Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Masters of Death

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

10 reviews

paigehf's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

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funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

i loved the narrator of this, the voice for fox and death were great but the other voices kind of annoyed me. there were a few too many characters it was hard to keep up and they were not all necessary. the concept was interesting and the conclusion was pretty good, there were some pretty and poetic quotes but the execution kind of lacked for me. around the middle when they started talking about “the game” i got completely lost and found it really hard to follow. it eventually made sense by the end but it was unnecessarily confusingly written around the middle which really reduced my rating.

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natashaleighton_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Darkly satirical and bursting with an eclectic, found family style cast of characters (and creatures) that I found thoroughly endearing.

I didn’t know too much about the plot, just that a vampire estate agent calls on the services of a medium (and godson of Death) to help her with the ghost currently haunting one of her listings. Which sounded like an incredibly fun read, but what we get is soo much more.

With her deliciously descriptive prose, Blake immerses us in a world of immortals, a high stakes game against death and a pretty deep (at least I thought so) exploration into mortality, life and it’s emotional vulnerabilities that really brought our flawed and loveably chaotic characters to life.

The complexity involved in manoeuvring soo many interconnected characters through multiple timelines (and flashbacks), without losing any of its light-hearted whimsy was remarkably impressive.

And though I loved soo many characters,I have to admit Viola’s demonic bestie Isis —and her penchant for winding up Fox— quickly made her one of my favourite characters who I’d absolutely love to see more of in any future projects… perhaps even a prequel or spinoff of some sort.

Overall, this was a satisfyingly pacy and unputdownable read that will definitely appeal to fans of Good Omens, whimsical paranormal fantasy or the found family trope.

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aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

a villain motivated by FOMO you love to see it

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takarakei's review against another edition

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funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"There is a game that the immortals play. The stakes are impossibly high and yet laughably low. There is only one secret: The more you have to lose, the harder it is to win. There is only one rule: Don't lose."

Masters of Death asks the question what is the price of immortality? We follow several creatures: vampire, ghost, demigod, demon, angel, reaper... and a mortal whom is the godson of Death, as they navigate a treacherous game played by immortals. The inter-character dynamics are top notch. This book is full of witty banter, laugh out loud moments, and a bit of heartbreak (it wouldn't be an Olivie book without some).

I truly don't understand how Olivie Blake's mind comes up with these stories. I'm in awe of her writing. She has such a particular way of describing things so beautifully that scratches a part of my brain. Her characters are so interesting, complex and well developed.

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jessiereads98's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Masters of Death is a delightful and weird adventure. A vampire, a ghost, a demon, an angel, a reaper, a demigod, and the godson of death walk into a haunted house then have to save Death. Hijinks and poignant relationships ensue.

I love Olivie Blake’s prose, and her unique style is just as present here as it has been in previous works. She injects more humour here than previous books that I loved. It’s all very dry and matched my sense of humour well, I found myself laughing at several points. The humour juxtaposes well to highlight Blake’s themes. The fantastical systems are corrupt in the most mundane and human of ways, and by not accounting for the humanity they supposedly oversee, they fail.

This is a weird book (in the best way), but at its heart this is a story about coming to terms with change, growing, relationships, and love both platonic and romantic. Blake shines in her character work here as usual. All these characters have gone through what on the surface seem like unusual major events (undeath in its various forms), but end up being intensely relatable as the characters find themselves and grow around and from massive upheaval. What’s beautiful is how the characters find each other, and how through that love find themselves as well.

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azrah786's review against another edition

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4.25

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

CW: violence, blood, murder, death, abandonment, addiction, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, kidnapping /confinement, infidelity
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In terms of overall vibes I think this may be my favourite Olivie Blake book to date.

There is just something about supernatural and immortal creature being thrown into the modern day world that I enjoy a lot and there were some great characters in this book and their dynamics with one another were so fun!! I’m not alone in seeing the Good Omens vibes here and I was hooked all the way through, speeding through the book in the space of a weekend.

Down to the bare bones the book is about a bunch of characters who are thrown together to rescue Death but there are also a lot of moving pieces behind the mystery at the heart of the story.

Blake’s storytelling made the world (though it is pretty much just an AU of our world) feel so lived in with these creatures and beings just going about their lives. The writing just makes you feel so deeply for them and their conundrums particularly when it came to relationships, I was very much invested with all of the pairings in this one.

The only real issue that I had were how sometimes the writing style switched up, changing from a more regular third person account to script like dialogue without any warning. I think it disrupted the flow of the story for me and threw me off a little at times especially when these script-esque segments dragged on for a bit too long..

However, I really enjoyed watching the individual arcs of the characters unfold and they all came together in such a satisfying way. All in all a very entertaining read.
Final Rating - 4.25/5 Stars

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