This book has a full cast of all the supernatural folks. We have vampires, a werewolf, a ghost, gods, angels, demons, reapers, a demigod, and Death himself.

Death ended up raising a human baby after the death of its parents and he's not as surprised as he could be to find out that the child, now adult, named Fox is something of a menace. Fox uses his relationship with Death to pretend to be a medium and connect people with their deceased loved ones and if they end up in his lap, well, that's life baby.

Viola is a realtor who is a smidge of a vampire and ends up with this gorgeous house to sell which would be fine except the ghost who lives there keeps banging on pipes and making fun of her charcuterie trays for open houses.

As the story goes on, we find out that someone has kidnapped Death and all of his duties are not happening so havoc is happening. They all get roped into a series of trials to try and get everything back to normal. Which would be fine if the love of Fox's life hadn't happened to get into the middle of everything and bring up all sorts of things he's been ignoring for years.

I loved this. The stakes were very high but this story was still full of love. I wouldn't class it a romance as a main genre for sure but it wasn't missing either. I loved Death's complete exasperation at Fox that wasn't fooling anyone because of how much he cares about him.

Steve West was excellent as ever with the narration and did a wonderful job bringing these characters to life.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

i refuse to believe olivie blake is a real person, because how can one person consistently write so many stories that make you feel every single emotion within just a few hundred pages. HOW. the math isn’t mathing.

i went into ‘masters of death’ knowing absolutely nothing about the plot and i also came out of it knowing absolutely nothing about the plot (so if you’re looking for a synopsis, i’m unfortunately not your gal) this book has multiple stories within one bigger story. there’s the vampire realtor trying to get rid of a ghost, an angel who fell in love with a reaper and the godson of death who has history with a demigod and a few archangels who can’t stop finishing each others sentences. it’s basically the avengers but for paranormal beings.

this book, like a lot of others by olivie blake, has a writing style that throws you right into the story and will have you standing next to the characters themselves. you see them crack jokes, you’ll see them yell and whisper, you’ll even feel what they’re feeling which is absolutely insane and had me telling myself “ouch??” numerous times. but that’s exactly why i love olivie blake’s books so much, they make you feel and hurt and everything in between. plus, if you’re an audiobook fan like me, the audiobook for this is spectacular!!!! the narrator is so theatrical and over the top, his narrations worked so well with the writing. so big thank you to netgalley and macmillan audio for an ALC <3

I abandoned this book at about 30%.

For me, this book kept getting bogged down so much in the dialogue that it forgot to tell a story. And I thought the dialogue just tried to hard to be "clever and witty" all of the time. I was going to abandon it at about 25%, but then it seemed like the story that I read in the description was going to start. However, it just got stuck again.

I see that this book has been out for about 5 years so this must be a reissue. Plus, Goodreads has a pretty high rating of 4.18 as I write this so I'm definitely in the minority of disliking this book. Sorry I couldn't post a more positive review.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an alc in exchange for an honest review.
Masters of Death rereleases August 8, 2023

<i>“You have to be willing to sacrifice everything to gain one thing that matters more than everything else.”</I>

Masters of Death is a multi-pov story filled with a cast of supernatural characters, from Death himself and his godson, to angels, vampires, ghosts, reapers, werewolves, and more.

The main plot points:
- Viola (a vampire and real estate agent) is trying to sell a house, to which Thomas Edward Parker IV is still inhabiting it as a ghost; he doesn’t know how he died
- Death is missing
- a tournament-style game between immortals (and occasionally mortals) against Death

This is definitely a character driven novel, with a wide range of personalities.
Death was so comical, and I loved the natural banter between Gabriel and Raphael.

I wish we got more elaboration on the actual merits of how the matches were won — some of them came across pretty flouncy when you take into consideration the abundant range of stakes that immortals can take in regards to gambling. We spent what felt like 5 minutes at the tables for the games in comparison to the rest of the story, which was quite unbalanced.
I liked the conversations on the importance of what immortality and love meant to the characters towards the end, but it felt like it was in a rush to wrap up the story (like those award shows that start to play music to wrap up a speech). All of the threads and romantic relationships came together in such a profound/pretentious way, but the bridge to get there was missing a few key links.

