1.5

I’ve heard nothing but prayers for Olivia Blake’s books, and the premise of this sounded really interesting. There’s a vampire real estate agent trying to sell a haunted house, but she needs a medium to get rid of the ghost. That medium ends up being a fraud though he is the godson of Death, which sounds like it should be a wacky good time.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me. I found the writing to be too much and the plot and tone was just too soapy and overdramatic for me. I actually paused listening to it at about 50% because I ran out of audiobook time for a while and then never really wanted to pick it up again. I did finish it, but I would’ve been happy DNFing.

The plot centers around a Game that Death created, and there’s interludes of past events that relate to the ghost haunting the house, and Death being missing, and this game, and I can see how they all connect now, but as I was listening to the book I just didn’t care. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy convoluted stories or non-standard narrative structure or books that are more philosophical or focused on themes. I love those things when it’s done well, but I did not get along well with the writing. The way these conversations about time and meaning and what have you just felt very pretentious in a way that had me rolling my eyes more than stopping to actually think about the questions it was proposing.

This book is also set in Chicago, and that really threw me off because there’s nothing really, that indicates that it takes place in Chicago, other than the repeated mention of Chicago. Because I’m very familiar with the city at first, I was like cool I love Chicago, but as I realized that there was nothing distinctly Chicago in the setting then, every time I mentioned the city I would get pulled out of the story.

All that to say, I can see why this book would work for some people and maybe in a different headspace, it would work for me too. I did like Steve West’s narration, and I think Olivia Blake’s books are all different enough that I would be willing to give her another chance.

"Maybe that was the entire secret, and therefore the whole thing was actually astonishingly simple. That over and over, he was presented with the same impossible decision--live and suffer, love and grieve--but still, every time, with all his being, his answer was and would always be yes."

"Immortality is empty without you."
"Forever without you seems...worthless"

I almost don't want to give a summary for the brilliant non stop magical fantasy murder mystery Masters Of Death by the stupendous imagination of author Olivie Blake. Going in blind and letting this life affirming novel told from the point of immortality is an almost religious experience.

Starting out as a comedic snarky murder mystery, real estate agent and vampire Viola can't sell a house because the ghost haunting it won't leave until he solves his own murder. She brings in con man and actual medium Fox, think Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, to help her with the ghost. See, Fox can talk to Death because Death is his godfather.

Eventually Death gets involved and soon we have demons, ghosts, vampires, and otherworldly creatures compete in a game to master death. There's "only one rule--don't lose."" The thing is, "Death never loses."

Narrator Steve West was perfection with the comedy but truly heart grabbing with the moments of awareness of just how lonely immortality can be when you are alone.

No word is unintentional with this writer. I have pages of quotes and through my laughter, and some tears, one thing is sure, this writer is a master of literature.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from MacMillan Audio via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is the second book I read/listened to from Olivie Blake. I absolutely enjoy this story!!! I enjoyed all the (main and side) characters written by Ms. Blake. I love how Steve West (narrator) brought the characters to life. It was interesting how Ms. Blake described the character Death and its flaws.

*4 stars*

This was really fun! Nothing like I expected, this was a funny and heartbreaking collection of mortality and love.

A game between gods needs to be stopped by a motley crew of creatures and the god son of death. The layering of stories and flashbacks were done well at tied everything together so well. This had found family element that I really enjoyed as well.

The audiobook was narrated by Steve West who I think always does a great job and this was no exception.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC of this work. All opinions in this review are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought all of the characters were well defined and well written. All the characters had their own personalities and i never felt like they were two-dimensional. I had the audiobook and i loved all the voices that were used for the different characters. There were a few parts were I was not sure who was talking. I never felt my attention slipping or mind wondering while listening to this book, As for the plot, I thought that is was a little complex. I had some trouble figuring out what exactly was happening the first third of the book. Once I got the the second half of the book I was all in. I really enjoyed parts that talked about what it is to be human, what that means and what others are willing to give up to keep it.
This is a solid 4.5 STARS!

This was such a fantastic read! I really enjoyed the Atlas series, and this stand alone sounded wild, and I had to know how this story would unfold! That Viola is a vampire and a real estate agent selling a home with a ghost of a murder victim...yeah, that was just the initial set up in the synopsis, and there's so much more going on beyond that!

A good deal of the focus of this book was on Fox, the godson of death, who uses his connection to Death to pretend to be a medium. I loved their relationship, because the very beginning was a narration of Death, talking about how he ending having Fox as his godson, and then besides the very end, it's all from Fox's perspective of the two of them, from the two of them. And there's a journey there that I really enjoyed.

The cast of characters in this book were so well thought-out and distinct, they had well developed personalities of their own, and honestly, when they were all together it was just a wild ride. They had all these different backstories and reasons why they were a part of this story, and I loved watching it all come together!

