Master of Sorrows by Justin Call – Book Review | Blog Tour
Master of Sorrows by Justin Call – Book Review
*I was sent a copy of this book for an honest review. Trigger warning at the bottom of the review
Hi friends! I am so excited to be opening up this blog tour and sharing my review of Justin Call’s debut, Master of Sorrows!
❝What if you were destined to be a villain?❞
I honestly LOVED this book so much. A dark fantasy to rival Name of the Wind, Annev faces adversity and his own destiny. I was hooked in straight away and could not put this book down. The world building was on FIRE and I can’t wait to read more from this series.
Are you a fan of maps? What am I asking, of course you are! Justin shared with me this gorgeous map for you to feast your eyes on!
As always this review will be spoiler free.
Master of Sorrows by Justin Travis Call Published by Gollancz on February 21, 2019
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 448
Goodreads
You have heard the story before - of a young boy, orphaned through tragic circumstances, raised by a wise old man, who comes to a fuller knowledge of his magic and uses it to fight the great evil that threatens his world.
But what if the boy hero and the malevolent, threatening taint were one and the same?
What if the boy slowly came to realize he was the reincarnation of an evil god? Would he save the world . . . or destroy it?
Among the Academy's warrior-thieves, Annev de Breth is an outlier. Unlike his classmates who were stolen as infants from the capital city, Annev was born in the small village of Chaenbalu, was believed to be executed, and then unknowingly raised by his parents' killers.
Seventeen years later, Annev struggles with the burdens of a forbidden magic, a forgotten heritage, and a secret deformity. When he is subsequently caught between the warring ideologies of his priestly mentor and the Academy's masters, he must choose between forfeiting his promising future at the Academy or betraying his closest friends. Each decision leads to a deeper dilemma, until Annev finds himself pressed into a quest he does not wish to fulfil.
Will he finally embrace the doctrine of his tutors, murder a stranger, and abandon his mentor? Or will he accept the more difficult truth of who he is . . . and the darker truth of what he may become . . .
Master of Sorrows is a dark fantasy following Annev, a student at the Academy, training to be a Master. So there’s fighting and training, which I LOVE. The Academy believes it is righteous in it’s endeavours but as a reader we are inclined to disagree. I love the moral battle as Annev tries to navigate this place and the Master’s who’s ideologies are at complete odds to who he is and what he believes. His mentor, Sodar, is the wise old man we often find in these stories, and I really enjoyed their interactions! Magic is bad, deformities/disabilities are bad and associated with the work of the ‘evil’ god, Keos (trigger warning relating to this at the bottom). We have a whole host of magical and mythological beings from gods to witches and I loved how they were woven together. I don’t want to say much more in my overview as I REALLY don’t want to spoil this book as it had me GRIPPED on every page. Oh and this story broke my heart – it’s DARK. I mean it – really dark. GRAB THE TISSUES.
❝“So which is it?” Tosan said, glaring at him. “Are you a lying fool… or are you stupid?” Rhetorical or not, Annev didn’t have an answer for that – he didn’t see how kindness could be stupid, and he wouldn’t apologise for it.”❞
The story is very character driven and I LOVED it. Annev has to battle his inner demons (heh) and try to decide what his integrity is worth.
The world building in Master of Sorrows was beautifully done. Complex enough to be fascinating but not confusing, the magic system was so interesting and was different to most I’ve seen before. The mythologies were also well developed and I honestly just loved it. It’s fast paced and I struggled to put it down in all honesty! We’re told the story from Annev’s POV, with interesting chapters on the history of the gods at the beginning of each ‘Part’ of the book which was masterfully done.
As I mentioned this story is very character driven, with Annev discovering and fighting his destiny as well as his own inner turmoil. I really liked seeing his growth as a character, the lessons he learnt (and didn’t learn) on the way.
Sodar was brilliant and to be honest I wish we’d seen more of him as I just LOVED his relationship with Annev. I have a feeling we’ve got a lot more to learn about him!
I think all of the characters were so well developed and thought out, I really enjoyed them. There weren’t any ‘fillers’ as it were. I won’t go into loads of detail here as I really don’t want to spoil (but PLEASE message me once you’ve read it if you want to discuss) but I LOVED THE GROWTH OF THE CHARACTERS. Some regressed, some grew into better people, some got kind of okay, and it was GREAT. I loathed some of the characters, which just means that it was written well.
I cannot WAIT to see what happens in the next instalment.
*Content Warning*
In this world, those with disabilities or any sort of deformity (even scars) are considered ‘Sons of Keo’ aka Evil by most. They’re killed or shunned. This is an important part of the storyline as Annev is hiding his own ‘deformity’. Please be aware of this going in in case this is something that might offend you.
I hope you enjoyed this review! Make sure you check out the rest of the blog tour. What’s the last book that kept you gripped? I think I’ll be thinking about this book for a while!
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6 Comments
“What if you were destined to be a villain?” You totally got me there. This book sounds so interesting and your review made me felt like reading it now! This sure gonna be on my anticipated books list ♥
Yay I’m so glad! You’re going to love it <3
I felt the same way!
This sounds pretty fascinating! I might put it on my TBR.
Enjoyed your review, Jen. I love a good character-driven story!
I hadn’t heard of this book but it sounds awesome!