Rook & Rose
#1544.16 adjusted 4.16 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 2021–2023 Reading commitment Medium M.A. Carrick Last reviewed 2026-08-19
Overview
Rook & Rose is written under the shared pen name M.A. Carrick, the joint byline of Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms. A complete trilogy of intrigue fantasy set in the city of Nadezra, it follows Arenza Lenskaya, a con artist posing as a lost noble heir while secretly working as a masked vigilante fortune-teller known as the Rook, as she gets pulled deeper into the city's factional politics than her original grift intended. Published as The Mask of Mirrors (2021), The Liar's Knot (2022), and Labyrinth's Heart (2023), the trilogy layers a Venice-inspired setting, a tarot-like divination system central to its plot mechanics, and multiple competing conspiracies among Nadezra's merchant houses, occupying foreign power, and criminal underworld. Brennan and Helms built the series specifically around the mechanics of card-reading and disguise as narrative devices, giving the books an unusually structured relationship between their magic system and their plotting of political intrigue.
Epic fantasy, Fantasy of manners · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
Rook & Rose Marie Brennan, Alyc Helms
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Mask of Mirrors | 2021 | 1 | core | 4.00 (15,057 ratings) |
 | The Liar's Knot | 2022 | 2 | core | 4.42 (7,698 ratings) |
 | Labyrinth's Heart | 2023 | 3 | core | 4.25 (5,254 ratings) |
Written under the shared pen name M.A. Carrick. A complete trilogy of intrigue fantasy set in the city of Nadezra. No award recognition could be confirmed from any primary source checked; not registered as an AWD record.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Rook & Rose? Rook & Rose's Core Canon is 3 books.
- What is the reading order for Rook & Rose? Publication order, starting with The Mask of Mirrors. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Rook & Rose finished? Complete (2021–2023).
- How much reading does Rook & Rose take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books · ~1,947 pages).
- How is Rook & Rose ranked? #154 in this site's official ranking, based on 28,009 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #154?
Ranked #154 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.16 across 3 core books.
- A smaller readership (28,009 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 4.00 to 4.42.
- Less than 0.01 behind #153, The Imager Portfolio (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 3 books · Complete · 28k ratings · Ranks #154 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- The Mask of Mirrors (2021)
- The Liar's Knot (2022)
- Labyrinth's Heart (2023)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No award recognition could be confirmed for this trilogy from any primary source checked.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.16 across 28,009 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit Rook & Rose (M.A. Carrick) as a new universe accepted 2026-08-19
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- macarrick.com (authors' own site) Tier 1
- Wikipedia (English) Tier 2
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Brennan
Last reviewed: 2026-08-19
Rule: Core Canon = all 3 novels: The Mask of Mirrors (2021), The Liar's Knot (2022), and Labyrinth's Heart (2023).