#the masters of death

[chaoticmiserablelover]

My taste in books: sad queers being unhinged.

[nightfall-soul]

Book Review - The Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

Starting off by saying that this was originally purely an impulse Walmart purchase one random morning after getting off from work. I hadn't previously heard anything about this book, and typically that makes me a lot less likely to buy one, however the title intrigued me. I read the synopsis and saw the gorgeous art on the inside covers and decided to get it. Four months later I've finally read it, and, boy, was the impulse purchase worth it!! Now to my actual review: Rating: 4.5/5 stars Likelihood to recommend: 100%!! I already have! Likelihood to reread: 100%, already planning on it

Main Points of Thought:

The Writing Style I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author worded descriptions and dialogue. I haven't read many books with any similar style, but it was very appealing. If you don't like reading anything too "wordy," this book would probably not be to your taste, but that's exactly why it was to mine. The author's style suited the character's as well, changing slightly enough to not be jarring but enough to be distinctive with each point of view shift. Another thing that was done really well in this book was the shifting of time povs. Very few books that I've read have handled flashbacks well, but this book is definitely the best I've seen. It never felt out of place or unnecessary; any scene written in the past always felt needed to the story, whether to understand the plot or to understand the characters. .

The Characters The characters! God, the characters. It's not often a book has me interested in all of the characters' stories instead of just a main character or two, but this one did for sure. I absolutely loved how the author had, instead of one singular clear protagonist that is purely good and one singular clear antagonist that is clearly bad, had a whole cast of complicated, 3d characters. Even if you disagreed with a character's motivation or decision, you could absolutely see why they made such decision or why they would come to some of the conclusions they did. The main cast of characters were all very compelling. Instead of pushing you into rooting for them as some books do, the author led you to want to root for them. .

The Romances I'm typically very iffy on romance in most medias as I've seen it done badly way too many times, but I really enjoyed how it was handled in this. [Spoilers ahead!] Fox and Brandt's relationship throughout the book had such a grip on my heart, especially as we learned more about Brandt's motivations as Fox learned them himself. I absolutely loved their decision at the end, and how they both chose that for themselves but also for each other. I was surprised to find myself actually enjoying Vi and Tom's relationship as well, as I hadn't expected to actually root for the two of them to have any relationship like that in the beginning. The build up of that relationship was compelling to watch, and their ending was also very satisfying and felt right for both of them. Now, Cal and Mayra. I absolutely adored them and their relationship. Their relationship felt so much more soft and ironically grounded than the other two which I really adored. No other notes, just <3333 .

The Plot Itself This book is definitely not one for people who enjoy a typical fantasy with a very cut-and-dry goal and path. The way the author spins the tale with so many connecting characters, places, motivations, time, and even varying perceptions of events is breathtaking. It's a story that makes you genuinely think about the questions being posed, not only to the characters but to the readers themselves. The spins and plot twists never felt like they had been added purely for shock value but instead felt natural and fit the characters they were tied to. Each turn felt understandable, and, as a reader, it felt natural to follow the lines each plot point took. The plot definitely keeps you on your toes, making you think you understand before revealing more information that makes you want to go back and immediately reread to see how the signs all point to that conclusion. Masterfully well-done.

Conclusion:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will absolutely be rereading and recommending it to others. It's genuinely made me rethink some of my own motivations and perspectives and will be something that I will continue to ponder in the next week. One of the only reasons it's not a 5/5 for me is the fact that some of the sentence structure did feel a bit strange to me at some points. Other than that, I really don't have many if any negatives about this book. 100% recommend trying it! [As an 18+ book, I will note!!]

[bookink]

So I just finished The Masters Of Death and I have a few things to say because whooo boy!

I love this book for many reasons, and I will try to organize them the best I can. It has been quite a while since I have done a book review.... sooo to whoever is reading: this may be a bit rough. Spoilers ahead. Beware!!!

