Master of One

[alaterdate]

I picked up Master of One by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett just to have something to read while I waited for my hold on another book. A blurb somewhere called it a cross between The Cruel Prince and Six of Crows, two books that I hated. Why did I pick this up then? To see how bad it was.
Spoiler: It was GOOD.

They shouldn't have compared it to those books. Not only because I liked it better, but because they insinuate a plot that did not happen. Rags is a master thief who is coerced with the threat of execution by a state backed sorcerer into risking his life to recover an ancient fae relic. This is maybe around 5% of the book. This isn't a heist story—at all—it's a quest.
The ancient fae relic turned out to be the very last fae himself, Shining Talon. A long forgotten prince and the first step on the path to finding a powerful weapon of legend. When the Queen's sorcerer goes to tie up loose ends and kill Rags after all, the fae prince vows to protect him to the death. Forced to let Rags live—for now—the sorcerer tasks the two with collecting the rest of the relics that make up the weapon he seeks, warning them that he will always be watching.
What follows is a wonderful adventure full of new friends and magical creatures.

I liked the setting and the plot, but I loved the characters. Rags is a thief with a heart of gold and self-esteem issues. He immediately becomes, in his view, a hindrance to Shining Talon because of the deadly mirrorshard the sorcerer has embedded into his heart. If Rags tries to escape and not fulfill the quest for the weapon the sorcerer will kill him with the mirrorshard, and because Shining Talon doesn't want Rags to die he can't stop working for the sorcerer either.
Shining Talon absolutely doesn't see Rags as a hindrance. And he is so fucking tender towards him, it's so good. (I don't know why they dared to compare him to Cardin (The Cruel Prince) who went from asshole to wet paper bag with Jude). I didn't hate the fairies this time, though they aren't very creature-y as I imagine fairies and more just like elves imo. Love Shining Talon though, muah~
Rags and Shining Talon are the main characters, but their little party that they gather is made up of great characters including talking magic creatures which is really fun.

This is a long book around 520 pages and I wish it were longer. The end was pretty abrupt and the authors have a draft for a second book, but sadly it looks like they're having issues with getting it to publication.

I was so pleasantly surprised with this one. I went in with little expectation and fully planning to roast it, but that didn't last very long. While I wish the end was more substantial it didn't detract from the rest of the book for me (it's a very open ending. Enough so that I wish this had been bought as a trilogy instead of a stand-alone). The writing reads well, every scene matters, the characters have rich inner lives, the foreshadowing is well-done and doesn't treat the reader as if they can't puzzle it out on their own and, boy, the pay-offs for paying attention are exciting. It was a joy to read. I hope more of this world gets to be published by the authors. I am looking forward to it.