Mircea Basarab is a vampire who readers of Chance's Cassandra Palmer series are well acquainted with. In Masks, Mircea is no longer the confidant, powerful centuries old vampire whom we have come to know. Masks travels back to fifteenth century Europe where Mircea is a newborn vampire, trying to adjust to his new undead life. Even though Mircea is powerless relative to the courtesan who owns him, the senator who is intrigued by him. Though she has bigger fish to fry dealing with a consul who has most certainly gone mad. There are certainly good and bad vampires but when powerful vampires with unknown goals, grievances and priorities take interest in a newborn, it can be a dangerous thing, as Mircea is about to find out.
I have read all of the Cassandra Palmer's World and so when I learned about Masks, I jumped quickly on this book. To see a different side to Mircea, was a huge hook for me. Though Mircea doesn't know much about what it means to be a vampire, he really isn't that different than the character we have come to know. He continues to be confidant in his abilities and hyper aware of the world around him. Even though Mircea is essentially a slave and a prostitute, he eschews this label and instead sees himself as a free man in a precarious situation.
Chance doesn't go as far as to give us an origin story for vampires but she does widen the world by telling us of the different ways in which a vampire can be made and the various talents they are capable of. This means that you cannot take any of the characters at face value. It's a constant game of politics.
Being a former Prince, Mircea is a vampire with a lot of preconceived notions. He thinks about the castles, power and wealth that he lost and it is not until he meets Bezio that his perspective on the world really changes. Chance uses Bezio, a former farmer made vampire against his will to discuss class poignantly. To the poor, powerless person, it doesn't matter who is going rule because it essentially will not change their day to day life. Chance also uses Bezio to talk about loss. Mircea grieved for all of his worldly losses but it was Bezio who points out that as a poor man, he didn't lose any less; it was just valued less because he is poor. One's home, one's family and one's identity is sometimes all someone has and that is worth something. I loved their discussions and how it taught Mircea to look at power and identity differently. I do however feel that some of the good work was undone with Marta and her revenge. Poverty exists because of an imbalance and greed and the way her storyline ended made it seem as though she was not entitled to her rage for the wrongs done her.
