Cairn Delacroix had it all. Two loving, supportive parents, a bright future, and a beautiful (potential) girlfriend. Even though her mother was the latest reincarnation of the Inuit goddess of the Underworld, things were going well. That is, until her mother tied an anchor to herself and dove into the ocean. Things get a little crazy from there.
Going into this book, I had absolutely zero expectations. I hadn’t read any of the author’s previous works, and I didn’t know much about This Eternity of Masks and Shadows, aside from what was provided in the synopsis. However, I actually ended up liking this book. The author offers a unique spin on the gods and goddesses in modern times trope, and I thought it was really cool that she incorporated mythology from various cultures. The premise is intriguing, and the plot is easy to follow, although at times it felt a little cliché and predictable.
One thing I really appreciated was how the author handled the main characters sexuality. Cairn likes women and has a love interest, but she never has to deal with homophobia. She’s got a girlfriend, and it’s just normal and accepted by everyone else which was actually kind of refreshing to see. I’m so used to reading YA were the main character has to overcome conflict because of their sexuality (there’s nothing wrong with books that deal with homophobia, it was just nice to have a change of pace).
Overall, I would recommend this book for readers looking for a quick, entertaining read. If you a mythology-filled murder mystery sounds cool to you, check out this book.

It's a fast paced, action packed, engrossing and entertaining story that kept me hooked.
There's an interesting world building and cast of characters.
The storytelling is interesting and the characters are well thought.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This Eternity of Masks and Shadows is a wild ride of espionage, intrigue, reincarnated gods, and a seedy supernatural underworld. Even after reading the synopsis of this book, I still didn't know what I was getting into when I picked up an ARC. It's such an intricate and layered narrative that I really did enjoy from the first page. Non-stop action from the outset, dynamic relationships, and interesting character arcs are the strengths of this book.

Cairn Delacroix is a normal teenager on the verge of adulthood, but there's one thing: Her mother is the incarnation of an Inuit goddess, and all of those myths about gods you've heard? They're real and they walk the earth like the rest of us. When Cairn's mother unexpectedly dies, Carin must pick up the pieces and set out on an adventure to understand who her mother truly was.

The premise feels very reminiscent of American Gods, but it's different. Yes the gods live on earth with mortals, but their interactions are different and this book isn't about a grand battle between old gods and new gods. It's part murder-mystery, part spy-noir novel, but also part detective serial that just doesn't want to stop.

The character are well developed, though I did want to explore the relationship with Cairn's father more. He seemed to be the odd character out that didn't get as much interaction, though this is a small thing. Cairn is an interesting character, struggling with the death of her mother and the seeming loss of her father to alcoholism. Not only is Cairn trying to understand her mother, she is also seeking clarity for her path forward. Detective Nook was fantastic, but who doesn’t love a polar bear god turned detective?

I learned about many gods I'd never heard of, like Tane the Maori spirit of the forest, Sedna the Inuit goddess of the sea, and so many more! This book has really inspired me to learn about more world belief systems.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to most YA fantasy readers. I know it's in the YA category, but the content is really edging into adult and I feel like there should have been a trigger/content warning at the beginning. But, it's a detective/spy/mystery novel set in an urban fantasy, what can you do?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a galley copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Storytelling is hard. When we think about Authors we usually fail to see the scope of all they do. The creation, the crafting. Everything inside of a book is a thought out idea. Ultimately the author gives us the story that they want us to read, that they expect us to read. The story that it is. A finite product. And thus my disappointment begins.

A lot of people love this book, based on the reviews I've scanned. I hated the very beginning. What got my interest, although very minimally, was the blurb about what the book was about. Much to my surprise, a page or two into the book it almost says the blurb word for word. It actually might. I haven't rechecked. Instead of organically developing, we have it plastered right in our faces: Gods of all the pantheons walk among us. People know they exist. Some are good, some are terrible. And we as readers are to accept this, which is fine...but it's also not. I wished deeply that instead of how we are introduced to this and to different Gods that it would have been closer to Neil Gaiman's American Gods. Someone referenced that it reminded them of Percy Jackson and to be honest, the way the gods come about do have similarities. All flash and bang, very Vegas. This book is a grade past that, except it's holding itself back.

