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bookish_bailee's review
2.0
Interesting story and world building encumbered by clunky, wordy, and at times problematic writing.
alicelikewonderland's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Strong Dramione vibes
aksmith92's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I had high hopes, but this did not meet my expectations. It's a beautiful cover, though!
The Setup: Silhara is a mage swarmed with magic but exiled from Conclave, a group of those who are mages or possess "The Gift." He's known as the Master of Crows, hence this title, yet I'm still quite confused about how crows have to do with anything. Many people fear him; if he goes out and about, someone will inevitably get punched in the face. He's a mean, aloof, MASCULINE man who wants to stay in his home in Neith and grow his dang oranges! However, underneath the hard exterior, Silhara also has a super secret: he's being possessed by the god Corruption, who wants to take over Silhara and make him a living, breathing god.
We also have Martise, a VERY plain and dull woman (I say that because the author says that one million times) who, unfortunately, was sold to slavery at a young age by her mother. She's living in Asher and is enslaved to Cumbria, one of Conclave's officials. Cumbria and the Conclave are counting on her to be a spy and to go to Neith, where Silhara lives, to gather up any information she can on him so that the Conclave can determine if he is a threat to the group. If she succeeds, she will be free from her enslavement. In addition, Silhara wants someone from Conclave there to help him defeat Corruption, even though no one knows he's lingering in Silhara's mind. Martise is the perfect person to do that since she's brilliant and can read many languages.
So, Silhara's and Martise's paths cross in Neith, where Silhara is undoubtedly cruel, and somehow Martise finds it cute— and the two work together on beating Corruption AND harvesting oranges (adorable!). We see a relationship built between the two but have hard choices to make when push comes to shove, and specific actions must be completed to save the world from Corruption.
What I liked: The book's concept and world-building intrigued me, especially considering it was published in 2009. The Conclave and the god Corruption were fascinating elements. However, while the initial execution could have been better, the overall delivery fell short, leaving me with more questions than answers.
I enjoyed Gurn, Silhara's non-speaking servant, who obviously cared about the people around him. He was a gem who deserved much more "screen" time.
Lastly, while I note some of my grievances in the section below, overall, the prose was pretty well done. Draven's use of words and sentence structure made sense, but it fell short when it came to world-building and plot development.
What I Didn't Like: Most of this - ugh! As mentioned above, I found the world-building to fall flat. The magical system had minimal depth; terms were thrown out left and right with little explanation. Draven was trying to build as she went along, which can be acceptable in some books, but I don't think it worked here.
Most of the cast, outside the main characters and Gurn, consisted of caricatures or cartoonish characters with minimal development and layers. Overall, I also didn't enjoy Martise or Silhara at all. Martise seemed a little lost in everything she did, and Silhara was rude. I was utterly uninterested in their relationship and their individual characters. I will give the author some grace (ha!) here and say that this was written in 2009—it's one of the OGs of this dark male character who was a jerk and snippy. However, it didn't work. Martise also had one job there - getting information from Silhara to bring to Conclave so she could be free. The girl doesn't do that; instead, she becomes almost another servant in Silhara's house and sings poorly. Overall, I was simply disappointed.
The sub-plots also did not connect. Initially, there was some information about crows, but they had nothing to do with the plot. Then, there were the oranges that I kept referencing. Silhara's pride and joy was his orange grove - a place he went every day to harvest and care for the oranges. He refused to use magic on the oranges, so everything was done by hand. The oranges were his complete personality. In theory, this was refreshing, but it barely connected with anything in the plot. Draven was trying to use it as a personality trait for Silhara, and while that's fine in theory, it was poorly executed.
Lastly, the pacing was just off. This was a relatively short fantasy book, but it felt long. I'm still determining if it was the will-they-won't-they romance or if I was just lost in the world-building sauce (or lack of it). Overall, it didn't work for me.
Since this is a spoiler, I will put it last and with the spoiler indicator:I HATE the trope when the female main character loses her power to save the male main character or the world or whatever. It was definitely the time—people ate it up in 2009—but I am over it and hate to see it in my literature. Pass!
The Setup: Silhara is a mage swarmed with magic but exiled from Conclave, a group of those who are mages or possess "The Gift." He's known as the Master of Crows, hence this title, yet I'm still quite confused about how crows have to do with anything. Many people fear him; if he goes out and about, someone will inevitably get punched in the face. He's a mean, aloof, MASCULINE man who wants to stay in his home in Neith and grow his dang oranges! However, underneath the hard exterior, Silhara also has a super secret: he's being possessed by the god Corruption, who wants to take over Silhara and make him a living, breathing god.
