Masters of Death: A Novel

I love love love Olivie Blake and I loved this story. She is a fantastic writer and comes up with plots that keep me on the edge of my seat and leave me begging for more every time. She is also so so so so marvelous at writing witty banter and dialogue, and she's just so. dang. funny. All of the characters in this book are exciting and different, and I think you really get to see the personalities and thoughts of each throughout the story. I loved all of them. Even people I didn't like off the bat, I ended up falling for as well. The plot just grips you; my favorite thing is its move from vague details to specifics, and that you are kept guessing but can go back to look at earlier chapters and already start to better comprehend what you're reading now. It keeps you on your toes and gets you thinking. A fun read with awesome characters and a compelling plot, written by one of my all-time favorite authors.

I was startled into laughter, I was led gently into moments of deep heartache. There is a whole world here and it is compelling. The characters immediately leap off the page and come to life. The dialogue is sharp and engaging. Their interactions are generally funny and entertaining, but everyone is layered. Death, for example, is terrifying and unfathomable, and also perpetually annoyed and allows himself to be compelled to halfheartedly try to clean up his language. This book has mystery and gambling, tied up in what people will give up to have the things they want. I was slow to understand the game referenced throughout, but didn't find it frustrating because the characters I loved were still learning too. I eventually felt a sort of dread and devastation for all the players. Everyone is so hungry, but their desires and motivations vary as much as they do. They're all written so beautifully. And the loves described are deep and so moving. Highly recommend.

What I love about this book are the characters. In books, there are always characters you love more than others but in this book, I adored them all. I wish I could read it again for the first time just so I can meet these wonderful characters again.

Sharp, crisp conversation. Very creative. The complex, fantastical story is developed out of thin air in an Aesop's fable sort of way. Superb character development. Huge wordhoard and turn of phrase. Fun read. This is the third Blake tale I've read. I've been touting Blake as the best writer in the genre for many years. The Blake pseudonym writing author seems an anomaly. The nature of the novel would seem to reflect a deeply experienced writer. Blake is presented as a young 30-something, pictured in a 20-something beachy photo, writing at a level far beyond youthful experiential depth. Very curious.

I'd like to start this off by saying that writing is a talent not many people have (even some published authors I won't name) but Olivie Blake has this talent in spades. When writing about things like death, mortality, and morality most authors become so serious like they're giving a lecture in a Philosophy 101 class but Olivie is able to write about all these things and temper the seriousness of the topics with humor and love stories we, as the reader, get invested in. My favorite parts of this book were the conversations between Fox and Death and how Olivie depicted Death as human but not human; someone who flicks a rubber band onto their wrist because someone they love told them to stop swearing. Finishing this book gave me more insight into being human as one always does when forced to confront their inevitable mortality. We want things. We risk the things we have to get them and sometimes we succeed and more often we don't. I think that the Immortal Game is a perfect use of symbolism for human life even if it's played by immortals. The only rule is not to lose and isn't that the one true goal we all have as humans? Life is a game and we either win or lose but we all want to win-- for ourselves, for the people we love, for the people who will come after us. This is a fantastic book with a story artfully told. It has just the right amount of mysticism and just plain stupid humans that makes it amazing. The characters are wholly fleshed out and I could relate to each one. I loved Fox and Brandt's love story that told us we can always regain what we lost. I loved Mayra and Cal and how she did the very human thing of hurting him to protect him out of love. I loved Isis and every word that came out of her mouth. I loved that the supernatural creatures we'd all like to meet have a pseudo Alcohol Anonymous going on. I adored Viola and Tom and how they got the happy ending they deserved because they fought for each other. This is now one of my all time favorite books; something else I love that came from Olivie Blake, who isn't the Master of Death but is indeed the Master of Words, Plots, Characters, and all things Literary. Do yourself a favor and read this book because it'll be the best thing you do all day (and just maybe will give you points in your ledger).