One part that particularly bothered me, spoilers incoming from the beginning, is that when Cairn finds her mother's lair and then decides to meet up with the therapist she thinks that the lady is a mortal and doesn't understand why her mom would tell her that she was a God and it turned out that the therapist is a God too. The girl knows her mother is a God, and that Gods exist freely around the world, and that it's not secret to anyone. Why wouldn't she right away think "This lair must have to do with my mother being a god" or "This mysterious therapist must actually be a god" This is the first conclusion that should have been jumped to. The story is fighting it's own logic here to make an introduction and lead us forward.

It was inspired enough to keep me interested through to the end. Aside from minor criticism I had throughout the book, including the two examples listed above, I didn’t think this book was bad. I had pinned the first reveal from the very beginning. When the second reveal and first twist happened, I was a little surprised but it wasn’t left field. The second twist also did not really give me a mind-blown feeling. That’s what I was looking for and it didn’t come for me. There were many moments I thought were too rough and underdeveloped in the beginning but it certainly rushes you along.

I did enjoy how Karsten presented the different Pantheons trees. His use of uncommon gods, with the one exception of Ra, was also a highlight. We don’t need to see another Thor, or a Zeus. Just so I’m not listing strictly thunder gods we also don’t need a Poseidon. Nanook, Raijin, Sedna, the others whose names I’ve forgotten even though I’ve just finished reading this. All great choices. A novice would’ve thrown Odin and Loki in there. I admire Karsten for that.

The story itself would have been remarkably better if it was written with more maturity, aimed at older audiences.

“A violent clash between the gods landed on the public stage, and in an era where photos and streaming video spreads like wildfire, humanity as. A whole was forced to swallow a difficult truth: that the gods they’d only read about in history textbooks was real.”

Cairn Delacroix knows her mother, Ahna Delacroix, is the reincarnation of Sedna, the Inuit goddess of sea life and the underworld. What Cairn doesn’t know or understand is why Ahna would take her own life—hugging an anchor to drag herself down into the depths of the sea.

“I have to go back to Adlivun now,” she said. Her blind gaze fell on Cairn. “For what is’ worth, I’m sorry.”

It paints quite a picture. It feels like low hanging fruit for me to reference American Gods, but it was what I thought of when I read this book. However, in this case the gods of all the different pantheons get reborn repeatedly through the ages. They don’t recall their previous lives and they can die even if it’s not permanent.

So in concept this book is promising, I just happen to think the execution was a bit lacking. Cairn is the book’s main character, although sometimes the POV switches to her mother’s rather secretive past and the source of the book’s major mystery. Was Ahna Delacroix’s death really a suicide? It unfolds rather predictably in my opinion, but the last third of the book was rather action packed and almost exciting.

Cairn is not my favorite person here, which is unfortunate given this is mostly her story. I found her almost unlikable sometimes. Her dialogue suggests the idea that she’s clever and witty, but it was very rare for me to even think that much less be convinced that was the case. The thing is, many characters in the book are rather regrettably forgettable and there is a lot of dialogue that felt cheesy.

I certainly thought there was potential here, but it never really lived up to it by the end. Still, once everyone stopped trying to out quip each other it was a good read. Good, but still not great.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kirsten Knight for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a simple person, I see a book themed around gods and goddesses and their reincarnations and I nab it. In this case I'm actually really glad requested this.

We follow Cairn (As a Geologist her name immediately made me smile, and the simple touch of explaining her naming was adorable) the daughter of the newest reincarnation of Sedna, and Inuit goddess. Sedna is murdered and Cairn finds herself on a path to find the person responsible. The story only grows from there. From meeting not just gods and goddesses from one pantheon, but many to getting a 'detective' story of large proportions. Heck, even the relationship between the two girls was absolutely endearing.

