Review: This Eternity of Masks and Shadows

This Eternity of Masks and Shadows by Karsten Knight
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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.

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