I really enjoyed Masters of Death, definitely more than One For My Enemy but they are completely different!

Masters of Death follows a rag tag bunch as they search for Death, each with their own agendas of what they want/need from him. I loved the characters, Blake has once again created endearing characters for us to get to know and either love or hate (Ive never known another author write grey characters so well!). I loved learning about them all and seeing how they developed through the narrative whether that was for the best or not.

Blake is so talented with her writing and ridiculously clever. The narrative isn't completely linear but it works incredibly smoothly - I think the subject matter helps - having a vampire, ghost, angels, human, death etc really appealed to me and my fantasy brain especially seeing them all smashed together with their task.

Fox D’Mora is a medium, but he is a fraud, but he does have one thing going for him because he’s actually the godson of Death. When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with her ghost problem, he becomes involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects or wants.

I LOVED this ! This was so much fun and kept me on my toes all the way through the non-linear timeline. It was a little confusing, but I still loved it. it just required concentration. The characters and humour was brilliant, and I was so invested. Would definitely recommend it.

I did listen to this on audio, and I highly recommend this ! 👌

Thank you to Netgalley, Pan Macmillian, and Olivie Blake for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As always, Olivie Blake has me by the throat.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC copy of this book, in exchange for this honest review.

Masters of Death was a bit of a slow start for me, and it took me a little while to engage in the novel, however, once I got there, I was in deep. If you prefer a plot that is linear, then this isn’t for you. However, if you like being kept on your toes with complex and interwoven stories, then look no further.

Viola is a struggling estate agent (and vampire) who is desperate for a big sale, however the house she’s currently trying to sell is being haunted by the previous owner. In order to move on, he must help her solve his murder, only he’s refusing to do so. Can Fox D’Mora help? I mean, he’s the best medium in town right? He ought to be, after all, he’s the godson of Death. Soon they find themselves on a quest with a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel and a love-stricken reaper… what have they got themselves into?

I think Blake’s works are probably going to be marmite for most people; either you love them completely, find her work entertaining and whimsical, or you just hate it utterly. I must admit, I’ve found myself very much in the camp of love! What’s more, whether you hate her books or not, what can’t be denied is the originality of not only the characters she creates, but the worlds and plots she imagines.

Blake’s writing is utterly beautiful, if sometimes a little long-winded, which took me a while to engage with. I would imagine for some it might become tedious, yet I somehow found myself swept along in the grandiose of the poetry she was creating.

Masters of Death is humourous and makes you think and feel things far beyond what I thought it would.
A part of me did wish for less characters in order to spend more time with the ones I favoured, because I sometimes found myself spread too thinly between them.

A very solid read from Blake and I can’t wait to read more of her back catalogue.

At this point I will probably read anything Olivie Blake writes. I really enjoyed this, fun VE Schwab type vibes!

Olivie Blake makes me feel stupid. I'm not dumb, I'm really not but her verbosity and the way she crafts a sentence are so elaborate that sometimes I have to read a sentence more than once to understand what it is she was trying to convey. I felt that way with the Atlas Six and One for my enemy.
I found much of the language of the novel to be pretentious and overly flowery and, listening to it on audible, there were so many "he pontificated smugly/ she said sourly,/ he explained annoyingly" that it really did spoil my enjoyment of the flow of some of the longer conversations and, at one point, if I took a shot every time Brandt said "Fox," I would have alcohol poisoning.
Mostly the dialogue was amusing but, good lord, they loved to wax poetic about the minutia of life and every single character was a philosopher in their own mind.
I think the love stories between individuals was well played out, Viola and Tom's was adorable, Cal and Mayra was sweet and you genuinely felt the hurt between Brandt and Fox.
However every single person, regardless of age was emotionally immature and really need a damn good therapy session.
As much as I enjoyed the characters, however, the plot was just convoluted and bogged down in flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks to the point of Inception. The entire plot was trying to culminate in the game but we never really got to the crux of what the game actually was.
Was the winner the person who didn't give in to their secret or the person who was hurt the least? I literally have no idea still.
I think I might be done with Olivie Blake, I tried but I'm obviously not on her wavelength.