Unfortunately, the reason I give 4/5 stars was due to pacing. I found the story progressing way to fast, and one or twice had to reread the beginning of the chapter to figure out how we even got to the portion we were at. I feel as though this is one of the cases where the book would actually benefit from being a bit longer.

This said, I can't wait till the release for this book, and will be nabbing a copy for myself.

Thanks to netgalley for a review copy - this book was okay? I enjoyed the characters of Cairn and her family, and Nook was also pretty cool, but sometimes I felt as if there were a bit too many characters who I didn’t really know? Vulcan seems to just pop up out of nowhere without an introduction, and every so often I’d be like wait who’s this one now... It felt quite long winded at times, but still felt like it skipped over connecting parts so it was a bit disjointed. The idea behind the book is great and the twists were interesting but it just didn’t feel like a natural structure. Cairn needed more growth before running out and trekking TWENTY MILES to a random town because I just didn’t understand her motivation. Yes her mum but she would need an extra push to break out on her own like that. (Also 20 miles takes a lot of time to hike but I didn’t see any change of daylight to nighttime?) I dunno. I did enjoy the ending though.

Fascinating, captivating, and fast-paced, The Eternity of Masks and Shadows has readers questioning what they know about characters and the world around them. Highly recommend for a roller coaster ride of emotions from start to finish.

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

There was so much potential for this to be such a great book, but instead I got minimal world building and almost zero character development. I hate having to rate a book below three stars because for the most part I enjoy just about everything that I read unless there are themes that are extremely off putting. This Eternity of Masks and Shadow was just kind of disappointing to me, especially when I could see the incredible story it could have been with just a little more development. 

Things I Liked:

So even though I was mostly disappointed in how this book played out there were a few things that I did like. 

This book was told in a kind of dual timeline, one with Carin in the present and one with her mother and her crew in the past. The flashback chapters were so much more thought out and developed than the present chapters. I really loved reading about what happened to Carin's mother in the past to make her who she was. I really enjoyed reading those. If the book had just been Carin's mother's adventures on that island, this book would have had a much higher from me. 

Things I Didn't Like: 

I wouldn't go so far as to say that I out-rightly hated anything in this book, but there were more than enough things that frustrated me throughout it to keep me from truly enjoying the story. 

This book felt like a zero draft rather than a published novel. It needed revision, fleshing out, and maybe some reconstruction on how the plot points were revealed. This was a story that told me rather than showed me, which made it kind of a boring read. There wasn't much emotion or description and I didn't have to engage my brain at all to read it. It was just kind of dry.  There was a lack of world building that made it very difficult for me to understand what was happening in the book. I couldn't understand what the dynamic was between the reincarnated gods and the mortals. There wasn't much explanation in way of why gods are reincarnated or how it effects the incarnations of those gods.

I felt like I didn't have any idea what was going on plot wise through most of this book. I knew Carin was trying to solve the mystery of her mother's death, but everything else was so murky with the plot. Again there wasn't enough world building for me to understand all the dynamics and why things were occurring the way they were through out the story. I got to the middle of the story and I almost gave up because I didn't understand who anyone was or what their relationship was to the plot or to the other characters.

The characters were another thing that lacked quite a bit for me. 

I think this book was supposed to be some sort of found family trope but it didn't really work out for me. For one, Carin's dad, who was grieving and a mess, suddenly gets better and conveniently goes off on a work trip. I didn't like this. Carin supposedly had a good relationship with her dad and I would have liked to see them work through their grief together rather than him just getting shipped out of the picture for the convenience of the story. 

Carin herself is kind of a two dimensional characters. Her personality is as plain as the paper that the words are written on. 90% of Carin on page is her talking to another character. There is no insight in to the kind of person she is or her personality. The book is written in the first person, so I felt like there should have been more of an internal monologue happening to give me more of a look inside Carin's thoughts and feelings. There were a lot of things that just seemed out of place when she'd say something about her past life. At some point she says something like "I made a career out of party crashing in high school," but I got zero clue from her personality up to that point that partying in high school was something that she did at all. She would just have outbursts of what I think were supposed to be pent up emotions and apparently I was supposed to just accept that as character development. Except that there was no context and I had no idea she had been feeling any of those things leading up to her outburst. I think Carin as a character was trying too hard to be the stereotypical heroine, but there was not enough development to her beyond that to make me connect to her as a character at all. 