And then there was the game. Oh man, the game confused the heck out of me, with the rules, and how to play, and how all the little mysteries in these peoples' lives brought them to this point...I just had to keep going, to see where the story would take me. It was fantastic, but it really went over my head for the most part! Especially since now, after finishing, the finer details aren't sticking, per usual with my poor little memory.

I had a really wonderful time reading this book, and I can't wait to read more by Olivie Blake!

Marked as DNF at 5% on 9/4/23 | I didn't take this DNF lightly... Firstly, I had requested this book from Netgalley because I was SURE I was going to love it (and why do I keep doing this because I keep DNFing Netgalley books, somehow). The Netgalley audiobook player goes from 2x to 2.5x to 3x speed. Usually I listen on 3x and wanted to slow down but I didn't know if I needed to go all the way down to 2.5x so I waited for my library hold to come in. (Boring story, I know, but it serves a purpose that this was attempt #1.)

So I tried my Libby hold and kept slowing it down but I still was NOT picking it up. Steve West is one of my favorite narrators. I've listened to him in so many things and have loved his voice, but it was not working for me here and I don't know why. I feel like it didn't fit with the writing style? It was fast and snarky, the writing was fast and snarky, but I just wanted everything to SLOW DOWN. There's some scene in the very beginning that I listened to twice and I still have no idea what was going on. Then the book starts with Fox and I just didn't like it because I had no idea how I was supposed to feel about him.

The prose just felt like NOT my style at all. Usually I can listen to an audiobook and do other things. I felt like I actively had to get my brain to try to pick up on each word. It was just all over the place.

Plenty of people loved this. There are tons of rave reviews. I did what I do when I'm not liking a book and I went to read the reviews to seek validation for my DNF choice 😅 I did definitely agree with more of the 2-3 star reviews than the 4-5 star reviews. And yes, I know I only read 5% but why push on if I'm going to feel this way the whole book? I haven't been reading as much fantasy lately and I just need to connect with it pretty close to right away. This just wasn't it.

I really enjoyed the audiobook narrator. Steve West is fantastic, and he definitely does well in narrating books with very distinctive, verbose writing styles. His inflections and manner of speaking really helps the text flow.

Unfortunately, I wasn't quite enamored with the story. It kind of wants to be a quirky supernatural story like Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, but the writing style is a bit too caught up in itself to be truly funny. There's also way too many characters. Chapters are thrown in from many different character's perspectives that end up meshing together and not really advancing the story. They're also not fleshed out enough to make you enjoy said characters. I think if a lot of them were edited down or cut out, it would've helped solidfy the quriky story premise to be a quicker tale. The wordiness also bogged some things down and made it a bit confusing. I sort of like Ms. Blake's writing style, but I don't think her stories quite hit the mark for me. I think I may personally be done with her books, but if you've been enjoying her other works, I imagine this one will hold up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

“There is a game that the immortals play. There is only one rule: don’t lose.”

A synopsis will not do this book justice, so I won’t even try. First of all, this audiobook narrator is excellent. The characters’ voices came to life, and the story was even more vibrant for it. The book reminded me of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, who are two of my favorite authors. The ensemble cast of characters, human and more often not human, were fascinating and complex. The varying timelines were a little confusing, but ultimately enriched the story.

If you enjoy adventurous stories full of angels, demons, gods, ghosts and gambling with immortals, pick up this book!

Okay, hear me out. This is Good Omens but told in the brilliant and labyrinthine language of Olivie Blake. If you like the vibes of the Atlas series, this reads in a similar manner and features beloved banter between a big cast of characters in similar ways. It’s chock-full of descriptive scene building and character development. You will find moral grayness in most (if not all) of the characters.

Gorgeous. We love to see it. But on another note I spent at least 50% of this book lost. That might be user error - I was often multi-tasking while listening - or intentional by the author. Either way, I’m cool with it, but it’s something to note for other readers.

A perfect read for anyone who loves mediums, vampires, angels and demons, and autumnal warmth via fantastical elements and lyrical writing.

This is probably one of the most unique urban fantasies that I’ve ever read. It’s set in my favorite big city, and it was fun to see that overrun with “creatures” taking the L.
Death was a really interesting narrator/side-character and I like the concept that Death means something different to each person. Maybe Death is the figure taking you to the next life. Maybe you don’t get to meet Death because you’re cursed to be locked in a house because of a will’s loophole. Maybe Death is your godfather, who knows?
I’ve loved Olivie Blake’s writing since I read The Atlas Six and this book only reaffirmed that!
My only issue with the narration was that sometimes, I was confused which decade things were set in because there was too much jumping without explanations that likely were unnecessary in the print version. Other than that, I liked the narration.