Firstly: Olivie Blake's Writing style! This was a very easy book to melt into. The writing was fun and comfortable in a way I hadn't seen in a while. I may reread it specifically because of how Olivie depicts the surroundings and the intricacies of the interactions. Olivie's way of writing is interesting in many ways. However, I feel it is most interesting for her knack for knowing when to zoom in or out of a situation. In this way, we are shown the generalizations of the situation through the eyes of an outsider in one instance, the seemingly stolen glimses between characters, the intimate expressions flitting across the faces of each character, and even the cross-conversations happening overhead of the "main" conversations. The constantly shifting scope of our view... of what the audience is allowed to be privy to and what we must assume is a very fun ride, to say the least.

Secondly: I loved the dialog so much! I did see a comment on Goodreads likening the reading to listening to a bunch of squirrels quarreling...... I must say that while there iiis a lot of back and forth/tit-for tat pattern in most of the conversations (spoilers: well, when there aren't so many pregnant pauses between Fox and Brandt...spoiler ends) I found this Extremely entertaining and I loved every minute of it!

Thirdly: I found it absolutely bewildering/mind-boggling how Easy it was for me to love and get attached to these characters! Even those that were not in the main scope of the story never truely seemed like a background character because despite not having a lot of pages dedicated to their stories, each character had shone in their own way! Each one was so freaking distinct and their personalities were revealed so naturally. I honestly was very much hoping for a sequel just to see more of these characters, but I love how the book ended and am content to revisit it now and again.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of this books characteristics! I felt compelled to learn more about them, and actually felt deeply invested in their wants, goals, and their futures. (Spoilers: Take Cal and Kaleka for example! I Loved their relationship and wanted so much for them! View and Tom: sort of enemies to lovers adorableness! Fox and Brandt: absolutely killed me but also made me so happy!!! Healthiest relationship? No. Need to work things out? Oh heck yeah! Did I still root for them??? Why yes, yes I did! Spoiler ends)

This is a Very rare thing for me and I Love that Olivie Blake was able to bring that about! Romance is definitely Not my go to, and I often find my eyes glazing over and my brain playing elevator music when it is presented to me in most pieces of media I have come across. I do not find myself caring for the seemingly side plot romances and see them secondary to their respective story. In other words: the relationships neither seemed Relevant nor in any way realistically impactful to the characters/plot at all. This is not a shot at the romance genre or romance in general!!! This has just been largely My experience! However, Olivie's characters and their feelings for eachother felt real in ways that I had yet to see in many other books. Her depictions creathe bonds her characters create are messy and organic and somehow very beautiful. Their feelings for eachother so intertwined with who they are and where the want to be that it seemed impossible for them to go on without eachother.

I have many reasons to have loved this book and am very glad that I grabbed it on a whim! Thank you to whoever has read this far!

[egophiliac]

tsum events really are just the best, huh

[faithsoneluv]

i don't think people understand how hard it is not to ship tomarry / harrymort because what do you mean they're borderline canonically soulmates. what do you mean they're PROPHESIED to each other. what do you mean they're literal parallels, had the same childhood circumstances but turned out the exact opposite. what do you mean harry's the embodiment of the light side and tom's the embodiment of the dark even though they're so, so similar. what do you mean they both have common names even though they themselves are anything but common. what do you mean they have uncountable amount of bible references that apply strictly to them, what do you mean harry makes sure to mention tom's the handsomest in the room whenever he sees him and apparently likes their connection. what do you mean their wands share the core of the same phoenix and therefore literally can't kill each other even if they wanted to. what do you mean harry wanted to give him another chance despite everything he's done, what do you mean tom offered him his hand, what do you mean harry killed tom at the same age except the order of the numbers is reversed. what do you mean harry's eyes are the same colour as tom's favourite unforgivable (avada) AND the colour of his house, what do you mean TOM'S eyes are the colour of harry's favourite defence spell (expelliarmus) and the colour of his house. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY ARE EACH OTHER'S OTHER HALF. WHAT DO YOU MEAN HARRY IS LITERALLY TOM'S SOUL??? 😭

NOT TO MENTION THESE THINGS AREN'T EVEN FANON LIKE...? lmk if i missed something though.

