Review by Fola_M -- The Sins of a Master Race

[Fola Moni]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Sins of a Master Race" by Matthew Tysz.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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The Sins of a Master Race is the 3rd instalment in The Turn series by Matthew Tysz. Set in a dark and desolate new world, the plot serves up much more than just mystical realms, dark gods and grotesque creatures. It examines the deep and unfathomable friendship between two kindred spirits. It offers redemption and forgiveness between erstwhile sworn enemies.

In the new, apocalyptic world after a cataclysmic event, new gods appear, repopulating the new earth with strange beings. One of such gods is Alden, the god of fertility who created bark-skinned people who look like trees. Another is Hannibal Marat, the god of heaven and hell. He is in charge of the realm called Anima Mea, where souls are kept and punished at will.

Two cousins, Aurora and Maron Defury, are on the gods’ trail, hunting them down one after the other. They are the infamous archdemons who escaped from Marat’s world in Anima Mea and are now seeking revenge, destroying all the gods in their wake. Marat, however, is proving very hard to kill. They enlist the support of Scholar and Ashley, two assassins who are famous for killing gods in a previous book in the series. Can they all bring the god of heaven and hell to his knees?

What I like about the book is the way the relationship between Scholar and Ashley is explored by the author. These two are highly trained assassins and cold-blooded killers yet their personalities are described as extremely vulnerable and flawed. There is a powerful cosmic connection between them that is too mystifying for others to understand. Ella Hale, one of the main characters whose role is more explored in the previous books in the series, is quite convinced they are lovers.

I also like the author’s descriptive writing style. It is colourful and imaginative and I found it easy to vividly picture the scenes. A good example of this is when Scholar and Ashley were trying to get to Anima Mea. The author made all of their travails come alive through his compelling writing style.

However, there are some things I did not like. This book cannot be read as a stand-alone book and there is no reference guide to understand the different characters whose roles were fully explored in the previous books. The reader is just thrown into the middle of the action, unprepared. So, I will advise anyone who wants to read this book to read The Turn and The King of May first.

The book is also quite slow-paced, almost to the point of being boring in some scenes. The ending is quite abrupt and doesn’t do justice to the build-up of the plot. Some characters do not serve any purpose to the plot. A good example of this is Jasper, the shapeshifter who was discovered by Ashley. I thought he was going to join the team and use his abilities to conquer their enemies but that didn’t happen.

Overall, I’ll rate this book 2 out of 4. There are several typographical errors so it is not professionally edited. It has references of a sexual nature and contains some profanity so I would only recommend it to mature readers and fans of fantasy and apocalyptic books. I also think Christian readers should give this book a miss because of the allegorical references to the Bible.

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The Sins of a Master Race
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[Zainabreadsnow]

I had quite a different experience with this book. The points you have made are very valid. Thank you for the review!

[Fola Moni]

I had quite a different experience with this book. The points you have made are very valid. Thank you for the review!

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