We also have Martise, a VERY plain and dull woman (I say that because the author says that one million times) who, unfortunately, was sold to slavery at a young age by her mother. She's living in Asher and is enslaved to Cumbria, one of Conclave's officials. Cumbria and the Conclave are counting on her to be a spy and to go to Neith, where Silhara lives, to gather up any information she can on him so that the Conclave can determine if he is a threat to the group. If she succeeds, she will be free from her enslavement. In addition, Silhara wants someone from Conclave there to help him defeat Corruption, even though no one knows he's lingering in Silhara's mind. Martise is the perfect person to do that since she's brilliant and can read many languages.
So, Silhara's and Martise's paths cross in Neith, where Silhara is undoubtedly cruel, and somehow Martise finds it cute— and the two work together on beating Corruption AND harvesting oranges (adorable!). We see a relationship built between the two but have hard choices to make when push comes to shove, and specific actions must be completed to save the world from Corruption.
What I liked: The book's concept and world-building intrigued me, especially considering it was published in 2009. The Conclave and the god Corruption were fascinating elements. However, while the initial execution could have been better, the overall delivery fell short, leaving me with more questions than answers.
I enjoyed Gurn, Silhara's non-speaking servant, who obviously cared about the people around him. He was a gem who deserved much more "screen" time.
Lastly, while I note some of my grievances in the section below, overall, the prose was pretty well done. Draven's use of words and sentence structure made sense, but it fell short when it came to world-building and plot development.
What I Didn't Like: Most of this - ugh! As mentioned above, I found the world-building to fall flat. The magical system had minimal depth; terms were thrown out left and right with little explanation. Draven was trying to build as she went along, which can be acceptable in some books, but I don't think it worked here.
Most of the cast, outside the main characters and Gurn, consisted of caricatures or cartoonish characters with minimal development and layers. Overall, I also didn't enjoy Martise or Silhara at all. Martise seemed a little lost in everything she did, and Silhara was rude. I was utterly uninterested in their relationship and their individual characters. I will give the author some grace (ha!) here and say that this was written in 2009—it's one of the OGs of this dark male character who was a jerk and snippy. However, it didn't work. Martise also had one job there - getting information from Silhara to bring to Conclave so she could be free. The girl doesn't do that; instead, she becomes almost another servant in Silhara's house and sings poorly. Overall, I was simply disappointed.
The sub-plots also did not connect. Initially, there was some information about crows, but they had nothing to do with the plot. Then, there were the oranges that I kept referencing. Silhara's pride and joy was his orange grove - a place he went every day to harvest and care for the oranges. He refused to use magic on the oranges, so everything was done by hand. The oranges were his complete personality. In theory, this was refreshing, but it barely connected with anything in the plot. Draven was trying to use it as a personality trait for Silhara, and while that's fine in theory, it was poorly executed.
Lastly, the pacing was just off. This was a relatively short fantasy book, but it felt long. I'm still determining if it was the will-they-won't-they romance or if I was just lost in the world-building sauce (or lack of it). Overall, it didn't work for me.
Since this is a spoiler, I will put it last and with the spoiler indicator:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment
They don't call it alcohol, it's like Dragon Fire or something but it's the same thing and they have it a lot. Suicide attempt is basically trying to save the world type suicide.moodreadqueen's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
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? It's complicated
4.5
winterreader40's review against another edition
DNF at 13% for general disinterest.
essgee's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
tawallah's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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? It's complicated
2.5
bckyflmn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tortevscake's review
medium-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? It's complicated
3.25
chantelspeaks's review against another edition
3.0
For more reviews head to my blog
“A man with clear sight into his own soul will always make a wise decision.”
When Martise of Asher is given the opportunity to free herself from slavery in exchange for spying on the Master of Crows, Silhara of Neith, she leaps at the opportunity. Determined to win her own freedom, she enters the house of Silhara searching for the evidence she needs to bring the mage down. As she settles into his household, she begins to see the enigmatic Master of Crows differently. Thus, setting her on an unexpected course that causes her to question the price she’d pay to be free.
Silhara needs a translator of ancient texts; Martise, hiding her identity as a slave, is an apprentice with specialised training in reading ancient languages. Loaned to Silhara for a season by her master, Martise must work to translate a series of ancient texts in order to find a ritual used to defeat the god Corruption that torments Silhara. While she’s working with the Master of Crows, she’s looking for evidence to charge him with treason. However, she faces impossible decisions when she finds herself slowly falling in love with him.
