Review by Sheetal_22564 -- Masters and Bastards

[Sheetal_22564]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Masters and Bastards" by Christopher J. Penington.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Masters and Bastards, by Christopher J. Penington, is set in a dystopian world where telepathic powers are as real as the science technology.

Andreas Marset, a legionary in the Iberian army, is called off to the Imperial palace for interrogation. The interrogator probes his mind open for adultery accusations. His three days' leave for a vacation along with his pals proves to be less tantalizing than Tavi Ulia. Later, after weeks, he’s called back to the palace once again only to have larger ambiguity between Tavi Ulia and Isabella. Isabella, the emperor’s bastard daughter, has ulterior motive than just enticing another bastard and that too of Arpathian lineage. From the very point, since he met Isabella, an evil and atrocious scheming begins. What will happen when he finds out Isabella's secret? How far will his future proceed? Moreover, will acceptance ever matter above all?

Christopher J. Penington has done his most splendid work in this book. His way of style reminds me of great writers I’d known in my life. His writing style is also similar to the old era classic novels. Like once, he used the word handsome to define the beauty of a woman.

Masters and Bastards is an intriguing and impelling book. The description of the widely divided religions and people’s mindset are well depicted here. The concept of religion, monarchical government, Iberian army, and empire, was powerfully enticed and very down to earth. The mechanism and functioning of this dystopian world were quite captivating, and well detailed to understand. Although the concept was diligent, the language was simple.

The character of the protagonist was of a teenage boy just turned into an adult. Andreas, in the beginning, was like a confused character because he was well aware of some scheming, but unaware of his powers. When he went to war and saw the world through his eyes for real, then, I guess, he turned into a man from an awed teenage boy. Betrayals were hard to endure for him inflicted by the very women he loved, but altogether he got his mind straight at some point in time. The description of war and battles were perfectly depicted and created with an earthy effect.

I rate this book 4 out of 4. The best part of the book was the storyline of Andreas and his battles on Gideon and Rubicon. The depiction of battles was something I loved because they were presented with careful planning and execution. Something that I didn’t like in this book was the character of women presented. Each one of the women introduced in the book had some ulterior motive altogether to scam Andreas, whether it was for love, against the love, or for a superior future. Still it wasn’t that bad to affect my overall rating and point of view of the book.

Mild profanities were present. Erotic scenes were somewhat present in brief and of mild knowledge. The book was well edited. Somewhere dialogue punctuation can be seen missing and had rare use of some unwanted prepositions. Overall, the book was splendid.

I’d recommend this book to adult readers only. People interested in genres like science fiction, dystopian fiction, war, thriller, fantasy, and mystery can also read this book. I’m completely content with this book, and it’s my new favorite now.

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Masters and Bastards
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[Kanda_theGreat]

I concur with you that Penington is an established writer. I have read his other works and indeed, he bids his time in his character development,
Thank you for the review.

[Tonika632]

This is an interesting book. I have read it few weeks ago. I would change the cover as I don't like it. Great review!

[Elvis Best]

It seems this book has a great story-line. I'd check it out. Thanks for the great review.

[Fernando222]

This book seems to portray entitlement, political struggle, and inferiority complex. I liked that the author ridiculed most of the characters in this book. Your review is quite detailed.