What a novel. Whilst I was expecting a wild cast of characters and situations, this exceeded my expectations. The main character, Viola, was full of sass from the get go - having to deal with a poltergeist that does not want their house sold is certainly an amusing point of view. Things just got wilder with the other characters introduced and the wild ride they go on together. I often find it difficult to follow lots of characters but the way Olivia Blake writes have each of them subtle nuances that meant I never struggled. This was funny, heartfelt writing that has encouraged me to check out her other novels.

I had to DNF at 57% then skim to the end. I really tried to push through, but it was so confusing. Too many characters that said a whole lot of nothing. For a fantasy book with a tonne of creatures, not much happened. I didn't understand the game or the point of this book.

I don't think Olivie Blake's writing style is for me. I struggled with One For My Enemy too but I had the romance to keep me intrigued.

Her style reminds me of film directors like Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie. It works in film. I don't think it really translates that well in book form. It can be a slog to read and get your head around.

It's a shame because sometimes her prose is really impactful when it makes a point. The rest is too meandering and needless, and the dialogue is too contrived and unrealistic.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me the pleasure of indulging yet another Olivie Blake marvel. Now, bear with me, because as a fangirl, this review is probably a little biased. Sorry - we’re all human!

Well, she’s done it again. As a hard and fast Blake fan, I’ve come to adore her winding plots, clever-bordering-on-pretentious characters and convoluted stories more with every read, and Masters of Death is no different.
As ever, the plot is a non-linear story that leaps and bounds around the concept of storytelling, but at no point is it confusing - the thread runs through each page with clarity and the ties at the end bring it together neatly.

Again, as always, Blake’s characters shine through. From the frustrating, the witty, the genius and the unbearable, Blake manages to involve her supporting characters with ease, whilst focusing also on the stories of our main characters (though, I think, who your main characters are could be decided by each reader themselves). She juggles their stories with deftness and as the book progresses, the story and its players shift into something entirely unexpected, giving new revelations that I didn’t quite see coming.

Overall, Masters of Death yet again wowed me with its wit and its storytelling, and I’m excited to pick up a beautiful copy once it hits the shelves.
If you’re an Olivie Blake fan, you won’t be disappointed.

There's a few characters to keep track off and I find unusual/uncommon names harder to remember who's who which madre this story one I'm glad I devoured quickly.
In a world where Deaths game isn't worth the risk everyone wants to play but when his godson gets dragged into it the stakes become higher.
The real story here is beautiful because its about live, friendship and the power of humanity.

Olivie Blake has made urban fantasy SO fun again and I really appreciate the creativity of the plots. They're always just such wacky ideas that somehow work.

This is my third Blake book and I'm finding that the prose and the character types are quite cut and paste at times but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'll look forward to reading the next publication!

This is the second Olivie Blake book I’ve picked up, I can’t say I enjoyed the first, The Atlas Six, but the premise of this one sounded promising.

Sad to say I DNF and decided it wasn’t for me at around 10%.

I’m not sure what age reader this is aimed at, but it felt very juvenile, even for YA. Unlikeable characters, terrible dialogue, and written in the style of ‘why use 1 word when I can use 10.’ To say literally nothing.

Lots of words, nothing happening. Very difficult to follow. Also this proof copy was nearly unreadable due to typos and typesetting errors.

The last time I’ll try Blake. Not for me. Pretentious without having anything to say.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book for an honest review.

As soon as I read the summary for this book I knew I would enjoy it. I didn't expect it to be as witty as it was from the beginning with a brief introduction from death.(who is one of my favourite characters in this book). I think the length of this book was perfect so it didn't feel like the story dragged. I would recommend this to people who have a sarcastic and dry humour as you can relate to the dialogue and humour in this book.

All in all a really enjoyable read.

This was too slow paced for me for this type of story. In the end I struggled to stay interested throughout. The structure of the story was a little messy which also played a part in my struggle.
The characters while funny felt underdeveloped. I would have liked to learn more of these characters.
While I enjoyed the story. It was missing something to wow me.

The premise of this story sounded really intriguing and interesting to me and something that seemed slightly different to the “norm”, but I really couldn’t get on with the writers style, and the story i personally for me seemed way too disjointed, so the story felt far more difficult to read and get my head around.

Maybe if you have read other stories by this author you might like this book, but for my it really wasn’t enjoyable.

I hoped I would love this book. I really wasn’t prepared for how much I really would. The concept is so unique nothing like I’ve ever read. If you love supernatural characters with gods,demons and an immortal game this book is 100% for you.

It took me a while to get into this one but one I did, I enjoyed the humour, banter and storyline. A clever witty story!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book to review.

I found my journey with the book dipped slightly in the middle. With a strong opening, I was connecting with the characters, exploring their journeys and motives and relationships. However, around the 50% mark, I lost interest for a few chapters and I found myself losing those connections with the characters. Throughout the book, it was unclear what this “game” was that they were referring to. While this seems like an intentional choice, even by the end of the back I was lacking clarity and understanding.

The last 30% of the book brought my rating back up as the relationships between characters were deeper explored, especially Brandt who stood out to me. Enjoyed his interactions with Fox and Death, one of my favourite aspects of this book were the flashbacks surrounding the three of them.

