Book Review | Master Of One @TBRBeyondTours

Today is my first ever tour with TBR and Beyond Tours and what a book to kick off with…

Sinister sorcery. Gallows humor. A queer romance so glorious it could be right out of fae legend itself. Master of One is a fantasy unlike any other.

Rags is a thief—an excellent one. He’s stolen into noble’’s coffers, picked soldier’s pockets, and even liberated a ring or two off the fingers of passersby. Until he’s caught by the Queensguard and forced to find an ancient fae relic for a sadistic royal sorcerer.

But Rags could never have guessed this “relic” would actually be a fae himself—a distractingly handsome, annoyingly perfect, ancient fae prince called Shining Talon. Good thing Rags can think on his toes, because things just get stranger from there…

With the heist and intrigue of Six of Crows and the dark fairy tale feel of The Cruel Prince, this young adult fantasy debut will have readers rooting for a pair of reluctant heroes as they take on a world-ending fae prophecy, a malicious royal plot, and, most dangerously of all, their feelings for each other.

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Master of One will be published on November 10th 2020.

I’ve not been this excited for a book in a while, fantasy is definitely my happy place, but add in a great cast of characters, some pretty cool magic and a cutthroat queen and her sorcerer and I’m definitely hooked.

I think I am quite lucky in that I haven’t read the books that the description compares Master of One to so I went in with no expectations and I was completely gripped by the story. Fantasy can be a tricky genre for pacing because there is so much to set up, but I always know going in that this will be the case and even in the slower sections of the book I was still captivated by the characters and the descriptions.

Of course, the characters are what really make this book, a group with not a lot in common that all have to work together to continue their quest. There are always some characters that readers will always be more drawn to and for me, it’s Shining Talon and Somhairle.

Shining Talon is fae and so, of course, is intriguing as he is so different to the rest of the characters, also the fact that he sets his own life aside for Rags on multiple occasions even though he is the more unique of the two just made my heart happy. Somhairle is the queen’s son, born with physical impairments and therefore seen as the outsider in his family, he is the kind of character that is often overlooked but actually shouldn’t be underestimated which I loved, he was such a sweet character but could also manipulate some situations to his advantage so easily.

Rags is another notable character, a kind of cheeky, distrustful underdog who causes a lot of amusement, especially when he comes across Shining Talon. I really enjoyed the chemistry between the two of them, the push and pull of feelings and the way they bicker in that exceptionally loveable way, especially when Rags is in danger. Inis grew on me, she has a lot to be angry for but I felt that she really came into her own when she used it to fight for a cause, she became this fearless and brave warrior and even though she was quite merciless at times I actually quite enjoyed it.

My only slight criticism is that whilst this book has multiple POV, for the first quarter of the book we only really hear from Rags point of view, whilst I can understand that in the sense of storyline it did mean that some of the other characters didn’t quite get the same development that he did and that, for me anyway, it took a while to warm up to them when they were suddenly central to the story. I felt this the most with Cabhan and to a certain extent Inis, but at least Inis really got a chance to shine whereas Cab felt a little background at points. It is a difficult compromise because for the timeline of the plot it makes sense that we spend so much time with Rags in the beginning, but I feel like an earlier introduction to some of the other characters would have made for better cohesion.

I am not going to go too much into the storyline because I don’t want to give away any spoilers but I really loved the magic in this book, and how the sorcerers and the fae wield it so differently. There are lots that I would like to gush about with respect to what the quest is for because I found it very original but I feel its best to experience that journey as you are reading. I will mention that I actually liked that the sorcerer Morien’s magic was very dark and creepy and how much suspense that added to the story.

Throughout the book, I was very excited at the prospect of what would happen at the end of their quest and what Morien and the Queen were planning. All I can say is I hope there is another book to follow because I need more.

Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett are married co-authors (without wanting to divorce yet) who live in Brooklyn with 8 cats. Danielle is from Victoria, British Columbia, and works freelance as an independent editor, proofreader and plagiarism checker. Jaida is a native New Yorker. Their published work includes four novels from the Volstovic Cycle, in addition to their many twitter rants on intersectional feminism and the NYC subway system. COMING FALL 2020 FROM HARPERTEEN: MASTER OF ONE.

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