Fantasia Reviews The Lost Mask

The Lost Mask by Ashley Capes

Genre – Epic Fantasy

Published 8/14/2016

Ages 14+

About the Book – The Lost Mask, A Worthy Successor

“The enormous corpse of the Sea Beast has breached the walls and an invasion from across the sea is threatening. Cut off from the mysterious golden egg and bereft of the hope of ever seeing his family again, Ain remains in prison, at the mercy of the new king who obviously wants something from him.

Meanwhile, Flir and Luik struggle to contain the illness spreading from the Beast, as Notch and Sofia begin their desperate search for her father.

Charged with hunting down Vinezi, Flir and Luik find themselves thwarted at every turn while Notch and Sofia discover twisted magic is at work in the Bloodwood where the strange Sap-Born may prove to be the worst threat they have encountered yet.” – Publisher’s Blurb

The Review – Pacing Good, Could Be Better

We gushed about the previous book, and everything we said there still applies (you can read that review here). Mister Capes continues to woo us with a pithy, almost laconic style. Brevity is the way he keeps the pacing up, and it works, he gives beautiful descriptions when it is necessary, but otherwise allows his characters take center stage. If anything, the cast is wider than ever before as new subplots sprout like daisies, only serving to enhance the story, giving you more of this fantastic world to love.

Now, we would be remiss if we didn’t offer some criticism. The great length of this tome, even with Mister Capes’ style, causes it to lag at times. Lulls come into play toward the middle of the book, and while we wouldn’t want to see anything removed, some portions, perhaps, could have been handled differently to keep the fast pace. That being said, these lulls are not large, and Mister Capes keeps us entertained throughout.

The Bright Side – More to Love

The Lost Mask takes time, through the subplots, to give us more insight into each character than we had seen previously. We continue to fawn over Notch and Sofia, but the other characters finally feel like they’re getting a chance to shine. We are coming to love Flir and Luik nearly as much as Notch and Sofia, and we hope to see Mister Capes continue to expand his narrative to contain more points of view to make his fantasy series truly epic.

The Rating – A-

As a follow up to City of Masks, The Lost Mask feels like it is in a good place. A pleasure to read from start to finish, only brief disruptions in the pacing keep this book from earning our highest praises. The expanding world that Mister Capes has created continues to enthrall us, his style still superb. It is a different take on epic fantasies, such as those in the vein of Tolkien, and that makes it great. We hope to see Mister Capes continue in his unique style, building new, amazing worlds for readers to enjoy all over the world.

Do you want to read The Lost Mask? You can find it on Amazon.