Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC! This is an honest review.

Rating: 4.25/5 stars

We embark on a thrilling journey into a world of vampires, ghosts, and the mysteries of the afterlife. Viola Marek, a real estate agent and vampire, faces a unique challenge when she encounters a haunted house with a lingering spirit. The ghost is trapped, seeking to solve the mystery of his own murder before moving on.

Enter Fox D’Mora, a con artist medium and Death's godson. When Vi enlists his help in dealing with the house's ghostly parasite, they find themselves entangled in an unforeseen quest. Alongside a quirky ensemble of characters, including an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and other enigmatic immortals, they set out to unravel the boundary between lost love and lingering spirits.

I had the pleasure of experiencing this story through the audiobook, which was skillfully narrated, bringing the characters to life with distinct voices. The complexity of the characters and their relationships was a highlight for me, and I particularly enjoyed exploring the existential themes surrounding immortality and mortality.

The book masterfully blends humor, great character dynamics, and a touch of romance, creating an engrossing and unforgettable read. "Masters of Death" is a captivating tale that will leave you laughing and pondering the essence of life and death, making it a definite must-read for fantasy enthusiasts. Olivie Blake's storytelling talent shines through, delivering both top-tier entertainment and moments of profound emotion.

Olivie Blake… Excuse me!

The Synopsis does nothing for this book. Viola is a vampire who is a real estate agent. However, she can’t sell a house that she has been tasked to sell because of a nuisance of a ghost (Tom). So Vi goes to a medium (Fox)for her ghost problems. Oh yeah, Fox is not a medium, and his godfather is Death.

Masters of Death is non-linear in storytelling. The characters are fleshed out well. All of these characters will be living rent-free in my head. I knew this would be five stars for me when Death begins to narrate the story. Yes, there are a lot of characters, and you may need some charts to connect the dots, but it’s well worth it.

I did listen to Masters of Death via audio, and at times it was hard for me to follow with so many characters. Steve West is the narrator. I am a fan of the narration. However, if listening to males voicing female characters is not your thing, I would say physically read this one.

It is 5 stars for me. So if you like a non-linear timeline, mystery, morally gray characters, lots of sass, and banter. Masters of Death is for you.
Thanks, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

If I could describe Master of Death by Olivia Blake in one word, it would be exquisite. The way Blake writes is unlike anyone else. Her ability to weave in complex and deep topics that tug at your heart strings while still keeping the story entertaining and fun is beyond me. I found myself laughing, crying, and honestly just hanging on to every last word. It was that good.
This book follows the Godson of Death, a god, a ghost, a vampire, a reaper, and an angel among others. It starts with the realtor vampire trying to sell a haunted house and ends in a completely different direction. I would go into the book only knowing this and let it take you on a ride.
I listened to the book on Audiobook and loved it. The narrator gives life to all of the characters and adds to the story instead of taking away from it. Whether you pick it up on audiobook or in hard copy version, I think everyone will really enjoy this read.

Great narrator! Unfortunately, the plot and characters didn't do it for me. I love the variety of paranormals but they all eemed pretty superior and sneering to me and that gets old. I think I am just the wrong demographic for this book. Sorry!

The narrator knocks this out of the park. He does it so well. The story includes various mythical creatures (a vampire, ghost, demon, etc) and the there is also a character named Fox, who is the godson of Death. It had the vibes of an adult spin on Hotel Transylvania.

There are A LOT of characters. All of them are interesting, but all of them like to talk profusely. By the midway point I felt my attention slipping due to all the convos but not a ton of action. Despite this point, this was still a fun read that others with a stronger attentions span may enjoy.

This book would be a nice spooky, yet charming read for going into fall and approaching Halloween time. It was quirky and unique. Fans of Neil Gaiman and modern fantasy-type tales will find something to love in this novel. If you’re a big fan of continuous banter, this read may work really well for you.

The narrator was wonderful. So many fun tones, accents, and variations of voices made for a dynamic listen and I would recommend the audio version if you’re looking to read it.

Entertaining, original, and expertly narrated. A recommended purchase in all formats for collections where paranormal/fantasy is popular.

The Godson of Death uses his connections to work as a medium to the spirit world. Though mostly he tells lies. A vampire hires him to get rid of the ghost living in the house she's trying to sell. I seriously love this set up! But I got really confused. There are so many characters and the novel switches between groups of 'people' in different locations and times in a way that I just couldn't make sense of. I struggled to get to know any of the characters well enough to care about them and feel invested in them. The characters also seemed to constantly be arguing with each other. It felt like the author had a very elaborate story all mapped out but didn't reveal enough details quickly enough for the reader to be able to understand the story. I listened to this as an audiobook and I wonder if that is part of why I struggled with this story. I really like the narrator's voice, but the characters seemed overacted. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in return for my honest opinion.

Absolutely love!

Olivie Blake never misses & Masters of Death is no exception! This felt like a brilliant combination of the tv shows Being Human and Lucifer!


Method read: 🎧

Amazing audio narration and fantastic storytelling - 10/10 recommend!

Thank you to to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

First thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Tor Books for letting me review the audiobook!