In regards to this rerelease and the indie version, I’d say they are more or less the same. A lot of the material from the indie version is unchanged (save for a few different words here and there). The most noticeable difference is that there is a lot of added filler between sections of dialogue — mostly describing surrounding backgrounds and such in an in-depth manner. At times some of the additions felt unnecessary and made me wonder whether there was a specific word or page count that needed to be met. Regardless, I still managed to find it enjoyable.

The audiobook narration was fantastic. It felt like a full cast production, and the dry humour was conveyed perfectly. I’d listen to more from this voice actor.

A fun ensemble cast of characters brought together to challenge a demon king in death’s game. This book was fun and heartwarming with lovable and diverse characters.

I was truly captivated.

Masters of Death is a complex, yet hilarious tale. I loved the interconnected storylines and characters. The narrator did a great job with the dry humor and banter written into the story and the voice acting was to die for!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this audio ARC. This was me giving this author a third chance. I just cannot handle her writing style in addition to this the story line and characters were very confusing. I felt like I need to write things down to keep track of what was going on and who was what. If that happens, I don't like it. Reading for me is supposed to be fun and entertaining, not a test.

Twisted in all the best ways! This book will leave you wanting more! Olivie is one of the best authors of our generation!

I got the audio of this and it was hilarious! The freaking banter between all these people was so funny!
This and One For My Enemy are definitely at the top of my faves for OB. If you want a good laugh with Death, his Godson and a whole motley crew of demons/angels/etc this is the story for you! Highly recommend.

Thanks so much to MacMillian Audio for the chance to review an advanced copy of the audiobook!

As I’ve already read an ARC of ‘Masters of Death’ (and loved it!) I’ll focus the beginning of this review on the audio recording specifically and leave my previous review of the story itself below.

I knew I’d want to reread this book eventually, it was absolutely one of my favorite books of the year so far. So seeing the Steve West was recording the audiobook, I felt like this was the perfect format to do my second read in. I’ve listened to some other books he’s narrated, and not only is his voice pleasant to listen to, I’m constantly impressed by his voice acting. I also just feel that Olivie Blake’s writing style translates exceptionally well into spoken word. She brings a lot of dry humor and wit, which absolutely captures and keeps your attention, making for a great listening experience.

So going in I had nothing but high hopes and having listened I have nothing bad to say really. I’d end up giving this about a 3.5/5 as a rating. It met my expectations, was a lot of fun and Steve West did a wonderful job. It didn’t blow me away like the recording of ‘One For My Enemy Did’ and I will mention that in this case the story and characters sounded very different read aloud than they did in my head. Which likely had an impact on my rating. I think I may have enjoyed this more with multiple narrators, given how many POVs are in this book.

In short, in this case, I preferred reading to listening. Both options are wonderful though and I’m happy to recommend either one!

*End of Audiobook review*

Olivie Blake has such a distinct style to her writing and I am OBSESSED with it!

Of what I’ve gotten through of hers so far, Masters of Death is absolutely my favorite. It’s so unique and told with such humor that it’s an absolute breeze to read. Along with provoking some philosophical thoughts to boot! Well developed cast of characters, an almost absurdly entertaining viewpoint on life, death, and the existence of other worlds.

Thoroughly enjoyed and I’m looking forward to recommending this one!

Oh, my goodness. What a wonderful ride. This was by far my favorite Olivie Blake novel! Masters of Death was funny, thought-provoking, romantic, suspenseful, and full of twists. The way the story unfolded was magical on its own.

This book filled a hole in my heart that I have had ever since The Good Place tv show finished. While ultimately very different, there was still the same philosophical feel with a cast of loveable and flawed characters. I think people who loved the quirky casts found in Becky Chambers and Douglas Adams novels or anyone who enjoys great banter among deeper themes will fall head over heels for this one.

As for the narrator - I loved him. I would listen to him tell stories all day, and I think he nailed every character's voice. And as there are many characters, this was definitely important and impressive.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me listen early!