*3.5⭐️
I spent the entire book seesawing between feeling invested and confused. I must have gone back 30 seconds on the audiobook a couple hundred times, because I couldn’t have grasped what was going on without doing that.
Olivie Blake is a great writer, no doubt, but I wish this book had been written a little differently.
At the beginning of the book, we’re dropped into a story that seems like it’ll be narrated by death, which is was for a bit, but it seemed like by halfway through the book, Olivie forgot that Death was even involved. Yeah, I get that he was a little busy during that part of the book, but isn’t he supposed to be basically omniscient?
I loved the romances in the book, but at times, it felt like too many things were happening at once. Like give me two epic love stories or three separately distinguished love stories. Having three love stories all play out at the exact same time (with two of them basically forgotten for like 150 pages until they needed to be tied up in a nice bow at the end) felt like too much to really let me get to know the characters. By the end of the book, I knew Violet, Fox, and Brant, all of which I liked, but I think with as big of a cast of characters as this book had, I needed to know more.
Also, why do we never get to know how what happens to Tom at the end happens? It’s never explained…
I really liked the narrator. He did a great job with all of the different accents. My only issue with the audiobook was that some parts weren’t very conducive to this format. Like whenever the book jumped from past to present or vise versa with little warning, it was jarring.
Overall, I really liked the book, I just think it was an overly complex world at times.

Blake does it again!

I'm obsessed with the Atlas Six books, but I actually loved this even more. It's got the sarcasm and wit of Tamsyn Muir - I have no idea what's going on but I love it. ("ANARCHY!")

I don't know if she plans on writing more adventures of the godson of Death, but I would absolutely read them if she did. And the ending just made sense.

Olivie Blake can drop bombs on you. When you look at excerpts, you might feel like "eh vampires, demons, demigods, oh my! here is all the cheesiness" But after getting few chapters in, you know you haven't been so wrong.

Vamp Vi needed to sell a house, which was haunted. Ghost did not want to leave the house. (watch me haunt my own house too). She gave a call to the medium Fox D'Mora asking for help. Because communication is important!
Fox was a crook like most of the other mediums, but he had one advantage in communicating with other world: he was the godson of death. Okay, how do you become godson of death? Like how was that arrangement made? and most importantly, why Death would want a godson?

While I was contemplating on these questions the story took million other turns. Eventually it became a love story. I don't know how I can explain my feelings about this book, but you better read and form your own opinion. I loved the depth of it. Hope you'll find it impressive too

I love Steve West and requested this because he’s the narrator. I don’t know if anyone else will agree but it was such an odd narration that I stopped listening and never picked it back up. It wasn’t bad but I honestly forgot I stopped that one until I saw I needed to review it. I will try Steve West again but I won’t go back to this audiobook.

I must say, Olivie Blake's MASTERS OF DEATH was quite an enjoyable read. I found the author's playful tone to be a refreshing touch that didn't take away from the overall elegance of the writing and the well-crafted characters. What impressed me the most, however, was Blake's ability to address serious topics such as mortality and pain in a way that kept me thoroughly engrossed in each character's unique story. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an engaging and thought-provoking read.

There is one thing that I can confidently say about this book - WOW!
I loved everything about it. The characters, the intricate plotting, and the denouement were all exquisitely done.
What may have even topped this book past the 5 star mark is the narration. Steve West was perfectly cast as the narrator for this book and he just sold it and I bought it all.
I have nothing negative to say about this book. It took me a while to finish it since I was listening to it in small segments, but all throughout, I have been telling anyone that would listen that they need to read this book. Now that I have finished it, my position is firmly solidified. This book needs to be read and deserves lots of praise.
Thank you you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio-arc of this books. The opinions expressed are honest and my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced audiobook copy! The narrator for Masters of Death was fantastic. I was blown away by his ability to swap between all the different characters' voices! Bravo! As for the story itself, if you've enjoyed Olivie's other books, you'll no doubt enjoy this one too. And if you've never read one before, this is a fantastic introduction to her signature style. Like Blake's other books, Masters of Death has a real focus on characters and the nuances of their relationships with one another. There's a lot to keep track of in the narrative, with flips between past and present and several points of view, so pay attention! There's a great dose of humor and snark, but also a heartwarming undercurrent about what makes life worth living. Highly recommend!

Olivie Blake has done it again! While I wasn’t a fan of the narrator?voice, the book itself was great!!

Loved the premise of this book, and the beginning of this book had me hooked right away! Death is probably my favorite character, with all of his sass. However, I couldn’t give this audiobook 5 stars because it was really complex to follow. This book jumps around a lot and sometimes it was hard to know whose POV we were in or what location we were in. However, I would highly recommend this book as a physical read!