Review: Masque of the Red Death

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can I get the sequel to this ASAP please?

This is one of those books where I wasn't expecting too much because I bought it so cheap. So it actually surprised me how addictive it was!

I've read Poe's The Masque of the Red Death (and re-read before reading this) and always wanted MORE so finding this book was exactly what I needed. Poe created such a fantastic setting then stiffed us with the characters, so here we finally get to experience it a bit more ourselves.

The plot: COVID-19 A mysterious virus runs rampant across the country, and has already killed half the population. The disease is messy and works fast so people have become accustomed to wearing masks to ensure their safety. Some live underground if they don't have a mask. No one protests wearing them, even though they hate wearing them, because they understand that living is more important than complaining. Anyhoo, so Araby is a big fan of using drugs to forget her problems, but then she meets a guy claiming to want to change the world. There is also a sexy guy with tattoos who I am definitely in love with, even if Araby is less certain.

I'm a sucker for tattoos in real life, so give me a dark haired, tattooed, mysterious man and I'm basically hooked straight away. Whereas Elliott I hated from the start because he's arrogant and bossy and treats Araby like crap. Plus he tears a book and that's pretty unforgivable, in my opinion.

Araby is a heroine I could get behind. Sure, she has some unhealthy coping mechanisms, and an unhealthy need for approval, but she's not a sucker. She can see when she's being played, and when she says no she means it and if you don't hear it it's your own fault, pal. I really loved how she stuck to her guns, but still grows as a character.

The story itself is admittedly a little weak, because the world is chaos and Araby is mostly running around with or for these two handsome fellows. At the start she seems like a spoilt rich kid, but it's never really developed before she's pulled into the worlds of these two men. Elliott has plans up his sleeves, but it's hard to pinpoint exactly what he's going for, and why. Will gets forgotten for a little bit, which made me sad. Then you've got rumours of the prince but it's hard to establish his personality because it's all talk and we don't meet him til later in the book. The disease is running rampant, but it's not clear who is in charge of the city, or what is going on. It seems like it's supposed to be a 'this is how we live now' kinda vibe but there's too much chaos for that to sit right. People are dying all over the place, but 'all over the place' is limited to Araby's world - the places she goes - without much reference to the rest of the city/country/world. It's all very vague.

Poe's story is skimpy on details as well, but it's condensed into the extravagance of the castle, which keeps it tight and intriguing. Knowing how it ends, I was totally waiting for this to end dramatically, but it turns out there's a sequel I can get my hands on so I'll definitely be hunting for that.

Summary: The story itself is a little vague and weakly explored, but the characters made up for it for me. I found it all to be quite unpredictable, and Araby was a great heroine to follow, which combined to make this a really addictive read. It's dark, but it's a lot of fun, too, somehow. I'd recommend for YA lovers looking for something a little different.

View all my reviews