So Carin teams up with all of these people from her mother's secret other life. I'm told over and over again that she forms a tight bond with all of these characters, but I'm never shown how those bonds form. There is no chemistry, there are no bonding scenes. Just one minute they are all strangers and the next Carin is treating them like they saved her life and adopted her into their clan of tight knit members. I think Carin's relationship with Nook is the perfect example of this. Like he has really strong feelings of protectiveness of her, kind of like a father figure, but there was no deep connection between the characters. 

I think that was my biggest problem with this story. Everything was told to me. Either the characters said it or it was spelled out word for word in the text. I couldn't learn anything about these characters organically. They didn't have any defining characteristics that made them feel like more than just little paper dolls. I was just left wanting more and being unsatisfied. 

One more thing I want to touch on before I sign off because this book doesn't deserve me going on and on about the things I didn't like. 

This book has a F/F relationship, but I really was not a fan of how it was put down on paper. I am not a queer person, so I have no personal experience of being in that sort of relationship, but this couple didn't feel natural at all.

Supposedly, Carin and Delphine have been best friends for thirteen years, but it doesn't feel like it at all. There is not chemistry. There was no familiarity. I had a hard time believing that there was any spark for a romance at all between these two girls. This is kind of harsh, but it really felt like this relationship was originally written as M/F and then switched at the very end without reworking the dynamic around it. This could just be because it was a F/F romance written by a male author, but there was just a lot of really off putting things about how it was put down on page that I didn't really enjoy. Things like Carin calling herself a prick in an argument. There were just moments where  I almost forgot I was supposed to be reading about two girls in love instead of a poorly written couple from a bad romance novel. 

This book really had a lot of potential, but it didn't live up to my expectations.

“‘Here’s the only truth I know: gods like me and your mother aren’t divine or superior to anyone else. We’re as fallible as any mortal—the only difference is that we have a few extra tools to mess up our lives and an eternity of centuries afterward to regret it.’”

3.5 stars.

TW: Murder, death of a parent, grief, substance abuse, brief depiction of human trafficking, infidelity

In a modern day setting, gods from all the pantheons coexist with mortals. Some hide their true identities, seeking normal lives, while others use their powers to gain social and political status. Especially rogue gods choose an even more sinister path of crime.

After Cairn’s Inuit goddess mother, Ahna, drowns in what initially appears to be a suicide, she begins to uncover a dark conspiracy of supernatural crime and political aspirations, as well as the realization her mother was murdered. In order to uncover her assassin, Cairn, with some help from her mother’s associates, will need to discover the secret that will changer her life as she knows it.

Combining murder mystery, mythology, vigilantes, and, political intrigue, Karsten Knight weaves a narrative with ambitious scope. While mostly succeeding in this endeavor, Masks and Shadows is not without its minor flaws. Focusing on the good elements first, the cast of characters is pretty fun for such a dark tale. Cairn is quite the snarky would be detective, but never loses determination once she begins discovering the secrets surrounding her mother’s death. Her interactions with the polar bear god and actual detective, Nook, sparkle with witty banter, and they make a great wisecracking pair, while not always performing as a very good sleuthing one. Vulcan, a former friend of Ahna, also provides for some good comic relief with his sarcasm and provides support and friendship for Cairn.

The other gods Cairn encounters are always entertaining and it was fun to see how their personalities reflected their divine identities. Speaking of the gods, it is also noteworthy that gods from a variety of cultures are showcased, which allows for diversity and biracial relationships. There is also some queer rep, as Cairn identifies as gay and becomes romantically involved with her Jamaican best friend, Delphine.

