Jala's Mask

by Mike Grinti

For two hundred years the people of the Five-and-One Islands have survived by raiding the mainland. By shaping the reefs around their islands into magical ships, they can cross the great ocean, take what they want, and disappear where no normal ship can follow.

When Jala meets King Azi of the Five-and-One, she forgets everything her family told her to do. She was supposed to be meek and charming. She wasn't supposed to be herself. And she wasn't supposed to fall for him. When the king defies his family and proposes to her, Jala finds herself the islands' new queen. Now she's cut off from her family and despised by the king's advisers. Even her feelings for Azi, that seemed so clear when they were alone, are anything but clear amid the politics of the islands' ruling families.

On the second night after Jala's wedding, the islands are invaded by ships arriving on a tide of magical fog. One of the islands is left in ruin. Others haven't been heard from. And there might be more invaders on the way. If Jala can convince the noble families to work together, they might stand a chance, but she must choose between her family, her love for Azi, and saving her people.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, Young Adult, Teen

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2014

Reviews

[Dragana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just one glance at the cover of Jala’s Mask hints that this book will not be the usual fantasy novel. Cover gives us tropical tribe vibe and no medieval looking castle, metal armor or swords in sight. And, trust me, the cover does not make empty promises.

Set on a group of tropical islands, Jala’s Mask stands out in a row of boring same-old fantasy novels. The people of Five-and-One Islands are fierce and reminded me of Ironborns from A Song Of Ice And Fire. They are pirates who attack ships and coastal towns for loot. To them, this is not regarded as stealing, it’s the way of life.



But while Ironborns are all stone and rigid rules, culture Mike and Rachel Grinti invented is full of colors, exotic birds, dances by the fire and interesting customs. And don’t get me started about ships! Five-and-One islanders grow their ships out of corals… I won’t talk about the details, because I want for you to experience all the fun of this new culture by yourself.

Jala’s Mask is centered mostly on Jala, a young girl from noble family raised with a hope that she will be a queen one day. And, surprise, surprise young king Azi picks her (although maybe not for the expected reasons). Jala dreamed to be a queen ever since she was a little girl. But will reality fulfill her expectations? When she needs to act will she do what is good for her family, her people or hide in the corner?

"She hated that, hated feeling confused and hurt and lost. Better to just jump in and hope everything worked out. Well, maybe not always better. But easier."

Jala’s decisions might not be always be right, but they are never boring. She is not afraid to try. She proves that she is strong and resourceful woman.

A lot of other characters seem pale and shallow compared to Jala, even her husband King Azi. I would have loved to find out more about them. For example, her father was most intriguing character. But since this book is a standalone fantasy novel (a rare beast indeed) I will not complain… much.

The only other person who stood out for me, beside Jala is her childhood best friend Marjani. This is awesome for so many reasons. First because strong female friendships without malice are rare in books. Second because Marjani is kinda having a crush on Jala. LGBT theme is handled extremely well and feels like part of normal live on the islands. Same sex marriages are nothing uncommon.

In The End…
When you are bored with fantasy novels with medieval vibe, Jala’s Mask will be a quick break from the usual. Lovely tropical islands and their charming inhabitants will be like a breath of fresh air. And since it’s a standalone, you don’t need to worry about a sequel. Although there is a chance you will keep an eye out for next book by Mike & Rachel Grinti.

Recommended if you like fantasy novels with dark-skined characters, island setting, pirates, royals, conspiracies, …

Disclaimer: I received this ebook from publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love a good fantasy. While I love a good medieval fantasy, I love fantasies that take it to a whole new setting, so Jala's Mask's Caribbean setting called to me.

Here's what I liked:
1. The characters are interesting and multidimensional. Jala herself is great because she's strong but she has emotions and she's not invincible. Azi tries to be a good king but he's, at times, a little too meek for his own good. You get the idea. There are also a couple of gay characters but it's not their sole personality trait.

2. The action was pretty solid and the lore was interesting.

What made me rate it low:

1. Lack of focus. The book didn't seem to know what it wanted to be about and had too many plot threads that didn't wind together. Hell, the titular mask? Not even mentioned until the last fifth. It should've been called "Jala's Book" because the book Jala received as a gift was a much greater driving force for the plot. If I were to change one thing, I'd make it so instead of the book, Jala gets the aforementioned mask as a gift. Like the book, it'd prompt invaders to the islands and force Jala to return it, but maybe in this version, Azi wears the mask to make him a greater ruler but it also slowly corrupts him. Maybe Jala wears it throughout the story, protecting her on her journey but slowly corrupting her. I know hindsight is useless but that would've given the story much-needed focus.

