Escape the Mask

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Escape the Mask defies genre categorization. The book’s cover
illustration of a spear-carrying warrior dressed in black, his face
covered by what appears to be a knight’s helmet bearing a sinister
downturned smile, suggests historical fiction. However, the craggy,
red-hued background hints at otherworldliness and, therefore, science
fiction. Content-wise, the dystopia Ward creates suggests speculative
fiction. Despite such genre ambiguity, the novel is most definitely an
action-filled page-turner, at least until near the book’s conclusion
when the pace markedly slows.

The first-person narrator is Corki (about 12 or 13), who, along with
his female cell-mate Pippa, is enslaved by the Spears in Grassland, an
enclave of land contained by ocean and mountains. By day, the paired
workers must hand-gather a quota of shards or risk severe punishment. At
night, when Grassland is flooded by tides, they are locked in cells cut
into the mountains. An attack on the Spears by the bow-and-arrow armed
Outside allows Corki and Pippa, along with two other named couples plus
numerous additional slaves, to escape into a unknown world outside
Grassland. While action at this point stalls somewhat, readers are left
knowing that Ward is writing a sequel and so more adventures await.

In many ways, Escape the Mask is also a mystery for it contains so many
delicious unanswered questions, some of which arise from Ward’s
created vocabulary and the master–slave social structure he has
conceived. An opening relief map helps readers locate the book’s
action. Recommended.