I'm nothing if not a supporter of women's wrongs, so with Mistress of Lies opening up how with does, I was bound to have a great time.
I loved Shan's complexity, the slow peeling back of layers to reveal what she does for the people she cares about (although admittedly she does make a few questionable decisions for a spymaster at times), and how well her personality worked with Samuel's, at times so different from one another and yet so similar, but Isaac, I'll admit, is my favorite out of the three, and I'm very curious to see what the author does with them next because Mistress of Lies lays opens up so many juicy possibilities.
The take on vampires and blood magic felt refreshing and was one of my favorite aspects of this book, though the magic-system was a bit hard to follow at times, mostly since there didn't seem to be too many set rules, and sometimes I got the sense that characters got certain abilities because it was convenient. I have one major issue with something that happens with one of the character's powers because, for the build-up, it got it was resolved a lot quicker and easier than I expected, but I won't go too much into that because of spoilers.
Mistress of Lies will likely appeal to readers who greatly enjoy character-driven stories and don't mind too much when the plot isn't as tight as it could be, which is where I happen to sit.
The vibes and viciousness were on point.

Thank you, NetGalley and Orbit, for the ARC.

this book ruined the demure trend for me, because ofc Shan was confident and bold, but she had to pretend to be demure and soft, and in some company she had to put a mask and be demure and i don't know if you understood, but she had to act demure - like gosh did this book went thru any editors? anyone heard of synonims?

same thing with reputation- it was constantly drilled into my mind that reputation was everything, that they had to maintain perfect reputation, that reputation was not only clothes you wear, but also how you act and that reputation was the most important thing - I UNDERSTOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME

it was Samuel who was slow and and constantly bitching that, oh no, I'm rich now, i don't belong here, I'm just a normal guy, i want to wear my old clothes and don't want to learn how to use my scary power, I'm a monster🥺👉👈, he was created to be the most "innocent" of the trio, but he was just naive and ignorant af

the whole world felt lacking and plot felt lacking, there was this murder mystery, but it was in the background and up front was what Shan was wearing today and how she was smarter and scheming and lying to everyone, because she was the only smart person there who understood how power play works

I would like chapters from Isaac pov, cus he seemed the most interesting character in this book

Thank you Netgalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.