Master of Crows is a romance first and foremost, set in a fantasy world of mages and gods. Draven has cleverly constructed her fantasy world, which shows evidence of careful and thoughtful world-building throughout. This is the strongest aspect of the book for me. I am a sucker for good, believable world-building, and Draven certainly has an eye for detail in the world she’s created.
I originally had put Master of Crows on my TBR pile a few years ago, and it’s taken me that long to finally get a copy from the library to read it. My taste in romance has changed somewhat between then and now, and I find it harder to get into romances where the love interest fits into this “alpha male” stereotype. Silhara wasn’t a full-blown alpha by any stretch, but he definitely had some possessive and “mean” traits that I found hard to warm to, especially early in the book. I can see how Draven tried to give him some vulnerabilities and insecurities to make him more rounded, but I just didn’t buy into it fully.
“You have done an unwise thing, Martise of Asher,” he said softly. “You’ve caught my interest.”
The romance builds reasonably well throughout, balanced with the bigger plot of Silhara’s warring with the god Corruption, partnered with the expertise he requires from Martise and her skills in translation needed to destroy the god. I enjoyed a lot of the scenes with Martise and Silhara, However, I did wish for more actual romance and depth in the dialogue of the relationship. I felt like the two of them were just heading to the bedroom at every opportunity, and I need a little more than that to really get into a romance these days.
This was a somewhat enjoyable romance that showed evidence of good writing; it was an easy read that kept me turning the pages. With books like this with such good world building, I would’ve preferred further fleshing of the world itself and minor characters to bring more of the romance between Silhara and Martise out, but I can understand how sometimes in editing its better to stick to the aim of the book, which here, is clearly a romance read with fantasy elements.
*** This book definitely comes with a graphic content warning, there are explicit sex scenes and I wouldn’t recommend it to younger readers. ***
“A man with clear sight into his own soul will always make a wise decision.”
When Martise of Asher is given the opportunity to free herself from slavery in exchange for spying on the Master of Crows, Silhara of Neith, she leaps at the opportunity. Determined to win her own freedom, she enters the house of Silhara searching for the evidence she needs to bring the mage down. As she settles into his household, she begins to see the enigmatic Master of Crows differently. Thus, setting her on an unexpected course that causes her to question the price she’d pay to be free.
Silhara needs a translator of ancient texts; Martise, hiding her identity as a slave, is an apprentice with specialised training in reading ancient languages. Loaned to Silhara for a season by her master, Martise must work to translate a series of ancient texts in order to find a ritual used to defeat the god Corruption that torments Silhara. While she’s working with the Master of Crows, she’s looking for evidence to charge him with treason. However, she faces impossible decisions when she finds herself slowly falling in love with him.
Master of Crows is a romance first and foremost, set in a fantasy world of mages and gods. Draven has cleverly constructed her fantasy world, which shows evidence of careful and thoughtful world-building throughout. This is the strongest aspect of the book for me. I am a sucker for good, believable world-building, and Draven certainly has an eye for detail in the world she’s created.
I originally had put Master of Crows on my TBR pile a few years ago, and it’s taken me that long to finally get a copy from the library to read it. My taste in romance has changed somewhat between then and now, and I find it harder to get into romances where the love interest fits into this “alpha male” stereotype. Silhara wasn’t a full-blown alpha by any stretch, but he definitely had some possessive and “mean” traits that I found hard to warm to, especially early in the book. I can see how Draven tried to give him some vulnerabilities and insecurities to make him more rounded, but I just didn’t buy into it fully.
“You have done an unwise thing, Martise of Asher,” he said softly. “You’ve caught my interest.”
The romance builds reasonably well throughout, balanced with the bigger plot of Silhara’s warring with the god Corruption, partnered with the expertise he requires from Martise and her skills in translation needed to destroy the god. I enjoyed a lot of the scenes with Martise and Silhara, However, I did wish for more actual romance and depth in the dialogue of the relationship. I felt like the two of them were just heading to the bedroom at every opportunity, and I need a little more than that to really get into a romance these days.
This was a somewhat enjoyable romance that showed evidence of good writing; it was an easy read that kept me turning the pages. With books like this with such good world building, I would’ve preferred further fleshing of the world itself and minor characters to bring more of the romance between Silhara and Martise out, but I can understand how sometimes in editing its better to stick to the aim of the book, which here, is clearly a romance read with fantasy elements.
*** This book definitely comes with a graphic content warning, there are explicit sex scenes and I wouldn’t recommend it to younger readers. ***