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erasmios's review against another edition
3.0
Some of my thoughts regarding Master of Sorrows.
I really liked the lore and the "gods walk among people" high-fantasy setting. I'm a sucker for myths and legends so the excerpts from holy collections were one of my favourite aspects of the book. I kept wanting to learn more about the gods Odar, Lumea and Keos. The magic was also fleshed out and interesting. Diverse, but nothing too complicated, which I think was good.
The story is full of surprises and secrets, but I have to say there are also many clichés. The premise is probably the biggest one: an orphan boy being trained by an old mage in a hidden village. There's friendship and rivalry, success and failure, love and betrayal, wisdom and gore and, of course, light and shadow. Some may find the lack of female characters disappointing, but that kind of things usually don't bother me personally.
I would recommend Master of Sorrows to (dark) high-fantasy readers, and I assume many young adult fantasy readers will also find it appealing. Overall it's a well-balanced mixture of modern YAF (rivalry among students), lore, religion and magic (similar to Earthsea) and dark, more violent fantasy (ASOIAF). I enjoyed Master of Sorrows and will definitely read the next book.
I really liked the lore and the "gods walk among people" high-fantasy setting. I'm a sucker for myths and legends so the excerpts from holy collections were one of my favourite aspects of the book. I kept wanting to learn more about the gods Odar, Lumea and Keos. The magic was also fleshed out and interesting. Diverse, but nothing too complicated, which I think was good.
The story is full of surprises and secrets, but I have to say there are also many clichés. The premise is probably the biggest one: an orphan boy being trained by an old mage in a hidden village. There's friendship and rivalry, success and failure, love and betrayal, wisdom and gore and, of course, light and shadow. Some may find the lack of female characters disappointing, but that kind of things usually don't bother me personally.
I would recommend Master of Sorrows to (dark) high-fantasy readers, and I assume many young adult fantasy readers will also find it appealing. Overall it's a well-balanced mixture of modern YAF (rivalry among students), lore, religion and magic (similar to Earthsea) and dark, more violent fantasy (ASOIAF). I enjoyed Master of Sorrows and will definitely read the next book.
greenpen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
At first I was really finding it hard to continue reading this book becuase of how LONG and slow paced it was, but then when I got to a further point in the book I started to enjoy what`s happening and felt that my patience was rewarded.
I`m glad I didn`t give up on this book lol.
And YES I hated when annev ONLY cared about myjun and sacrificed so many things for her even though he KNEW how she`s like.
by the way it got REALLYYYY GOOD towards the end, I`m so excited to read the second book.
I`m glad I didn`t give up on this book lol.
And YES I hated when annev ONLY cared about myjun and sacrificed so many things for her even though he KNEW how she`s like.
by the way it got REALLYYYY GOOD towards the end, I`m so excited to read the second book.
sabrinalasxh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
stardustpelin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
2.0
What a big disappointment
ninjasmurf's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
linwood's review against another edition
The immaturity of the main character got to me. He was not evolving, and this far into the book it felt annoying for him to still be so lacking in self awareness and so trusting of people who are obviously problematic.
kirstyreadsblog's review against another edition
content warnings: ableism (including use of the word “cripple” by someone who is disabled), fatphobia
Thank you to Gollancz for gifting me a copy of the novel for this review.
This was definitely an interesting read for me. I love an anti-hero story so when I saw that this was about someone who is a reincarnation of someone considered evil I was into it. Interestingly, this is kind of similar to the Magisterium series by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare; both have a main character who is a reincarnation of someone evil and both have a disability. This is where the similarities stop though.
The world building was both rich and intense; you could really feel like Call had spent a lot of time developing what he had in mind for this world. He even inputs ancient stories of the political fights that happened thousands of years ago which made the people and the society the way it is when we start reading. He knew exactly the type of people who lived in his world.
Continue my review here: https://kirstyreadsblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/19/master-of-sorrows-by-justin-call-blog-tour-review-ad/
Thank you to Gollancz for gifting me a copy of the novel for this review.
This was definitely an interesting read for me. I love an anti-hero story so when I saw that this was about someone who is a reincarnation of someone considered evil I was into it. Interestingly, this is kind of similar to the Magisterium series by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare; both have a main character who is a reincarnation of someone evil and both have a disability. This is where the similarities stop though.
The world building was both rich and intense; you could really feel like Call had spent a lot of time developing what he had in mind for this world. He even inputs ancient stories of the political fights that happened thousands of years ago which made the people and the society the way it is when we start reading. He knew exactly the type of people who lived in his world.
Continue my review here: https://kirstyreadsblog.wordpress.com/2019/02/19/master-of-sorrows-by-justin-call-blog-tour-review-ad/
santa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5