so far. You can really feel the difference and maturity in Shannon’s writing between the first three books in the series and this book. This gives Paige more maturity, there is a lot more flow to the story. The slower and still moments have greater impact on the plot, and while the story is still very linear with no side stories to explore off of the main line, I didn’t find it as jarring in this instalment as I had in others.

There are plot twists and reveals a plenty, exploring Scion Paris, how it’s underworld functions, the return of unexpected familiar faces and a lot of political intrigue all over the place. We get to explore Sheol II, Scion Paris and its Underworld, all of which build the lore and picture of this world even further. I love the detail in the worldbuilding and I really love that we are starting to get more and more insight into it.

All of this is going on while Paige is dealing with both the physical and mental fall out of the events of Book three and re-establishing her relationship with Warden. I actually found myself drawn to the quiet and reflective moments as they had such depth of emotion and really gave such insight into Paige. For me they were not as repetitive as they had been in previous books and more about showing her striving to work through her emotions and the problems she faced, wrestling with her morals etc.

This Book really got me excited for the series again and I hope that we don’t need to wait too long to see how it continues.