OK, so I've DNF this at 60%, and tbh I'm not sure why I can't get into it. The writing is stunning as always with Olivia Blake, but I just felt like we were still not much of the way through the plot. The characters are well written, but there are a lot of them.

I may come back to this at a later date as the concept is good.

Masters of death is another unique novel by the amazing Olivie Blake. Set in a modern world, where people live among vampires, shapeshifters, immortals and where Death has a godson, this book is absolutely brilliant, following multiple characters from angels, to goddesses, to ghosts to a dangerous game that would give the winner master on Death. Real master of Death, the ability of control it. In order to save his godfather, Fox is ready to ally himself with peculiar characters, each with their own designs and goals, in this unique and incredible story, spanning centuries, involving losses and love, mysteries and bets and a dangerous game to play.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this advanced copy.

It was enjoyable. But messed up. The whole creatures exist just to support the romances.

This one feels a little bit Neil Gaiman-ish and a touch TJ Klune.

Death’s godson, a trickster demigod, a vampire, a ghost, a demon (or two), an angel, a handful of gods… it sounds like the set-up for a ‘walked into a bar’ joke, but it is actually the set-up for an entertaining fantasy-mystery with a strong shot of romance on the side.

I loved the characters and the plot kept me riveted, although I did get a little lost once they entered ‘the game’… perhaps because it wasn’t designed for ordinary mortal minds to comprehend?!

The surprisingly upbeat ending to the adventure was very satisfying (especially to a neat mind like mine that loves everything in matching sets tied off with a ribbon!), if a little bit unrealistically easy/convenient. But I would definitely rather get an unexpected HEA (Happy Ever After) than a forced reality in my fantasy reading.

I would really love to see more of the undead/Death/Fox side of this world (and less of the gods’ gambling habits) – I definitely think there is potential for further stories with the worldbuilding and characters introduced here. And it is a memorable and entertaining read for fans of rom-fantasy with a mythological twist and a touch of murder mystery.

I wasn't able to review the early copy of this due to formatting issues on Kindle but have since read a finished copy and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I loved the character of Death, the journey that Fox and Viola go on and the characters they meet along the way.

There were definitely parts of this book that went over my head (I'm not sure I fully understand the intricacies of the game the immortals are playing) but I still enjoyed it overall.

This turned out to be my least favourite Olivie Blake book so far. I admire her willingness to try new writing styles but you can tell this is from earlier in her career. Nothing quite reached its full potential but there were odd moments of brilliance. I still enjoyed it but it did take me much longer than usual to finish.

Oh Olivie Blake, you do make me feel like a slow reader! This book, like all that came before is so intelligently written, I just can't fault Blake's writing and I loved this one! I really enjoyed the characters we met, but outside of the well written captivating weave of characters I wanted a big bang or just something to knock it out of that park. I'll never stop recommending Blake's books and this one is up there just like the rest of the shelf!

A book of two halves for me, this one. The first half I really enjoyed. Fox D'Mora is the Godson of death and also a fake medium. He is hired by Violet Marek, a real-estate agent that also happens to be a vampire. Violet is trying to sell a house that is haunted by the ghost of Thomas Edward Parker IV but he'd determined not to let Violet sell it before he finds out who killed him and why he can't move on. So it's a sort of paranormal, urban fantasy retelling of a murder-mystery fairy tale. So far so great. The characters were great, the plot rolled along nicely and I had a lovely time reading it.

The second half lost me a little bit. Everything was fine until we came to the Game. Then, it all got a bit metaphysical and I started to lose my grip on the story. There was a lot going on, which multiple threads going off on a tangent. I did find it a bit of a struggle and nearly put it down at one point. However, without adding too many spoilers, it all does come together in the end. The Game is an interesting concept and there are some excellent pieces in the second half (the two archangels are my favourite. They are so dodgy!). I do think they story might have lost something without all the different threads but it must have been very difficult to pull them all together into a coherent tale. Hats off to Ms Blake for managing it. I think it's a case of me wanting my cake and eating it here - you can't have it all, so just enjoy what you have. And I did enjoy Masters of Death; I just got a bit confused on the way.

I'll start this right away, as I do with all my Olivie Blake reviews - I ADORE her writing style so much, it just tickles that little part in my brain that LOVES WORDS just right and for that I will happily read everything and anything she writes.