[artkaninchenbau]

People keep on asking for more Baby Robin and Papadile so here is more Baby Robin and Papadile. Now never ask anything from me ever again

[gaybritishcow]

mrs flood i hope you're the master because deciding to devote your life to narrating your boytoy's adventures and threatening to fight god would be iconic, actually

[sunderwight]

Bingqiu AU where Luo Binghe's the chosen village sacrifice to the evil deity who lives up the mountain.

Normally the village sends maidens, but they've more or less run out of expendable girls of the right age and, ahem, "virtues". So of course Luo Binghe's early life bad luck kicks in. In the wake of his mother's death there's no one to really care about what happens to him, he's fairly pretty, and the village leaders decide that if they dress him up like a girl the teenaged homeless kid should pass well enough. And hey, y'know, he's probably got a hard life ahead for him anyway -- dying in a brothel of some venereal disease or on the streets of exposure or starvation. At least as a sacrifice, everyone else gets to benefit from his loss! And the kid will get added to a shrine and be remembered as a hero! If anything, he should be happy about this!

Binghe is not happy about this.

But he's also a skinny underfed nobody who is easily overpowered, dressed up like a bride, and tied to a post. So. Not much he can do but wait for the evil deity to come and do whatever horrible thing he's gonna do to him.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan is pretty sure he's been isekai'd into the over-powered hero of some kind of supernatural adventure story? He's not totally sure because he doesn't recognize the setting, but the signs are there. He's got a shrine-like base of operations (though it seems to have become corrupted/ruined, probably he has to restore it somehow), he has a very resilient and handsome new body with spiritual energy of some kind flowing through him, and a very clearly magical sword. Plus lots of neat starter powers! Though it feels like he has other abilities that have been blocked somehow? Probably he has to level up in order to access them.

When he treks out of his "base" and finds what seems to be a distressed maiden, he takes it for his beginner hero mission. The girl claims that she's been doomed to be sacrificed to an evil god. That sounds a little above Shen Yuan's pay grade for dealing with, so he unties her and decides that they had better just get out of the whole region altogether. He already packed up anything useful from his base, anticipating he might get caught up in an adventure once he left, so they follow the river away from the settlement until they reach another one.

While they travel, Luo Binghe tells Shen Yuan about the cursed deity, Shen Qingqiu, who was cast out of the heavens for slaughtering one of his brethren and has apparently being do-who-knows what to maidens from the local village in exchange for his "protection" ever since. Sounds like a real asshole! And also mid-level boss type bad guy at least. Shen Yuan hopes he doesn't have to fight him, but he probably will.

Thank goodness he found Binghe, though! Clearly the helpful little sister type! He's definitely going to require her assistance if he's going to figure out how to navigate this world and level up his skills enough to take on a god.

[cable-salamdr]

Vague au idea where Little Lloyd is rocketed forwards in time and now Master Lloyd has to deal with That.

Lloyd is holding back the desperate urge to explain every bit of trauma to younger them because of Time Continuum Issues or something

[chaoticmiserablelover]

Fox D'Mora not letting go of his past with Brandt and his tendency to bring it up every time they have a conversation and something is remotely related to it is the type of petty behaviour I deeply appreciate.

[moonlight-stalker]

# Dcu x Dp 193

Batman and Robin had broken into Vlad Masters Hotel because they found something that was extremely similar to Lazarus water as Damian looks around he ends up in the bed room where he finds a crib that has a sleeping baby in it underneath the crib he finds injections filled with Lazarus water and comes to the conclusion that he is experimenting on this baby. Damian decides that he needs to take her when he leave.

After creating Dani Vlads decided not to age her up and raise her himself. Vlad is using ecto injection keep her stable until he find a permanent solution.

[gallifreyanhotfive]

tHe mOST dANgeROuS pRIMe MIniStEr

[anomalousvortex]

the master (wherever they are) getting randomly turned to dust and then brought back: what did that fucker do this time

[queen-boudicca]

Character in the next season: hi my name's Harry

The doctor, who has been burned by too many wordplays: your last name isn't arbinger, is it?

New character: huh? No, it's not

The doctor: oh thank god

New character: it's Saxon; why do you ask?

[cisusnar]

Penitence