MASTERS OF DEATH by Olivie Blake is narrated by Steve West and if there is a book that really ought to be heard, it is this one!

That said, there are a ton of characters and I kinda wished I had a physical or digital copy as well.

The main players are Vi, a real estate agent and vampire; Fox, Death's Godson and a medium; Tom, a ghost struggling to keep his house; and naturally, Death himself who is quite snarky. There are a slew of other immortal beings who make appearances including several angels, demons, reapers, myths, goddesses, and a godling. There is a vague notion of finding the reason Tom is trapped and allowing Vi to sell his house, and then it gets convoluted into a game with immortals to beat Death.

This all sounds like a lot, and it definitely is, but the narration was just so fun to listen to! I am sure I didn't quite understand the story like I should have, but it was an absolute riot to hear. West captured all the characters so well and it was clear when he changed voices. There was an enormous amount of snarky sarcasm between characters that he captured so well, and the sinister tones were somehow maintained.

This seems like a style of book that will be very hit or miss for people. I loved the audio, but the story was a bit hard for me to follow. I am a relative newer fantasy reader, so perhaps the number of characters were just out of my wheelhouse.

I think the slightly cynical overtones of much of the book were offset by the end, so while I loved the sharp and slightly irreverent banter, I did appreciate a balanced ending.

All my thoughts combined, I think I will land on ⭐⭐⭐⭐.

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for sharing this entertaining ALC for my thoughts. It will be available on August 8th, and if you are ready for Fall, this may just be the slightly macabre, sarcastic kickoff to the cooler season ahead! Way ahead...

I wasn't certain what I would be walking into when I started this book but I knew Olivie Blake wouldn't let me down with her writing style. I want to thank Netgalley and the Publishers for allowing me the opportunity to review this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I thought the narrator did a great job with differentiating between the voices and giving each character enough personality to be distinguished from the others. If you are a person who enjoy witty but pretty dark humor at times with some supernatural elements such as gods, godlings, death, faeries, angels, daemons, and vampires, this may be the book for you. I caught myself chuckling at more than a little of the tongue in cheek banter between many of the characters which I always love. I will forewarn the readers, the story can be a little complex but it is so worth it. It's not a light read, but I really love a book that makes me think and I am glad I was in the right frame of mind to take this on when I did. I listened to a good chunk of it poolside and on my commute to and from work, and I think it was the perfect settings for me. Prepare to love and hate the characters for all the right reasons. I am giving this 5 stars because if there were a sequel, I would eagerly pick it up and see what other chaotic events we get ourselves into.

This was my first Olivie Blake book, and I wasn’t sure what to expect, really. I just knew this one sounded pretty interesting so I decided to give it a go. Well I’m so glad I did, because I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The characters were all great, and I loved seeing their interactions and learning their stories and connections. The entire concept of Death and the game the immortals play was very unique and it kept me interested in the story because I wanted to know more about it. I saw a previous review say that this book was a “trust the process” sort of book, and I very much agree with that. At times I didn’t know what was happening, but I found myself getting an inkling of an idea of where Blake was going with it, and it kept me excited to continue reading.

I loved that the book felt like a journey, and the reward at the end is a beautiful story about love.

Also how cute is it that Fox calls Death “Papa”??

Also, I read this via audiobook because it is narrated by Steve West, so I highly recommend doing audio if that’s your thing! His voice is my favorite.

I'm not sure if you noticed, or maybe you read it from the future (hi!), but today is the last day of July. Thankfully, I hope that next month will be better. This is the second book I'm about to give about 1 star. I received the audiobook for review. There might be certain things one prefers in an audio experience. In my opinion, there is a basic narration that should be kept to follow who says what. It was not here. There are pages of dialogue that have no indication whatsoever, and even if the lector tries to make different voices, they blend overall, and I am left confused, unable to understand the exchange between characters. It's even sadder to me because I adored how the book started. It was witty, creative, and different. Simply interesting in a way that I could put down those dishes and just sit down and enjoy the audiobook. With the speed of light, right after the introduction of the real estate agent vampire all is lost and the story of a hunted house becomes boring. How is it that, yet again, we have some romantic hints between abusive and ignorant ghost and gentle and smart vampire? Additionally, I noticed some dialogues between characters that perpetuate xenophobic stereotypes. This is my trifecta to make this experience unbearable and make me just don't care about the rest of the story. Some game that made no sense and came out of nowhere. I simply could not understand this book. I wish I could. I wish this story was served to me with an even narration and accessibility, so I could follow it. I just feel that the audiobook, yet again was done with no mindfulness whatsoever.

