ALINA BELLCHAMBERS The Order of Masks. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley

Spies, magic, intrigue, and the human cost of an expanding empire all feature in Australian author Alina Bellchambers’ debut fantasy.

Growing up on the run from mysterious criminals with her mother, Mira has always dreamed of having safety and stability; of being able to have a life somewhere. To this end she declares herself a candidate for the upcoming Trials to join one of the magical Royal Orders – if successful, this will grant her and her family Imperial protection. For years Mira has been training to fight behind her mother’s back, and now she is finally ready to try out for the Order of Warriors. But to her great surprise, she is instead chosen by the secretive Order of Masks, the emperor’s league of spies, saboteurs and political assassins.

Princess Scarlett has long lived in fear that her half-brothers will decide she is too much of a threat to their succession and will have her removed, either through an arranged marriage or something more deadly. Having developed her magical abilities in secret, perhaps Scarlett is finally ready to become a real player in the game of the Ravalian court and stop being merely the illegitimate daughter no one takes seriously. But just how venomous must someone become to rule a nest of vipers?

A new player without existing ties to the court could change everything for the princess. And so Scarlett takes Mira under her wing, and their shared drive to control their own destinies leads the two to form a tenuous alliance. However, in a court where the only rule is that you cannot trust anyone and every interaction is only ever a means to an end, can they ever manage to trust each other?

Bellchambers shows an impressive mastery of character development in this debut novel. It was chilling to watch some of the characters’ hearts gradually harden, and, without saying too much, there is a manipulative, narcissistic mother in the story who is absolutely terrifying to watch in action.

The characters are always the focus here, but even without describing the world in any great detail, the images evoked are still very vivid. Bellchambers’ bare-bones writing style is all the more haunting for its simplicity:

And yet, even at my most hopeless, I wasn’t human enough to cry. To shed even a single tear.

Mira’s perspective alternates with Scarlett’s every few chapters. In other stories, having two main character voices sound so similar would be inviting criticism. Here, however, the similarities between them are deliberately showcased as they dance around each other in pursuit of their own goals.

The story really captures an aspect of the strain of working undercover that is often overlooked – the danger of pretending to care, because it might actually make you care:

For a moment, I had allowed myself to get caught up in the ruse, to forget that my friendliness wasn’t real. Couldn’t be real.

Something else that is done really well is Mira’s transition from believing that the Ravalian Empire’s never-ending expansion and conquest is a good thing, as she had been raised to think, to acknowledging that there are people on the other side of the world who get stepped on to make the Imperial citizens’ lives easier. When she travels further afield, Mira finally gets to see the price of the Empire’s progress firsthand; a price she has never had to pay.

As one might expect, given that the blurb mentions murder, this novel is a little bit graphic, but mercifully not that detailed. While the story is certainly not light-hearted, it’s not disturbing just for the sake of it either. Even while scheming, the characters can be delightfully witty:

I remained a careful two paces behind [him] as we strode through the jasmine-scented gardens. It was a romantic setting and I wondered if he had chosen it deliberately, thinking it might soften me.

If so, he had severely miscalculated.

The Order of Masks is an impressive first novel and it will be fun to see where the series goes. I have absolutely no idea what will happen in the sequel, who will side with or backstab whom, and that’s brilliant. Only one thing is clear: be careful what you wish for – you just might get it.

Alina Bellchambers The Order of Masks Macmillan 2024 PB 416pp $34.99

Amelia Dudley has degrees in plant biology. But despite spending a lot of time in the garden, her plants still occasionally die.

You can buy The Order of Masks from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW.

You can also check if it is available from Newtown Library.

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