But, as that happens, she becomes increasingly aware of the two men’s goals: one to help a longtime companion find his revenge and the other to cleanse the city of a poison spread by Kaius Rex, the man who took over Nadezra centuries before. Now wearing four masks (Arenza the Vraszenian szorsa, Renata the newest member of House Traementis, Ren the con artist, and Lady Rose who was born from Azerais’s Dream), Ren finds it increasingly difficult to keep her different identities separate, especially when they all keep drawing her closer and closer to Vargo and Grey.

But things get complicated quickly as their seemingly different paths converge. Extended Thoughtsįollowing the events of The Mask of Mirrors, Ren the con artist has successfully conned herself into the Traementis family and has become newly inscribed into the family register as Renata, Vargo has been ennobled but still keeps his Lower Bank business all while pursuing something greater involving numinatria and his spider companion, and Grey has been revealed as the Rook. Overall, this is a complex and layered story where some of it was a little difficult to keep straight and I, frankly, gave up on trying to figure it all out, but the storytelling is incredible and I never really felt like I was missing out on anything. A lot of the first half felt slow and focused too much on how Ren worked to balance all of the different masks she now wears, but the second half definitely spun a more complicated web that drew her closer to Grey and Vargo, and the two men closer than they probably ever wanted. Just as in the first book, the world is rich and detailed and the characters are walking fine lines with the different masks they wear and the different paths they walk towards what appear to be the same goals.

The Liar’s Knot is the second in the Rook & Rose trilogy and serves to pull the three main characters tighter together. Warning: Spoilers for the first book, The Mask of Mirrors, lie directly ahead. One Sentence Summary: Now officially a member of the Traementis family, Ren finds herself wearing four different masks and accidentally falling into helping the Rook with his goal of cleansing Nadezra of the poison spread by the king who conquered the country.

The liars knot