Publisher's Weekly Review
The dense but brilliant third volume of Dickinson's The Masquerade series (after 2018's The Monster Baru Cormorant) sees Baru Cormorant, haunted by memories of the woman she loved and lost, pushed even further into her self-destructive, all-consuming quest to save her family. In Baru's effort to destroy the Imperial Republic of Falcrest from within, she has risen to the position of cryptarch, part of the invisible cabal that controls the Throne from the shadows. But as Baru pretends to serve her master, Cairdine Farrier, in his attempts to conquer the empire of Oriati Mbo, she privately plots against him. Baru has discovered the secrets of the Cancrioth--a cult of cancer worshippers secretly ruling Oriati Mbo--and the plague they've weaponized to wipe out their enemies. Caught between two implacable empires and facing betrayal at every turn, Baru must sacrifice everything and everyone she loves in order to bring down Falcrest. Dickinson weaves a byzantine tapestry of political intrigue, economic manipulation, and underhanded diplomacy. The narrative oscillates between past and present and alternates between numerous perspectives to create a harrowing picture of social conflict on a monumental scale. This staggering installment pushes the series to new heights and expands the fascinating fantasy world. Agent: Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Literary Agency. (Aug.)
Kirkus Review
Third part of a doorstopper epic fantasy in which a woman seeks revenge against an evil and insatiable empire. In the first book, The Traitor Baru Cormorant (2015), we learned the reasons why Baru Cormorant seeks to destroy the Imperial Republic of Falcrest and something of the depth and nuance of her plan. Book 2, The Monster Baru Cormorant (2018), exposed new vistas, churned bravely, and accumulated flab. Book 3 succumbs to bloat while setting up a sequel. Once, Baru was a protégé of the cryptarch Cairdine Farrier, one of the secret powers running the empire. Now a cryptarch herself, she realizes that he's been subtly controlling her from Day 1. Under his orders, she's sought out the Cancrioth, a people ruled by immortal tumors in human form, in order to use them as a weapon. The Cancrioth are concealing the Kettling, a hemorrhagic plague that could kill hundreds of millions. Baru undoubtedly could unleash the plague and destroy Falcrest, but millions of innocents would die too. Another way to achieve her goal would require more devious tactics but run the risk of Falcrest's becoming the world's supreme power. To implement either strategy, Baru must first survive murderous threats from allies and enemies alike. As before, the storytelling is intense, deftly handled, ingenious, and often absorbing. Dickinson is, however, a writer blessed with an exceptionally fertile imagination who can't resist packing in everything--to the point where needless overcomplication all but sinks a narrative heavy with plot threads, timelines, gore, torture, conspiracies, violence, intrigue, and war. Less would have been far more digestible. The book does work impressively well as an allegory about modern politics, economics, and global power projection (mark the eerie though entirely coincidental thread about the Kettling). Yet the final confrontation, building through three enormously long, dense, involved books, doesn't actually come off--as drama or as catharsis. Those attuned to the author's singular methods will rejoice. Otherwise, this is demanding and ultimately overwhelming. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The third book in the Masquerade series picks up where The Monster Baru Cormorant (2018) ended, with the island state of the massive Oriati Mbo civilization suffering from a lethal plague. Cryptarch Agonist (aka Baru) must gather her scattered allies while avoiding the mutinous admiral of the Falcrest navy who chased her there. The Eternal, a massive vessel that delivered the plague, emerges from its cover, delivering the Cancrioth, sorcerers who carry the souls of a hundred generations. They hold a frightening key to Baru's ever-changing plan to destroy the Falcrest Empire that she serves. Her dilemma, as it has been from the start, is to appear to be obeying orders from her mentor and other cryptarchs who have their own plans. Underlying the fantasy is a harsh look at how colonialism depends just as much on economics as it does on war. Not since Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series has there been such a magnificent antihero surrounded by larger-than-life comrades and opponents. They run an excruciating and complex gauntlet of adventures and soul-searching that will leave the reader emotionally drained at its conclusion, which nevertheless leaves room for continuing intrigues and explorations.