Masters of Death is one of the best books I've read/listened in a long time (and I read all the time so that is saying a lot)! It was an adventure that made me laugh out loud, but also made me think about the big questions (the meaning of life and death, etc.) for the foreseeable future. The ensemble cast of characters were all complex and interesting, and the plot was equally complex and interesting. The listener/reader has to pay attention with this book but it is so worth to do so. The audiobook is fantastic. Steve West voiced so many different characters in recognizable and unique ways. I want to listen to it all over again! For readers who like Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, this book is for you. I highly recommend it to readers of urban fantasy. This is a book I want to give to all my friends! It's brilliant!

Decided to give this a try as it sounded interesting. However I made it over 10% and I was bored. I couldn’t get into the characters/setting/concept. I was hoping for a bit more from it that I wasn’t getting from the start. It wasn’t “bad” just wasn’t hooking me. I guess I need something faster pace. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Olivie Blake truly has taken the world by storm and I’m still desperately trying to join that train…sadly though this wasn’t it for me. I found the writing hard to follow and the story I was cringing more than anything

This book has a large cast of supernatural characters of various kinds who end up working together to try and win “the game” played at “the tables” to defeat a demon. The game and tables are mentioned several times with no explanation given except that there are no rules. Except one-don’t lose. When the game finally happens the entire story ends wrapped up in a neat bow with happily ever afters all round. I was annoyed by the continuous references to something so ambiguous. The cast felt too large to get to know any one person too much. I think this authors writing is just not for me at this point after reading this and another of her works.

3.75 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for an ARC of Masters of Death in exchange of my honest opinion

Masters of Death has a very interesting premise: we have a realtor vampire that is trying to rent/sell a house that is haunted by a ghost. The ghost is adamant that he will not leave the house, at least until he understands and discover why he is dead.
Then, she asks this very charlatan medium, Fox, that is the godson of Death to help her with his ghost. Shockingly, when Fox ask for Death’s help they are no where to be found.. and then they gather a bunch of immortals to go find Death and get themselves in this weird game.

I have conflicting feelings about this book because, at the beginning we have this lighthearted, funny and sarcastic mood of this very interesting beings discussing rents/ownership of property, making a counsel etc etc. I was laughing and thinking it would be a horror/parody type of book.
However, in the middle of the book when we get to the game where they will find Death, things become serious and we have this heart wrenching deep conversations of immortality, love and happiness. I will not deny that I was a bit thrown off by the philosophical questions. Don’t get me wrong.. they were all very interesting but it really broke the mood that I got in for the first 20% of the book. If they were two separate books I think I would have enjoyed more then those two pieces combined.,

If you get into the mindset that you will have this deep downtime in the middle of the story I will totally recommend this book.

This book right here is the reason I keep giving Olivie’s books a shot. Masters of Death is a masterfully written ensemble cast novel of romances past and present, daddy issues galore, and centuries-old adults forced to finally confront their feelings. We open with a fairly simple setting: Fox D’Mora, godson of death and man several centuries old is using his connections to Death to pretend to be a medium to get himself laid. Meanwhile, Viola, an aswang, works as a relator attempting to sell a mansion haunted by the poltergeist who was viciously murdered there. Slowly , as the full cast is introduced, the storylines of these characters intertwine and they find themselves caught up in a significantly less mundane story.

In particular, the layers of history and tension between ex-lovers Fox and demigod-thief Brandt was so so delightfully well written. If it’s one thing Blake knows how to write, it’s chemistry between two characters pretending to hate/act indifferent towards each other and utterly failing. Masters of Death tells the story of how the past fuckups of these two come back to haunt, well, everyone. I have to commend the narrator of the audiobook for adding so much more emotion to the already tense scenes and giving each character a distinct voice. A shoutout to side characters Raphael and Gabriel for being the bureaucratic comic relief.

Overall, I rate this book a 4.5/5. Beautifully written with a good balance of Olivie’s metaphysical waxing and actual plot, and just delightful tension between Fox and Brandt. Masters of Death is my favorite Olivie Blake book after TA6.