Do I understand everything I read? Oh absolutely not. Actually, with most Blake books (read: ALL of them) I find myself pretty confused for a solid 75% of the journey, but honestly, I just have such a good time along the way (minus the scratching myself on the head being like what. is. happening??)

Masters of Death follows a whole cast of characters, from the godson of death, a vampire real estate agent, a very annoyed ghost, to a guardian angel who are all brought together through shared links to each other...and that's all I will say about that. The writing style, as mentioned, is beautiful and complex, the dialogue is hilarious (and EXTENSIVE) - my only main gripe is, honestly, the plot itself as it just kind of meanders along and I just wanted it go somewhere - anywhere? Just BE something more than it was.

All this considered, a solid 3.5 overall and one I would happily recommend to others!

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!


***also BONUS point for how well done the audiobook is, the narrator is superb***

Absolutely incredible! Olivie Blake never disappoints. I love stories which feature Death as a character so I was very excited for this one. I loved it from beginning to end. All the characters were interesting and a pleasure to read about.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Blake's story concepts are always interesting but there's something about the way she writes character that just leaves me cold. All her characters seem to lack a depth that prevents me from properly connecting with them. The narrative pulls you through the story but they just seem to lack an emotional heart. Maybe I just need to stop reading her novels!

I was completely captivated by this. It was incredible, with some spectacular pieces of writing. I fully believe that this is Olive Blakes best work yet. The characters where so well developed, and came across as very interesting. I did initially feel confused at the large amount of them within the book, but I felt that the author did a very good job of distinguishing between these. The plot was gripping, and very well structured. Such a good book.

I…. don’t quite know how I feel about this? When I look at the amazing reviews of this book, I feel like I’m missing something because I kind of just feel indifferent? I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it - it just wasn’t quite for me. Olivie Blake’s writing is, as always, beautiful, but I just felt baffled a lot of the time. So much of the dialogue and even inner dialogue was written in a way that didn’t really make sense to me, so I felt like a lot of the time I was reading and just going along with what was happening rather than properly understanding it. I couldn’t wrap my head around all of the characters, the side characters in particular where figments of existence such as Time, or fictional characters such as Count Dracula, were popping up, and I was beyond confused for most of the book. Especially when the “game” came into the plot - at that point I had given up understanding, it all just felt so chaotic. I didn’t understand how anybody won a game, how the games were played - I needed a good old-fashioned explanation and you just don’t get given that at all.

I did like the main characters - Viola and Fox in particular, were very interesting and I loved the bond between Fox and Death, I would have really enjoyed seeing more of that compared to Death being off-page for much of the book. I also really liked the mystery surrounding Tom Parker IV, I was very invested in finding out how he died and unravelling the curse on his family.

So this was a bit of a miss for me, but clearly not for other people, so maybe it’s just a me thing! Either way I will of course be reading whatever comes next from Olivie Blake!

I've said it previously, and I'll say it again: there is something so incredibly captivating with Olivie Blake's prose. Masters of Death is a book that is hard to put down, and a book that is hard to stop thinking about hours after finishing it. The first line of the first chapter was “Hello children. It’s time for death.” I mean, come on. If that isn't a brilliant opening, I don't know what is.

Masters of Death follows Viola, a vampire and a struggling real estate agent. If she wasn't already struggling, the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house was murdered and in order to move on, it needs to solve its murder.

Masters of Death had a gorgeous concept and a lively cast of characters including a cranky ghost, a well-meaning vampire, a pair of annoying angels, a sly demigod and the godson of Death. While the characters are all supernatural and for the most part immortal, the book is really about humanity. They re all longing for feeling and human connection and the sensitivity of time.

There is just something very interesting regarding discussions of morality within Masters of Death. The discussions around pain and how it ends up that it's life that allows us to feel anything at all was something that I really enjoyed reading about. Every theme explored was done so brilliantly, in beautifully constructed moments and captivating conversations.

I also really loved the inclusion of illustrations. Little Chmura has such a stunning art style that it's always a joy to come across a page with her illustrations.

There is just something about supernatural and immortal creatures being thrown into the modern day world that I enjoy a lot. Masters of Death is a masterclass in showing, not telling, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.