Hi friends! I’m back with another review, this one for Masters of Death. This is my second Olivie Blake book (the first being The Atlas Six) and I honestly don’t know if I want to keep reading her books. I might give her one more chance, but for now let’s hop into this review!
{You might also like – The Blighted Stars Review}
Quick Synopsis
From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes Masters of Death, a story about vampires, ghosts, and death itself!
Perfect for readers who want:
- Found Family
- Queer Characters
- Haunted Houses
About Masters of Death
Title: Masters of Death
Author: Olivie Blake
Rating: 3 Stars
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Pages: 416
Age Range: 16+
Publisher: Tor Books
Date Published: 18 August 2023
Goodreads Description: Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on.
Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn’t entirely without his uses—seeing as he’s actually the godson of Death.
When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with her ghost-infested mansion, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects (or wants). But with the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few high-functioning creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn’t nearly as distinct as they thought.
I received a review copy from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
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Masters of Death Review
If there’s one thing Masters of Death has going for it, it’s a unique premise. That’s why I requested the book in the first place because it sounded really cool. And I’ll admit, it is really cool. However, the writing did not work for me. This book was such a drag to get through. The writing, while at times beautiful, felt unnecessarily pretentious.
Objectively Blake is a good writer, her prose is amazing, but personally, it’s too flowery and beats around the bush too much. There was also a weird juxtaposition between the dialogue and the rest of the writing. Blake would use 30 thesaurus words to describe something, and then the characters would speak plainly. It just felt weird. I get the effect she was going for, but it really did not work for me.
I can see why so many people love this book, and I honestly think the audiobook would work better, but I only had access to an e-ARC. I liked the characters, and in the end, I really felt for them and celebrated their victories. This book would make a great mini-series on Netflix, one I would definitely watch.
In essence, it’s not bad but it’s not for me.
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OH wow, the premise sounds so unique! It’s a shame the writing just didn’t work- I love beautiful prose but hate purple proses and this one sounds like the latter. I hope you have a better luck if you decided to give the author one last chance!
I’m reading this right now and couldn’t figure out why it’s just not sitting with me well. But you expressed it perfectly.
I’m listening to the audiobook and feeling the same way you expressed. The audiobook is very entertaining, but it’s still hard to follow in someways.
Thank you for your review!