I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Masters of Death by Olivie Blake Narrator: Steve West
Published by Macmillan Audio, Tor Books on August 8, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Contemporary
Length: 15 hours 2 minutes
Pages: 414
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes Masters of Death, a story about vampires, ghosts, and death itself!
Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on.
Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn’t entirely without his uses—seeing as he’s actually the godson of Death.
When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with her ghost-infested mansion, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects (or wants). But with the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few high-functioning creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn’t nearly as distinct as they thought.
Also by Olivie Blake
Alone With You in the EtherOne For My Enemy
The Atlas Six
The Atlas ParadoxAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
I enjoyed this book overall. The narration was perfect but there were times that I felt a little lost in the story so it is possible that I would have been better served to pick up a print copy instead of the audio. I actually made it to the halfway point and was so confused that I went back to the beginning and started over. Things seemed to click the second time around and I think that my confusion came from the fact that this story isn’t always linear. Once I got things straight in my head, I found this to be a very entertaining book.
I really liked the cast of characters featuring a ghost, a vampire, a demigod, and even Death himself. Basically, if you can think of a supernatural character, it was probably included in this book. Viola, a vampire and real estate agent, has a house that she needs to sell. Unfortunately, the house has a ghost in residence so she needs some help. She enlists Death’s godson, Fox, to help her out and things get just as crazy as you would think they would.
Steve West is a fantastic narrator and he did an amazing job with this book. He handles a large diverse cast of characters incredibly well creating a distinctive voice for each of them. I found his voice to be easy to listen to for hours at a time. I do believe that he added to my enjoyment of this story.
I will definitely be recommending this one. I had a good time with this quirky story filled with amazing characters. This is the first time that I have read Olivie Blake’s work and wouldn’t hesitate to pick up more of her work in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio.
Ooh nice! I still have The Atlas Six in my TBR from a book box, but when I saw this one I was IMMEDIATELY intrigued! You know me, I love my paranormal peeps and I love that this one has such a wide variety! Definitely plan to pick this one up! Glad to hear you enjoyed it, and hoping that the confusion doesn’t happen when reading the physical book. I think that might help me as those kinds of things have happened to me before, but I will be prepared for it this time! Great review!
I actually just got another one of her books, One for My Enemy, in the mail yesterday. I was able to grab it from Pango. I am really wanting to read this one and I think it sounds great for the spooky reading season. I’m glad you enjoyed it but given your review, I’ll make sure I’m paying extra close attention to this one.
Haunted house, oh uh. But I guess her being a vamp will make it interesting
Steve West is my favorite. I may have to listen to this one.
Thank you for sharing your insightful review! It’s great to hear that you enjoyed the book overall, even though you had a bit of a rocky start. I totally understand how a non-linear narrative can sometimes be a challenge in audio format. It’s impressive that you went back and restarted, and I’m glad to hear that things started to click the second time around.
I really admire narrators that can handle such a diverse and expansive cast of characters. Its rare talent. I will definitely be on the lookout for this one. Glad you had a solid time with this one here.
Great review!
Hmm, I’m intrigued. Good to know that it can get jumbled up with the time switches.
This does sound fun but I’ll definitely get the print version. I’ve come across a few stories where I think the audio took the book down a bit for me because I was a little confused.
Masters of Death is one that I really want to read. Glad to see that it was an enjoyable read.