Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

SYNOPSIS

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 he 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 the 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 mindfulness-practicing creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover that the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn’t nearly as distinct as they thought.

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Third times the charm. Olivie Blake has finally won me over. Masters of Death was such a fabulous read that it’s made me look at Blake’s writing with an entirely new appreciation. That’s a pretty powerful spell this book put on me as I was sure this author just “wasn’t for me". This book took everything you need for a good, spooky, halloween read and combined it into one. Death as a supporting role? Death’s GODSON? Immortals, faeries, demons, vampires, angels, ghosts, you name it, this book had it. It was such an interesting magic system and concept of “people/creatures” living alongside, instead of in opposition to, humankind. Monster support groups, vampire real estate agents, casual ghost hauntings, as if this were all an easily acceptable part of our world and I loved it. I listened to this on audiobook which I think enhanced the experience because the narrator was so good and had the perfect voice for Death. I highly enjoyed this book and will definitely start reading more Olivie Blake now.

This book starts off with Death. Literally. Death narrates the start of the story, telling us of the one time he was bested by his godson Fox, and so the tale begins. Fox uses his connection to Death to con people out of their money…. and their dignity. He uses his father to speak to the dead and his clients are so grateful to him, they fall right into his lap, a repetitive existence for Fox where you can’t help but think he’s avoiding something big with meaningless sex. Then we meet Viola. Viola was unexpectedly turned into a vampire while on an expedition for her university class. The connection of these two characters leads them and their friends into the most dire of situations when they inadvertently get wrapped up in the Parker (of the Chicago Parkers) family legends.

This book was so weird and wonderful that I find it hard to separate plot from character as the characterization itself was a huge part of the plot. I loved the disjointedness of it at the start. Each character had their own story and their own history. As their stories begin to overlap you see just how intricate the journey they’re on has become. The elements that slowly clicked together had me in awe of the fantastic world building and foreshadowing.

The characters themselves were fascinating and, despite not being human…. SO HUMAN. The emphasis on friendship and found family highlighted the importance of connections. It showed that no matter your background or your experiences you have the choice to do the right thing. And that yes, that choice is extremely difficult sometimes and it can be easy to get lost along the way, but it’s still possible if you have your friends beside you. Viola and Fox were somewhat main characters but each of their friend groups had almost as much face time and so I felt like we got to know each character equally which I really loved.

I love Blake’s insistence on basing her stories in Chicago, it makes me feel like even though they aren’t, her worlds COULD be connected that way. I had such a great time reading this book and it was perfectly atmospheric for fall. I wouldn’t quite classify it as dark academia as it doesn’t take place in an academic setting, but it has a lot of the same vibes. I highly enjoyed this journey and this book was definitely a 5 star read.