Olivie Blake has done it again.. completely captivated me and made me fall in love with her characters. They were well developed and there was quite a few couples to root for throughout the story. However I was mostly hoping for a magical love story for Brandt and Fox.
Admittedly the vast amount of characters might be a little confusing to begin with but as the story progresses it gets easier.

The different timelines kept me on my toes but honestly just go with it and trust the process, it made it that much more intriguing. You will have one question answered then several more unanswered ones but as the plot thickens and the ending nears you will receive clarity.

Being both equally plot and character driven gave this book so much depth. It was so entrancing and really hard to put down.

Olivie Blake explains emotions and feelings in a way like no other and it's honestly like she is expressing the things I never know how to put into words. The story honestly brings out so many inner emotions you probably didn't realise you had.

If you've never read a book by Olivie Blake then you absolutely have to! She is definitely an auto-buy author for me without fail!!

This book was such a fun read, it was thought provoking and all around entertaining. The characters were incredibly lovable. I laughed. I cried. I smiled wide. I cried happy tears.

The godson of death, a vampire, a demon, a ghost, an Angel and a grim reaper. It sounds like the start of a joke but it’s unlikely group of friends and those just thrown together to find Death. He’s missing and that means trouble.

I loved this book, I’m a huge Olivie Blake fan and I was hooked by the first sentence. Sometimes sad, funny and unexpected. Seriously go read this.

Olivie Blake is incapable of writing a bad book, everything she writes is a MASTERPEICE. Every single part of this was perfection, from the characters, the humour, supernatural elements and most importantly 'The Game'. I simply can't express how much I loved this, every single book of Blake's quickly becomes a favourite on my list. Although there is a large cast of characters everyone has their own time to shine and is beautifully fleshed out with their own developments, pasts and traumas.

Overall this had everything you ever want in a supernatural, mystery, romance and I can't say anything bad about this. Olivie Blake is an amazing writer that draws you into this worlds and makes you love all her characters and I really recommend everyone reads her books.

Thank-you to NetGalleyUK for this eARC in return for an honest review.

Having DEVOURED Atlas Six and being absolutely BROKEN by One for my Enemy, I didn't think twice before option to read and review Masters of Death. We follow Viola Marek as she tries to sell a haunted house, while the murdered ex-owner tries to stop her. Meanwhile, Fox D'Mora, the godson of death, gets involved as a medium.

I enjoyed the premise, and I loved the characters, but in the end the book just didn't land for me. When we finally got to The Tables and The Game (I can't really explain without spoilering), there was a whole wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey Inception-esque feeling to it that just didn't go away. We never really found out what the game was or how it worked. There was just that single rule: don't lose, and the rest of it was really murky, leaving me feeling terribly unsatisfied.

There's no denying that Olivie Blake is a terrific writer, and she crafts characters who you care about. There were some beautiful, and beautifully heart-breaking, moments in this book. But the whole thing was predicated on a game that I'm not even sure she understood.

I had a fantastic time reading this!
From the get-go, Masters of Death stood out to me from Olivia Blake's other (also good! but different) novels – in fact, I was lured into reading it by a little sample at the end of my copy of One for My Enemy. The narrative voice in this was so compelling from the first page – a sardonic, jaded but endearing take on Death, who has somehow ended up as the parent figure to a mortal orphan boy.
The found-family trope is one of my favourite things to encounter in fiction in general, and I thought it was really well done here! Balancing a large cast of characters can be tricky, but I think Olivia Blake really pulled it off for the most part. I will say I would have loved more quiet moments with Viola, but other than that, the cut-aways and insights into each character's mind and backstory worked well for me. Fox was the kind of slightly disastrous and disarmingly charming character that quickly wins your heart, and I found myself quickly invested in his journey to break Death out of his predicament.
I found that the central plot took a bit of time to get going, but the establishing of backstories was interesting enough to keep me invested. And once it was going, it took off at speed. I loved how all the threads of the story were woven together in the second half, and connections established that genuinely took me by surprise.
The writing, as usual for Olivie Blake, is lovely. I'll put some of my favourite lines on my bookstagram for sure! I think the gentle humour of the voice added a levity that made this novel seem less conscious of its own opinions than Blake's other work, and that actually really worked for me. You can see the influence of some of Neil Gaiman's work, particularly Neverwhere and Good Omens, which are two of my favourite fantasy novels.
All in all, I will be recommending this one to the fantasy fans around me, and I think this might be my favourite of Olivie Blake's novels that I've read so far!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Olivie Blake is so fantastic at crafting the perfect ** vibes ** in a book. While The Atlas Six confused me a little by being more vibes than plot at times, I felt like the characters in Masters of Death carried the story so well I didn't care about the plot meandering or slipping between POVs. If you want a linear story, this isn't for you. There's a lot of back and forth, there are stories and fables mixed into the main plot.

This is essentially a book about a bunch of undead creatures from various walks of life who are all sassy and a bit grumpy, as they tackle love, life, death and everything in-between. I really enjoyed it, and I think I can definitely say I'll be reading more of Blake's works.

I really wanted to like this book as the premise seemed wonderful but it was just really long, confusing and with too many character and backstories which frankly didn’t make sense or need to be added in.

The writing style is beautiful but it just could be shorter.

I really liked Vi as a character and even Fox but the rest were just not for me