This book is the final in the Micah Grey trilogy, wrapping up all the loose ends. Micah and Drystan are living in a shoddy apartment in the bad part of town after the theater is destroyed. Micah is ill; Drystan is forced to take hir to Dr. Pozzi, who injects Micah with a mysterious elixir that strengthens hir- and also increases hir Chimaera powers. S/He’s having nightmares where s/he inhabits the body of a grave robbing doctor. Protests against the royalty are increasing and some are getting violent. Three Chimaera go to the Royal Family, are welcomed, attempt to speak to a crowd, and the square is rocked by an explosion.

Other than Drystan and their friend Cyan, Micah doesn’t know who s/he can trust. Everyone seems to have at least one secret. Even with hir mind reading abilities growing, Micah can’t dig deep enough to get to the truth. It’s a struggle to survive, for the Chimaera, for the Royal Family, and for their world, Ellada.

This is the book I waited so long for, and it was *almost* as good as the first two. I love the main characters and they all struggle with things and grow in this book. Micah comes of age and faces down all hir demons, including hir mother. Drystan has his own demons to conquer. Even Ellada itself has to learn and grow.

Ellada is described like an exquisite jewel box- one with slums, yes, but still shards of Vestige can be found. It’s a mix of futuristic and Victorian, but not the usual steampunk futuristic. My only complaint is that the book feels a bit rushed, like the author was trying to wrap up all the dangling bits and needed to do it under a certain page count. I’d give four and a half stars but Amazon and Good Reads only use whole stars, so for them I’ll have to go with five stars. ( )

Masquerade by Laura Lam is the third and final book in the Micah Grey trilogy. It's been rather a while since I read the first two books, thanks mostly to the roller coaster that is the publishing industry. In any case, the final book in the trilogy is now out, so it's the perfect time to pick up these books if you have an aversion to incomplete series. If you haven't already, I suggest having a look at my reviews of the first two books, Pantomime and Shadowplay.

Masquerade continues to follow Micah as he tries to keep living his life. Of course, being the protagonist of a fantasy book, things are never quite so simple. Micah's powers grow, unrest grows in their city and new mysteries appear. Can Micah and friends work out what's going on and why and who is involved? (Well yes; it's a book.)

I enjoyed the first two Micah Grey books a lot and was disappointed that I had to wait so long to read the last book in the series. Unfortunately, waiting so long also meant that some aspects of the story had faded from my mind by the time I picked up Masquerade. It took me a little while to get reacquainted with the world and characters and, consequently, a little while to get into the story. It's hard to say how much of my reaction to the first part of the book was as a result of this and how much is more from the book itself. Either way, I found the opening a little slow and the pacing a little off in the first part of the book. Later on, as the story approached the climax and tensions were high, this was not an issue.

Overall I enjoyed Masquerade but I can't help but wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read it in closer proximity with the first two books. I definitely recommend this series to anyone to whom an intersex and/or bisexual main character appeals. If you enjoyed the first two books, this concluding volume ties up pretty much all the loose ends (that I can remember). If you hated the first two books, I'm not sure why you bothered reading to the end of this review.

3.5 / 5 stars

You can find more reviews on my blog ( )

At the end of Shadowplay, everything seemed to be going well for Micah. He and his friends had triumphed over their rivals in a grand battle of illusions; he had started to find out some answers about his past; and he had finally managed to express his feelings for his fellow runaway, the former clown Drystan. But, at this moment of victory, Micah's own body betrays him. He falls into a virulent fever, with the words of the Royal Physician, Samuel Pozzi, ringing in his ears: that any sign of illness could prove to be mortal. Here, in this final novel of the trilogy, we rejoin Micah in the doctor's surgery where he is given a powerful drug, an Elixir, which will restore his health and boost his Chimera powers. Unfortunately the drug's effects are brief: Micah will need to return weekly for a new dose and, although he values his health, he can't help noticing that this arrangement neatly allows Pozzi to keep a close eye on him. And can the new drug explain Micah's disturbingly vivid dreams, in which he watches a grave-robber exhuming corpses for some unknown purpose?

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/02/14/masquerade-laura-lam ( )