The narrative and plot development itself is structured in a pleasing way. Chapters depicting an event from Ahna’s past are scattered throughout the novel, always ending on a cliffhanger before returning to the present, and as such keeps the reader flipping the pages, wondering how events will unfold to result in the disastrous moment that will change the course of the future. There were also quite a few unexpected twists that are done well and never feel gimmicky or contrived.

What is lacking, however is the actual motivations of the main villain. The novel does not provide any concrete reasoning, which is somewhat frustrating, especially with such a great buildup. The final confrontation between Cairn and this individual is also disappointing and felt a little dues ex machina. There is also a slight plot hole, that would be a bit of a spoiler to get into, but is bothersome enough to make note of in my review. It involved a situation that seemed very important in the beginning of the story, but then was never fully explained and was barely mentioned again.

In conclusion, Masks and Shadows is an impressive work of genre-bending fiction with colorful characters and a mostly well-thought and entertaining narrative. It definitely gave me some fun Watchmen vibes and is a must read for mythology enthusiasts.

*Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher for a review copy of this!*

This gave me major Wicked and Divine vibes. I was bored and a little confused at several points. I found the concept to be pretty interesting, but I just wasn't clicking with Cairn at all.

This was, however, wonderfully diverse and inclusive. That particular aspect was very refreshing. Meeting these reincarnated gods from various cultures was pretty cool.

The basic summary of my feelings on this book is: Great concept, shakey execution. I feel like I would like this world, just following a different perspective. This one wasn't for me, but I would reccomend for The Wicked and Divine and older The Heroes of Olympus fans.

5/5 stars.

This was an unexpected, super enjoyable read. When I saw "polar bear god" in the description I honestly had no idea what to expect - but wow, did this book deliver.

This Eternity of Masks and Shadows is a unique spin on mythology in the modern world. Because here, gods are real - from every corner of the earth and every mythology. Cairn's mother is a goddess: Sedna. But when Sedna commits suicide out of nowhere, Cairn begins to unravel a mystery 18 years in the making.

If you are a fan of mythology retellings, this book is for you. Love mysteries? Yep. It's for you too. This was easily one of my favorite books that I have read this year.

I did not finish this book.

I got 25% into it and found that I could not connect to the characters or the story.
I was getting very confused with the characters having different names, all the types of gods present and the time hopping and character jumping.

It started off strong then decreased significantly. It just couldn't hold my attention.

I thank the publishers for the chance to read what I have so far. Maybe I'll give it another try some point in the future.

The idea of gods being reincarnated and living among humans was what drew me to this book and I liked that there were references to multiple myths and legends throughout - it was my favourite thing about the book.
The chapters were very short and jumped between multiple characters points of view. I liked the split perspective but think that the many changes in POV would have been clearer and easier to follow if they had been written in the first person instead of in the third person. I would have liked to see slightly longer chapters because this would have allowed us to see the relationships between the characters developing more - as it was I found it difficult to become invested in the outcome of the story.

I really enjoyed this book. This book was full of lessons and consequences of people's actions. It was also a great representation of learning who you are as a person and finding your way in the world.

I loved that it was based on a head strong female lead who wants to avenge her mother's death. You can tell Karsten Knight put an extensive amount of time completing research about all mythology origins, which I very much enjoyed!

The detective work in this was a nice surprise. I love reading detective storys. At first I thought having a polar bear God as a detective was going to be cheesy, but Nook ended up being my favorite character in the whole book! I love brooding characters who in actuality have a soft spot for their loved ones.

I thought the ending was a little predictable, but with that being said, I thought the wrap up of this novel was done very well! I really hope there's another book to this series, because I will definitely be reading it!

Though the initial premise is interesting, I found myself bored and unable to connect to the characters and plot. Mythology is central to the plot but somehow feels really underused, and the gods themselves seem less like gods and more like mortals with a few handy abilities. A clearer explanation as to why the gods act like they do would have helped immerse me better in the story. The murder mystery bits lack any real tension, and the 'twists' at the end seem really out of place. Cheesy dialogue and characters that don't seem to have too much depth (making it difficult to sympathize with their emotions) hinder the story as well; I wanted to enjoy this, especially since lesser-acknowledged myths are front and center, but it isn't fully realized enough for me.

