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A review by crypticspren
Master of One by Dani Bennett, Jaida Jones
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This was an adventure that I resent going on to be honest. For the first 26 chapters, I was trying to figure out the whole general point and trying to like Rags as a character. Then suddenly, the book switches to a multiple POV.
The blurb promised an epic heist, but it was a weird rag-tag band of unwilling participants that were very literally blackmailed into finding some magical pets with numbers for names. The Master of One is not even a main character, which was again... confusing. By around 400 pages, I'd sort of figured out that the plot was vaguely "sorcerer dude blackmailed randos into finding magic pets because reasons, also f*ck the fae". Honestly, I don't know how I got through it all.
There was an incredible lack of characterisation, development, or logic. Rags was a bratty thief, which did not change. Silver Talon (what a stupid name) was like a time travelling gentleman from the 1700 who had never seen a spoon before. He was incredibly annoying and he didn't change at all throughout the book. Somhairle's only personality trait was that he was a 'cripple' and the representation of disability was purely "crippled dude can't do anything until he gets a magic bird". Which I found to be distasteful. The rest of the characters were so entirely forgettable.
The writing also left a lot to be desired. It was written like a middle grade that had attempted to elevate the audience to YA through use of excessive swearing. It largely lacked sophistication and I found it to be irritating. Also, the authors are not Irish but for some reason, all of the characters have Irish names and there is a pronunciation guide at the end. Which was a strange choice really.
Overall this kind of story definitely had potential but was sorely betrayed by the authors.
The blurb promised an epic heist, but it was a weird rag-tag band of unwilling participants that were very literally blackmailed into finding some magical pets with numbers for names. The Master of One is not even a main character, which was again... confusing. By around 400 pages, I'd sort of figured out that the plot was vaguely "sorcerer dude blackmailed randos into finding magic pets because reasons, also f*ck the fae". Honestly, I don't know how I got through it all.
There was an incredible lack of characterisation, development, or logic. Rags was a bratty thief, which did not change. Silver Talon (what a stupid name) was like a time travelling gentleman from the 1700 who had never seen a spoon before. He was incredibly annoying and he didn't change at all throughout the book. Somhairle's only personality trait was that he was a 'cripple' and the representation of disability was purely "crippled dude can't do anything until he gets a magic bird". Which I found to be distasteful. The rest of the characters were so entirely forgettable.
The writing also left a lot to be desired. It was written like a middle grade that had attempted to elevate the audience to YA through use of excessive swearing. It largely lacked sophistication and I found it to be irritating. Also, the authors are not Irish but for some reason, all of the characters have Irish names and there is a pronunciation guide at the end. Which was a strange choice really.
Overall this kind of story definitely had potential but was sorely betrayed by the authors.