2. Not taking enough advantage of the unique setting. Because of raids, the characters have access to a lot of mainland equipment, like swords. I feel that they should've used weapons unique to Caribbean culture. Now, I'm not an SJW who thinks only writers of a certain background should write characters of that background (only a racist thinks that) but I felt the authors weren't stepping out of their comfort zone enough.

3. For all the importance of the coral ships, there wasn't a lot of explanation of why they were so powerful and feared and how they came to be. A little more detail would've been nice.

There are, of course, subjective opinions. You may read this book and fall in love with it. I hope the Grintis write more because I think they'll do much better if they keep at it.

[Deborah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book in good spirits or hopes. To say this is a believable representation of African or Polynesian folklore, as the back cover review states, is pretty near-sighted and insulting. I almost made it halfway, and I was ignoring the bad writing, inconsistencies, over-telling versus showing, weird sentences structure all throughout; but the stereotyping and the inauthenticity of the narrative put the nail in the coffin for me. I stopped right at Chapter 15, after Jala (and don't get me started on the names) realized the stolen book she was gifted was sacred to the people invading and thought to herself, paraphrasing: "It doesn't feel sacred. If it's so important, why don't they make another book?" Really!?

Please support authors of color trying to give you REAL diverse narratives. This isn't it.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a good story fairly well written with a satisfying conclusion that is believable in context (I like happy endings but dislike when they come from deus ex machina or feel otherwise forced or unbelievable). I love that it is based on traditions that are quite distinct from the usual pseudo-medieval European-ish setting of too much fantasy. And the overall world building is pretty good, painting a picture of a fairly believable and unique culture without reverting to an infodump. There are a lot of interesting ideas in the setting that I think would be interesting to explore further. One of the most interesting was the masking culture of the Hashon; even after I realized that it was probably inspired by ethnographic reports of similar sorts of traditions in some African cultures (though I think those tend more towards animal figures than to raw elemental forms) it still seemed very unique and interesting. Also, it gets points for being accepting of gays and lesbians.

The downside is mostly that it is way too modern in many ways. Gender issues are a major part of this. The culture of the Five-and-One Islands has many aspects that point towards it embracing "traditional" gender roles: having a king and queen is an important aspect of the culture, and it is the king that is the inherited position and the queen is whoever he marries and is evidently expected to be little involved in politics; all of the the major political figures are men: heads of family, sorcerers, advisers to the king, almost all ship captains (with the one female example being a replacement for a male captain killed in battle); there are even specifically male rituals, such as the wind dance. So it is a little jarring when conventional roles are overturned, most obviously with the couple seeking a royal blessing of marriage, with the woman asking for a sword to become a raider and the man asking for jewelry to be attractive for his wife, but also in the casual mention of women raiders. I'm totally cool with overturning gender norms, but it just doesn't fit with the way society is portrayed throughout. Similarly problematic is the treatment of gays and lesbians. Again, it is wonderful that they are accepted, but how they fit in doesn't make sense. As in many real world cultures, marriage is used to seal alliances between families. But in the real world the true goal of a marriage is offspring which reduce conflict because they make two different lineages kin and it is generally unacceptable to fight kin. Lineage in the Five-and-One Islands is possibly tracked differently, since it is implied that if a queen has a daughter she will be part of her mother's family instead of her father's, but aside from that situation most of the marriages mentioned seem more permanent, more like what one would normally think of as marriage; if the rules are different it really should have been explored in greater depth since it is otherwise unclear. But anyway, to me it seemed sort of odd when it was suggested that Marjani might be married to a woman who didn't need children; a strange collision between the older style of marriage evident in this society where it is meant mainly to form political connections between groups, and more modern beliefs about marriage as serving the happiness and desires of the individuals involved. And the one male character who has a husband (Natari?), the relationship is brought up seemingly as an afterthought, like an attempt to insert modern liberal values. Made even odder by the fact that he later mentions having a son-- maybe the son is adopted, or came from an earlier marriage of convenience or something, but the way it shows up in the story makes it seem ill thought out, or like changes were made but not smoothed out. And then there is the problem that Jala consistently comes across as having the voice and more or less the world view of a modern teenager/young woman. I'm not sure if she was written that way deliberately (to make her easier to identify with) or merely because the authors didn't know how to characterize her better, but I found it disappointing. She is a noble and the scion of a major family; she has servants and proportionally way more wealth than most of the people around her, and I wish she were better written to reflect these differences. I also have some problems with geography and the Hashon (it is first implied that they are the mainland culture, but then they just seem to be one subset of it; how did they get their barges from distant land-locked areas to the sea so easily, or conversely why didn't Azi or the others sail up river instead of travel mainly overland?), and some apparent editing errors (they start referring to the sacred book of the Hashon as the Anka, but I never remember anyone first giving it that name), but not really worth delving too deeply into. Though I wonder about that mention about not being able to navigate by stars; if that is true, it would imply a very different base assumption about the world, but it feels sort of thrown in there like they realized they needed to justify the need for magic to navigate to and from the Five-and-One Islands.

