Publisher's Synopsis
In Rydor royals rule monsters with artifacts & their people with fear. The poor pay for protection, but the ones higher on the pedestal are the true predators. Those not born with titles can only hope that criminals like the Phantom Thieves might save them in their moments of need. No one knows the names or faces of the thieves, but they do know how much the royals despise the monster hunters. When Calderi guards finally capture one of the thieves, the other will prove again nothing will stop her from finding him & that she will grant no mercy to any that stand in her way.
While Calderi plans the fate of their prisoner, a lady arrives at court to await a marriage to the infamous prince. She has trained for this role all her life, but no one prepared her for how cruel this family could be. When stripped of all she loves in the vilest manner, the beautiful flower decides to grow thorns & dares to learn banned magic in pursuit of defeating the court. But there is more than one game being played. All games weave together as five paths collide. Everyone is a pawn with their own dark secrets & no one can win without sacrifice. Soon all will see that monsters are not the only beasts willing to devour their prey. *** We Are Masks & Thieves is an epic fantasy told from the perspective of 5 narrators. SoriAs the impulsive, emotional half of the Phantom Thieves, Sori's focus has always been on her brother & their life of hunting monsters & troubling the royals. No one knows their faces, but their reputations have reached every corner of Rydor. When Loren is captured by the cruel kingdom of Calderi, Sori will prove once again that she'll do anything to find him. She joins the enemy court as a maid in hopes of finding Loren but finds herself quickly wrapped up in their secret guard. While forced to serve the enemy, she save her brother before he is made into a public warning. Loren
Unlike his sister, he avoids impulse and feelings as best he can. For six years in his youth he was separated from Sori, and the scars of that dark time haunt him still. Now as a man and infamous monster hunter, he is imprisoned for his supposed crimes. It is not the beatings from the royal guards that start to break him down but rather being locked away with his memories. They remind him no matter how many beasts he hunts he will never be free of the monsters of his past. Lady Elivia Florenell
Chosen for her beauty, Elivia has been raised with the sole focus of winning the title of future queen of Calderi. When she finally succeeds, she realizes nothing could have prepared her for the cruel Calderi family. When they push her to her limits and wickedly strip her of all she loves, she decides that she will be their flower no longer. Tempted by banned magic, she aims to seek vengeance on those that have foolishly underestimated her. Liesel Poppit
Young and certainly naïve, Liesel has never left her poor village until now. Having never seen anything beyond the desert, everything in Rydor fascinates her. And also endangers her life. After a chance encounter with the Phantom Thieves, she befriends a traveler who offers to guide her on her adventure. She seeks a myth, a fabled city of monsters. Whether it is real or not, her true desire is simply to have a story all her own rather than the one fated to her for being born poor. Prince Calderi
After an incident with one of the most feared monsters in the Burnt Lands, he hides at all times behind a mask that is almost as menacing as his family name. Most think he will carry on the cruelty of his father, but few know how the two clash behind the scenes like the rocks and waves of their kingdom's sea. He has a vision for the kingdom that deviates from the past, but the same temper and streak of cruelness of his father run in his veins. Now that he has his most-wanted criminal in his grasp, he will decide the man's fate.