I think overall this book had a really good theme and good central ideas that were really interesting. I think the writing was really beautiful and the dialogue I thought was clever. I think the writing was kind of convoluted and though beautiful, it was confusing. I don’t usually mind changing narratives between different characters but this wasn’t done in a way that was interesting or made me want to keep reading. It was frustrating because I knew when we came back to this point of view it would’ve just felt confusing and pointless. Why did we have to switch pov’s at that point? who knows. Another criticism I have is that I don’t know if the author knew who their main character or central story was. It seemed like the author seemed to change their mind every time they started a new chapter. 2.5/3 stars.

I really enjoy Olivia Blake books. They're entertaining and light reading. This book made me laugh and I love the way that the author really gets me invested in the characters. She develops them so well that they seem to jump off the page. The plot was good and it didn't run slowly there was no oh let me skip ahead. I find that this would be an excellent read for the upcoming Autumn season. I did select the Audiobook but couldn't wait and ended up reading the book version instead. If you love this author, you need to read this book!

What an absolutely amazing, brilliant, moving, confusing, complex, insightful, hilarious story this was! This was my first experience with Olivie Blake but it will definitely not be my last. Ditto Steve West as the narrator, he was phenomenal and captured the essence of each character perfectly.

I did occasionally find myself confused - but not in a bad way - and it contributed to my overall sense of wonderment at this story. The World building was first class, as were the characterizations. The plot was interwoven and complicated and confusing and magnificent and there were moments when I laughed so hard that I cried, as well as moments that I cried so hard that I had to stop listening so I didn't miss anything.

It was a fabulous experience that almost defies explanation, and I mean that in the best possible way. This is one you have to experience, and there is no better way I could imagine experiencing it then via West's narration. This was a first class tale!

I wasn't sure how I felt about this book at first. The cast of characters was fun and different, but i wasn't quite sure where the story was going. Then as the story goes on I began to see how the characters fit together but I was still wondering what "The Game" was. But by the end of the book I was totally won over and I ended up loving the book. So if you are reading this book and are a bit unsure in the beginning, just keep the faith - it's totally worth it.
4.5/5 stars.
Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this audiobook to review.

Olivie Blake & I have had such a rollercoaster love-hate relationship that I truly had no idea where I would fall on this - the premise sounded amazing, but then again, so had The Atlas Six and then it did not work out for me ... In the end, I was a little mid on this and enjoyed my time with it, but it didn't quite consume me and hold my heart in its clutches the way One For My Enemy did.

This had the wit, humour, whimsy and heart I've come to expect from the Olivie Blake that does speak to me, but it also could meander at this (which I didn't particularly mind as I was willing to go along with the story and found enough to be worth going on the journey for, but it also made it feel unfocused and left me adrift).

I loved the way this played with form (which is also a trademark I've noticed in the Blakes that do work for me!). I also loved the narrative voice of Death, and found that this book reminded me of The Book Thief because of that. Because of *checks notes* everything else, it reminded me of the k-drama Sell Your Haunted House and a bit of Good Omens.

The audio narration was absolutely superb (though I have many questions about some of the accents).

I really enjoyed this, particulary Steve West's narration!

This kind of gave me Good Omens feels, and it was kind of quirky, but had this odd sort of cozy magical feel about it. Really enjoyed this one!

As I do with everything Olivie Blake writes - I thoroughly enjoyed this and think others will be equally delighted to add it to their collection. This is the perfect book to pair with those haunting fall vibes and should be on every fall TBR list.

Masters of Death is the latest from Olivie Blake, and it feels like quite the departure from One for My Enemy and The Atlas Six series.

Featuring vampires, ghosts, and Death himself, this book tells the story of Fox D'Mora, the godson of Death, and Viola, a realtor who's trying to sell a haunted house. The crew expands to include a poltergeist, a demon, an angel, a reaper and more, who wind up on a quest together, forced to play an immortal's game.

The feel of this book was reminiscent of VE Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, even though obviously the story is completely different. They both involve deals with less-than-trustworthy opponents, immortal bargins, and the passing of time.

While this one was not my favorite of Blake's books, I think it will definitely appeal to readers who love Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The humor is snarky, but it's balanced well with more serious moments.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my ALC.

This was so cute and smart! It was a delightful read! I have ready all of Olivie Blake books and I have loved all of them. And the audiobook narrator was delightful at bring there characters to life. Congrats on another great book!

Unfortunately, I realized pretty soon in that this book wasn't for me. I had the audio version, and while the narrator did a great job, I found the dialogue overly dramatic and distracting; I was never quite sure what the plot was and the opening with Viola felt like a bait-and-switch, especially since I was initially attracted to the quirky premise of a vampire real estate agent trying to sell a haunted house.