Despite all my complaining the unique aspects of this book and interesting ideas it contains made it worth reading. Also, it was relatively short and engaging so there was little obstacle to reading it. But overall I feel it is more like a strong first attempt and I think with more practice the authors could produce something really excellent.

[Wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read a long time ago. Still think it's one of the better Afro-centric fantasies.

Jala's father has always known she would be queen of the Five-and-One Islands. When she catches the eye of Azi, the new young king, they are soon married. But trouble from the mainland comes quickly in the form of ships full of corpses. Along with the bodies of these raiders comes the discovery of a magical book that the mainlanders consider sacred. When Jala works with a sorcerer to learn more about the book, she finds she must return it before it is taken it by force.

[Jessica Suphan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!! From the fact that it clearly took from non-European cultures, to the casual LGBT+ representation, to the characters, to the plot itself, there wasn't a part of it I didn't like. We arrived at the point in the plot that had to do with the masks later than I expected. But that;s not a bad thing. I was fully immersed and loving everything that happened beforehand, and that's really what was important. Terrific, great job to both the authors and to the cover artist.

[Averie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good. The ending felt a little rushed but overall not a bad read

[Cape Rust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jala's MaskJala and her people live on the Five-and-One Islands. They are a proud race of raiders who have mastered the art of building magical ships from the reefs that surround and protect their islands. This has been the way of her people for the last two hundred years. But things are about to change. King Azi is looking for a new bride and Jala is on the short list. Jala has been raised to be queen and there is nothing that her father wants more than for this to happen. When the time comes for their meeting, Jala is the exact opposite of what her parents have told her to be. This catches the king’s eye and, despite his uncle’s reservations, he chooses to marry her. Jala is whisked away from her family and friends and thrust into the middle of island politics. She quickly learns that her father’s ambitions stretch far beyond just wanting his daughter to be queen. On the second night of her arriving at her new home, the island is attacked by mysterious ships arriving with a heavy fog that reeks of foul magic. One of the islands is decimated and others have not been heard from. In these circumstances, it falls to Azi and Jala to save their people, while trying to navigate the dangerous waters of island politics and trying to get to know one another.
This is not the type of novel I normally read. This is the type of novel I normally read. Those last two sentences are not typos. This is a fantasy novel that is filled with action and adventure, and I normally read those. This novel is a love story set in a fantasy world, and I don’t normally read those. In the end, the co-author team of the Grintis made this a coherent novel that should appeal to a larger swath of audience than your normal run-of-the-mill fantasy novel. This is the type of novel that could get someone who is interested in romance novels to read a fantasy book. This novel, like the Navy SEALs, does double duty at land and on sea.
Jala’s people live on the Five-and-One Islands, so it makes sense that they are a seagoing people. It was nice to see a non-Eurocentric society in a fantasy novel. The Grintis did their research and were able to insert enough real-life island culture into the novel without making the reader feel like they were trapped on a flower-covered tourist bus in Hawaii. I know that historically the Hawaiians were raiders, however I don’t recall them raiding the mainland. I kind of got a bit more of a Viking feel from these raiders, and I enjoyed it. Nothing hugely surprising there, but the influence of the mainland was noticeable in their culture and ended up having a huge impact on the story.
Little of the action parts of this story take place on boats or ships, so I don’t really have any comment on ship-to-ship combat. Because of the island element, I actually expected a bit more of this, but when viewed as a Viking-like society, I shouldn’t have anticipated much of that. The magic reef ships were very like Robin Hobb’s in that they were magical ships, but the similarities ended at the magic part. These ships were magically crafted from the coral reefs that surround the Five-and-One islands, and they enabled the people of the islands to not only invade the mainland, but protected their shores from mainland ships that might want to retaliate. This concept set up a major event later in the book and explained the Islanders’ ability reach out to the mainland and raid. The authors didn’t get too far into the details of the magic, but it worked.
Now for the love story portion of this book. Parts of it were awkward, but awkward in that young love kind of way, rather than poorly written or hormonal teen writing kind of awkward. Jala’s and Azi’s relationship has plenty of pitfalls and some of them had me yelling at the book, so I would say they did exactly what the authors wanted them to do.
There were a few times when things seemed kind of vague and some of the underlying plot hooks seemed to just kind of wash away, but that in no way made this book disappointing. The authors’ writing style was easy to follow and felt genuine. The cultural context was just enough, and even with the kissing parts, there was enough action to keep me interested. I’d like to see more writing from these authors. I don’t think that Jala and Azi need another book, but I wouldn’t be averse to learning more about their world.
note: this review was first posted at www.koboldquarterly.com

