Reviews

Master of His Fate by Barbara Taylor Bradford

amylee218's review against another edition

1.0

This book was so repetitive. It really repeated itself. (See what I did there?) There was just so much descriptive writing, but about things that didn't matter. Like Jack the Ripper. Why go into detail about the victims and the investigation when it had no bearing on the story? She described every room, every countryside, every meal, every outfit, but the book didn't really go anywhere. The writing went like-- the sitting room was a lovely cream color, then on the next page, she went into the cream colored sitting room which was lovely. It was just an odd writing style. The conversations felt off as well. Even in Victorian England, no one spoke like that. Then there was build-up and foreshadowing that went nowhere. Like when James says, "I have a dangerous enemy in these parts, one I must be extremely wary of at all times." (p. 159 in my edition) Fat lot of build up for what? A rumour and one sucker punch? Also, who beat James up and why? But of course, none of that matters-- everyone is beautiful and brilliant and perfect, and James is a teenage wunderkind. This must make up for that fact that it takes over 300 pages for the storylines to meld, and we still don't get much of an arc.

I won an ARC of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.

kimmerthebooknerd's review against another edition

4.0

This was the first Barbara Taylor Bradford novel. Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. I love how she introduces the characters separately and it makes you wonder how they will all connect. I enjoyed the character of James and his family. Alexis is a strong woman and I did not see that coming! Leaving out details as I don’t want to give any spoilers.
Looking forward to the next book in this series. Thank you NetGalley.

sarahsbookstack's review against another edition

3.0

This story follows the paths of James, a Malvern market worker and Alexis, heir to the Malvern fortune. They both fall in love affairs with someone much older than themselves.
I felt the most bad for Alexis as her fiance dies before their wedding. I think I enjoyed her journey more than James's journey, though I did like how ambitious he was in what he wanted.
I think they might start an affair of their own in the next book of the series.
*Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the free copy/ebook*

amelia_trencher's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

kristi518's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

annarella's review against another edition

5.0

I never read any Barbara Taylor Bradford book even if I knew about her.
This was a great discovery! The book is well reaserched, well written, really enjoyable and entertaining.
I loved descriptions of the historical setting, the cast of characters and the plot.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this ARC

terryliz's review against another edition

3.0

An easy read; one that you can kind of skim through because a lot of it is predictable and not a lot happens. I did enjoy the descriptions of the houses, fashions, and food though and will probably get around to reading the second book in this series.

christinanielsen's review

emotional lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

gretel7's review against another edition

2.0

Not much here to grab on to .. Conversations are stilted and uncomfortably unrealistic, characters are cardboard-like. I was hoping for a new Victorian series to read. This one is not that series.

emmazucati's review against another edition

1.0

I almost want to call this a ghost writer? I've never read a Bradford book before so I have to believe people are blindly loving it because of her other books? The bottom of the synopsis on Goodreads even has an error! It says "...master storyteller Barbara Taylor Bradford, Master of the Game is filled with drama...". I feel like I read a different story from everyone else and am baffled.
The back of the paperback says "From rags to riches", I guess to entice you about the saga, but no one has rags!!! They might not be wealthy but the main dude's family is not struggling in a way anyone could appropriately describe as "rags". It was quite elitist in a forced humble kind of way.
Also, Bradford is not Charles Dickens and people are no longer getting paid by the sentence. Everything was so repetitive that if you took out literally every other sentence, I'm not sure anyone would notice. I would occasionally try it, and the only thing I lost was the repetition of it all. It wasn't even that there were too many details. It would be like "She realized something was wrong. She turned to her friend and said 'Something was wrong'. They decided to get up and investigate because something was wrong". Which is also ironic, because nothing was ever wrong. Sure there would be issues, and bad things happened, but any bad thing that occurred was dealt with or forgotten within 15 pages. There was no arc to this, no interesting plot.
Also, I really don't need to know that all men care about is if a girl is a "natural red head". It's just super gross. And happened more times that anyone could possibly appreciate.
The descriptions of things were nice? I liked reading about Victorian London? But again, just like the book I am repeating myself to tell you that rather than adding interesting details, this book was fluffed up by repeating sentences in slightly different ways. All telling, absolutely no showing.