I think this is the first book I've read in a while that I just COULD NOT put down! Things come up, sure, but when I had time to read, I was reading this book. it's SO GOOD! I cannot say enough that you should drop everything and run to Amazon and buy this book. Yes, I am an Amazon Associate, and yes, I would get a commission through your purchase, but I would recommend this book if I never made a cent. That should tell you something :)

Someone asked me on Instagram if this book was scary, and I can say for certain it wasn't. At least, I wasn't scared. According to the author, this book is "the confluence of a lot of the genres that have shaped me as a writer throughout my life: the vigilante and superhero stories I consumed as a kid, the mythologies I fell in love with as a teenager, and the murder mysteries and noir I gravitate to as an adult."

I can say, Karsten Knight did this exceptionally. I can see the superhero and murder mystery influences, and the whole book is about gods and goddesses, so there's that. I love all three of those genres, so it makes sense that I would love this book. It also has some fantasy influence, even though the book is set in Boston. This book has mythological characters from every mythology under the sun. I saw Norse, Egyptian, Inuit, Greek and many others that I'm not familiar with. One of my favorite characters was Nanook, the Polar Bear god.

I have read other books that I just had a hard time with, because of writing styles, and punctuation use, but there was none of that here. Honestly, I tried to find something that I didn't like, because I like to keep balance in my reviews between negative and positive.

I couldn't find a thing. Seriously.

I looked and looked for something negative I could say, and I couldn't find a thing. The characters were well-developed, the story moved along briskly, without feeling to overwhelming, and the plot had so many twists and turns that I never really knew what was going on until the end of the book. I really hope someone makes a movie from this book. I would go see that, for sure!

I hope this book ends up being part of a series, because I would love to see these characters again. I will definitely add this book to my list of "must re-read at some point!"

I definitely give this book 5 stars. If you haven't read this book, I hope you get to soon, because this book was awesome! It takes a subject as common as mythology (like, seriously, who hasn't heard of any mythology in their lifetime?) and elevates it to superhero status. While Rick Riordan did this with the Percy Jackson books, and did it well, he focused on Greek and Roman pantheons, while this book focuses on them ALL. That makes this book unique, and more enjoyable in its own way.

The Eternity Of Masks And Shadows - A Mythology Murder Mystery with a punch.
I think the idea of the plot was fantastic, it was great to read a book where the gods/goddesses lived amongst mortals and everyone was aware of them and their powers but saw this as a positive.
I also thought the Mythology knowledge was impressive and linked well throughout the novel.
The novel was initially slow to start but once it got going it was fast paced and action packed.
thanks to the author and netgalley for letting me read this book because it really kept my attention and the writing was so wonderful,i cant wait to read more books by this author.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book. I really enjoyed this book I think more then I was actually expecting to as the premise sounded good but I was a little apprehensive as I am of all YA in the genre but this book really lived up to it. The mystery and the twists and turns really kept me going and made me really want to finish the book. I would highly recommend this book and I gave it 4 stars.

*I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

The Eternity of Masks and Shadows was a fast paced book about a world full of the reincarnations of Gods from every pantheon. Cairn Delacroix’s Mother was one of those Gods, and when she dies unexpectedly Cairn starts to uncover things about her mother she never expected, this leads her on an journey that ties an event from 19 years ago into the present. With more Gods dying, Cairn and Nanook ( a detective that also happens to be an Inuit polar bear God) work to make sense of the past and how it related to the events currently taking place.

This book has some serious American Gods vibes. I really liked it, and burned through it in about a day. Cairn is intelligent, fierce, and a total badass. I loved reading about her. Her love story manages to be relevant and not upstage the plot which often happens in YA books. This was a really fun book, I plan on rereading it when it is released.