This was 100% trust the process book. I spent a good chunk of the book wondering what is going on but that didn't stop me from LOVING the story. The whole concept was different for me and loved every twist and turn. The storyline is not linear and again neither is the romance. That being said you will be questioning almost everything!

Now on to the characters! Each character is unique and some aren't even who you think they are. There's so many supernaturals which makes this really fun! What happens when you get Death, a medium, a vampire, a demon, and a poltergeist together? Read to find out!

The narration is done by Steve West. Overall he did a good job with trying to distinguish all of the characters but I feel like because there were so many there should have been at least one more. I still really liked listening to his voice.

4/5 stars. Absolutely recommend! I will be buying a physical copy ASAP

Masters of Death follows as ensemble cast of supernatural characters (angel, vampire, demon, etc) who are compelled to play a high stakes immortal casino game. It has the feeling of an ensemble mystery, in which characters have hidden motives and alliances that unfurl over time. Unfortunately, the beats don't quite hit, leaving the reveals de-clawed and damp.
The novel starts strong with charming and varied characters and a light, comic tone and then quickly dissolves into confusion and chaos, not the fun kind. The comic tone flickers out around 30% in and we only get hints of it here and there through the rest of the story. Also around 30%, the plot gets hopelessly convoluted. Part of the fun of a mystery is knowing that, as a reader, we're missing pertinent information and the anticipation of finding it out propels us along. In this case however, there were too many pieces missing at once to really care about filling them in. There wasn't structure enough to support so many gaps in information with so many options available. The characters and world draws in possibility from literally all walks of paranormal, supernatural, religion, and lore. The missing pieces could be filled with anything, literally anything, and so there was no suspense and nothing really to work from. Constraint is a helpful tool in this scenario, and there was none.
The main love story was difficult to believe in and the errant philosophizing throughout the novel felt out of place and a lot like useless navel gazing. The game, which is the culminating event, was not interesting and didn't feel like a game at all no matter how many times characters called it one. The villain's motives are entirely unclear and/or not believable enough to recognize. All in all, a fun idea gone sadly astray.
The inconsistency of the novel itself makes it difficult to evaluate the audiobook narrator effectively. Overall, the performance was well done. The narrator's voice is deep and sonorous. The best voice by far was that of Death, and it was perfect. The female voices were noticeably less nuanced than the male characters, which was distracting, especially because they seemed to slope towards outdated stereotypical camps of "smart" OR "sexy".

Okay so Olivie Blake does no wrong but I will say, this book is too much for an audiobook with only one narrator. I think this is definitely a book I would enjoy more by physically reading and I will definitely be doing that in the future once it’s officially published. The plot is so fun but as an audiobook, it’s too confusing. There’s a ton of dialogue and character switches and so for there to be only one narrator it gets very confusing very fast. I definitely think this would have benefited from a full cast. If I was asked about this book, I really could only give a basic plot summary because I struggled to pay attention to the audiobook. My friend adores this book when it was self published and so I knew this was a book that nothing makes sense until it all comes together in the end, and even knowing that I struggled to pay attention. That moment wasn’t as satisfying as it would’ve been if I read a print copy instead of an audiobook. I gave this 3 stars because the potential was there and I know I just picked the wrong format to read this.

I tried to finish but only made it 36% into the book. The writing style made me have whip lash. It was all over the place. I know people love this author but I don’t think their writing style is for me. The description sounded great but the execution for me didn’t work.

Loved the banter between the characters, but would get lost from time to time and think that multiple voices would be better, but definitely would recommend to others.

Olivie Blake is one of my favorite authors so I was so excited to be approved for an ARC! And let me start off by saying, this book did not disappoint. My expectations were high and the book soared above them.

This story is told in such a unique, non-linear way. Olivie does a great job of bringing characters to life and building out their personalities. And the audiobook narrater did a great job at differentiating the perspectives and voices. Death was my favorite character. I perked up anytime he was "on page."

Personally, I liked the writing style. As others point out, it is very heavy on the dialogue but I actually really liked that (though I can see why it might come across as a more juvenile writing style to others). Lots of humor throughout this book and it was often dry humor and sarcasm... right up my ally.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an ARC of this book!

3.5, rounding down because while the first and last quarters were the most enjoyable, the middle dragged it down so much that for a second I thought there was no recovering from it.

At first I thought this was a wholly new book and was surprised at how...tryhard a lot of the dialogue and situations and setups were, so when I found out this was a previously self-published novel in 2018, a lot made sense. Most of the book is dialogue, which could be fine, but when every single line of dialogue feels like it was structured to be the most snarky or have some deep insight or feel like a quotable quip, it just gets exhausting. No one talks like that all the time, much less an entire cast of characters. Add to that the vagueness of the immortal's game (which at times feels intentionally vague because even Blake herself doesn't know how it works and doesn't want to write herself into a corner), and it really does feel like work to keep up with everything and not in a rewarding way. Some stories you want to work at, want to dig into characters' motivations, are willing to wait to see everything unspooled and revealed, but there was none of that for me. The last quarter, when the characters get to the tables and things start to actually fall into place, is the best of the book (possibly because it has the most introspection and some of the least dialogue, so we actually feel like we're getting to know the characters, rather than their quips), but it still feels almost too little too late.