[Mizz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual Rating 3.5 stars out of 5

So I finished Jala's Mask and came away liking it well enough. The writing is, overall, good. One problem I think fantasy (and science fiction) can fall into is being too descriptive. Yes, I know, details help flesh out the world, but I do think there can be something as too much detail that can slow down the story. Jala's Mask, fortunately for me, doesn't fall into that trap. But, there were times where I actually wished for more details. Mostly in the later half of the book where the plot really kicks in.

Honestly, I think this book would have benefited from being at least two books. I know, I know, with so many series out there have a stand alone book is a nice break. But I think that another book would have really helped some of the problems I found with the writings. Especially in the later half of the book! They could have really explored this whole 'every title you hole is a mask' thing that they really only touch on near the end. And we could have learned more about the Five-and-One Island's culture and customs.

Though I did really enjoy the fact that LGBT+ people were treated as normal as everybody else. And none of the LGBT+ characters we met/got a name in the book were killed off which is nice change from other things I've read. There was another little thing I like about how a person's gender didn't really matter for one's profession. Like there are men and women sailors.Like after Jala becomes Queen and a married couple comes up ask for her blessing and gifts. And the wife is a sailor who ask for something practical while the husband ask for something decorative so that he could look pretty/nice for his wife on their wedding day. It was a small moment but it made me smile.

All and all I really liked this book and am glad I brought it. Would recommend to people who like fantasy but are also looking for something different from the medieval European based fantasy.

[Fantasy Literature · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading fantasy that stems from a different folkloric basis than the one I grew up in. Middle European, British, Native American and Asian fantasy tropes have been done a lot, so Jala’s Mask, by Mike & Rachel Grinti was a refreshing change.

Jala has grown up in a society similar in some ways to our Polynesian one. Her people can magically shape ships from the material that forms the reefs around their islands. They gather wealth by raiding the mainland. The Five Islands and One are ruled by a king and queen, but except for the One island, where sorcerers are exiled, each island is controlled by a particular family. Jala is part of the Bardo clan. The new king, Azi of the Kayet, is looking for a wife, and Jala’s father is sure she will be chosen. This seems unlikely, because Azi’s Kayet uncle doesn’t trust the Bardo, but ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[Henry Lazarus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mike and Rachael Grinti tell a tale of Islanders whose magical ships made of coral allow them to cross the great ocean. They use these ships to attack the main land and bring back plunder. Jala is given a book taken as loot as a gift to her for her wedding to King Azi, a second son who only became king when his brother was killed. Neither of them know that the book is holy to some of the mainlanders, but find out when the islands are attacked. The only way to end the war is for Jala to take the book back to the Heshon city, and bargain for peace. The city is ruled by magical mask wearers eager for war. The only way to stop the war is to put on one of those mask. Jala’s mask (trade from Prometheus Books) links her to the water goddess, trapping her in the city. This is a unique fantasy world. Review printed by Philadelphia Weekly Press

[Reving · Rating 5 out of 5]

Longer review to come. I loved this!!!!