There's other qualms I have about it, like that despite trying to have a diverse cast, the mythology is still extremely western-centric, which feels jarring at times when trying to figure out the structure of how this scenario even happened in the first place, one of my least favorite question setups ("can't or won't" "does it matter?" YES, YES IT DOES WHEN YOU'RE DEALING WITH GODS WHO CAN ENACT RESTRICTIONS THAT MAKE "WON'T" POSSIBLE and especially when both parties KNOW THAT and it's only utilized for the sake of angst) and a few other things that just seemed to slowly chip away at my enjoyment, though again, the last quarter did go fairly far in terms of repairing that.

As an audiobook, you would think that a book that is mostly dialogue would be great. The narrator certainly gave every effort, giving each character a voice, or at least doing his best to. It was a little jarring to have a very Mediterranean-sounding accent for a Norse demigod, and a very German-sounding accent for a Mughal angel (more German than Fox's, though the narrator seemed to finally find the cadence further into the recording, and I will admit that I'm of the opinion that directors should work to find other options to distinguish voices if the narrator can't do a specific accent) among others, but with such a large cast, it was an admirable job. The problem is that with the book being so much dialogue, the audiobook really highlights how frantic a lot of that dialogue is, cut briefly with short dialogue tags. It brings to mind the fanfic trend of chatfic, and that's the exact feeling that I got. I don't know if that feeling would have been lessened with the print version, but it's inescapable in the audio.

Alright. So I LOVED the first 25% of this book. The characters, the setup, everything just perfection. And then, Olivie Blake lost me. The synopsis describes this read as a "quest" but it's really just a muddled and confusing plod through a non-linear plot with very little substance. The deliberate ambiguity of "the game" was so tedious that I almost quit reading entirely. Eventually, you come to understand wtf the characters are talking about, but it didn't really save the story for me, hence my "meh" rating. Despite my overall dislike, I loved the concept and the beginning, so I'm going to go with a 3/5 rating. I'm coming to realize that Olivie Blake is just not a writer that I jive with, and that's fine.

Thank you to Olivie Blake, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudiobook in exchange for an honest review.

DNF 40%. Actually it was more like 25%, since I paid less and less attention to the book until I finally called it. I liked the story at first, was interested in Viola, Tom, Death, and Fox (though I hate it when either side of the central romantic couple is introduced to us while, shall we say, sowing oats with someone else). They all had charisma and I looked forward to getting to know them.

Except more and more characters entered the story until there were too many for me to keep track of. The POV kept switching, backstories piled up, and it just felt like no progress was being made in the story. I lost track of what was going on, of who knew who and was doing what, until I no longer cared about any of it. When the gods came on board, I was done.

I'm very disappointed because I was so on board at the beginning and fully believe Blake could write one hell of a novel with the help of the right developmental editor. I was going to check out The Atlas Six despite being disappointed by this book, but when I heard the looooong list of narrators each voicing a different character, I knew I'd be in the same boat. No novel needs that many viewpoints.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillain Audio for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

No no no. What the hell did I just read? I feel like every Olivie Blake book I read just gets more pretentious, and I'm not sure how much more I can take. This book suffered from trying so so hard to be far more than what it needed to be. It actually felt like it was trying to be Good Omens without having any of the wit or cultural wherewithal to do so. The humor fell flat far too often, it was far too confusing for the length of the book, and the characters were insufferable.

For starters, I still don't understand the Game and have no idea why they needed Fox to play it, what the purpose was, or what the villain was actually intending to do. Especially in audiobook format, the conversations often felt so scattered like I was talking to a toddler half the time and an elderly person the other half. Then I hated the majority of the characters because they had essentially no redeeming qualities.

The romance felt super flat for both major couples, but especially for Viola. Tom was so annoying the entire book and then BAM they're in love? Please. Be so for real Olivie.

I wish I could get back the time I spent on this.

With a cast of characters comprised of angels, demons, ghost, vampire and morally grey mortal, this isn't a book for everyone, but if you can take a lighthearted poke at "blasphemy", it was definitely a fun read (or listen--as an audiobook). I enjoyed the writing, the non-linear way that the story opens up and the dry-witted sarcasm. There was a dash of romance thrown in to fuel the story but this is not a romantasy more a morality play.
I'm not sure if it had something to do with the Death character, the cynicism, or the dry banter but this book reminded me a bit of Neil Gaiman as well as Terry Pratchett in the best ways and I would definitely recommend it.
The audiobook was well-acted and easy to listen to. I would suggest it for a long commute or a listen while working out.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book. All opinions shared in this review are my own.

I've always enjoyed Olivie Blake's writing and Masters of Death was no exception. It's hard to put the plot of this book into words. This was a non-linear plot with a lot going on. There is a large cast of characters and I loved getting to know them. Olivie Blake is so good at writing characters that feel so real. They all have such unique personalities full of wants and flaws. The character dynamics were so intetesting. I really liked how important the dialogue between characters was to the story. This one is definitely going to stick with me for a while.

Thank you to @olivieblake @macmillan.audio @netgalley for this gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review.